Gannon Volleyball Nicaragua Photo Gallery (New Photos Added Daily)
Our journey to Nicaragua began with a 1:30 a.m. meeting at the Gannon Recreation and Wellness Center with subsequent departure to the airport. Excitement was high as we loaded up our bags and headed on our way. Getting through security and a flight from Cleveland to Miami still wasn’t enough to make the whole trip seem real. Of course, that it was 8 o’clock in the morning certainly didn’t help matters. Many of us were running on little to no sleep and didn’t get much rest on the bumpy flight. Though, not being able to sleep had its advantages as I got to witness a beautiful sunrise from the window of the plane.
Our layover in Miami built the excitement and as they called out destinations to other Central American countries one by one, it truly began to dawn on me how awesome and real this day was. Finally, it was our turn to board. I boarded my first ever international flight! The plane was bigger than any I had ever been on and only added to my excitement for the trip. The flight from Miami to Managua was rough at times, but again the spectacular views made up for it. The blues of the Atlantic from the window of the plane were like nothing I had ever experienced. Once we began our descent into Managua, the sites made me get the feeling even more that this was a place like no where I had ever been. The terrain was mountainous and scattered with beautiful blue lakes. The city from the plane looked somewhat strange with its bright colors and tin roofs. Once we landed and headed to the airport we had to go through a round of customs and security that went smoothly much to Coach Darling’s and our pleasure. Brooke Rundle, our tour guide and resident of Nicaragua for 7 years, met us at the airport and took us across the street to the hotel. There she gave us a brief introduction and orientation for the remainder of our trip here.
After the orientation, we had a meal at the hotel consisting of fajitas and beans, which was amazing and nothing compared to the Spanish inspired dishes I had tasted in the States. From there, we had about an hour of down time, and then headed to our match against the Nicaragua National Team. We piled into a small bus driven by a driver who only spoke Spanish and headed to the site of the match. The drive really opened my eyes to the poverty in the country and how blessed we are as Gannon student-athletes to have the amazing opportunities we do. The main roads are laid with cobblestone and were therefore extremely bumpy to drive. Traffic had a “unique” flow to say the least. People, cars, and motorbikes weaved in and out of lanes seemingly at will. The houses and storefronts that lined the streets showed how poor the living conditions are in the city. I think nothing could have prepared us for actually seeing it with our own eyes and I am very glad to be here making a small difference in peoples’ lives.
Our match was held at the national team-training center, where the floors were made of an almost concrete-like material complete with vents and open doors to circulate air in the gym. Within minutes of warming up we were drenched in sweat and felt difference in the climate from home. Despite the heat and not having scrimmaged much during our 10-day training period in the past weeks, our team held our own against a their National team, winning the match in 4 sets 27-25, 25-9, 18-25, 25-15, and at times showing off that the training we had done before the trip had paid off.
There were times during the match where we executed at a high level and did exactly the things we had been working on. However, there were also times that the Nicaraguan style of play bested us. Tough, deep float serves and high sets to the pins forced us to fight our way back from a deficit in the first set, coming back to win the set 27-25. We dominated the second set winning 25-9 by executing tough serves and smart shots from the attackers, but fell to the Nicaraguans 18-25 in the third set. We came back into our stride for the fourth set winning 25-15, again mostly thanks to tough serves and aggressiveness at the net.
The day was exhausting and extremely long, but it was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to see what lies in store for us next!
Maggie Desrosiers
Gannon Volleyball ’15
Team Captain
