Super Cup and Fete des Vendanges

This past weekend was really special in two ways! The first was Super Cup, which was a tournament for most of the teams in the A league and second was Fete des Vendanges in Neuchatel which was a big wine festival.

It all started on Friday when the team had to work a our NUC booth at the fest. We got there a bit early so we could have a look around. This festival is HUGE! All of the stands were in the center of the town along all the streets. At times there were so many people that it took a good 10 mins just to get through to another street. They had tons of food, (a lot of Indian and Chinese), candy, and of course wine and beer. I don't think I've ever seen so much alcohol in one place! There were also street vendors selling necklaces and scarves. It was really neat because many of the sports teams had there own booth just like our team. I saw water polo, skiing, ultimate frisbee, soccer, and even american football. Another thing that was cool was the amusement rides. We have a festival in my home town called Heritage Fest and I even recognized some of the same rides over here! What a small world!

Look at how huge that is! Those are vegetables for some Indian food.

Yum Candy!!

Here is a booth! I love how the Dj's are over the bar!

It was finally time to work so we headed over to our booth. I liked how they had a volleyball net around the top as well as some jerseys. We were selling wine, beer, hot dogs and other alcohol. Lindsay, Bryn and I all worked the same shift... which probably wasn't the smartest planning but it ended up being fine. You could tell in the beginning that we were all kind of nervous because we all stayed towards the back of the booth so we wouldn't have to take any orders. But we soon built up some courage and took some orders! Once I got into the hang of things it wasn't bad and I actually had a lot of fun! There were a couple of times that I wouldn't understand what they were asking, so I would call someone over but in general the night went by really smoothly. My favorite drink to make was called the cactus. It was a mixed drink but the best part was the dry ice we put on top to make it fizz!

Here is our booth. Sabine, Sara, Barbara and Nadege are working! Notice the volleyball net around the top!

It was packed!!

After we were done working, I headed back home because I knew it was going to be another long weekend. One my way to the bus, it looked like a parade just ended because there was confetti everywhere! At times I couldn't even see the road because there was so much. And of course there was a bunch of kids running around, scooping it up and throwing it at un-expecting people. I wish I could have seen the parade but I'm glad I wasn't covered in confetti.

We had to wake up pretty early to drive to Koniz where the tournament was being held. We had two games on Saturday. Our first match was against Volley Toggenburg. We won lost the first set because we were struggling in serve receive. I think we were just a bit nervous. After getting that out of our system we played a lot better and won the next three. I actually didn't play much of that match because of my knee. This past week my knee was acting up a lot from camp so they had me sit out of practice wednesday and thursday so that some of the swelling could down. Those couple days off really helped. Our next match was against TSV Dudingen. We played pretty well and won in three! I played in this match but it wasn't my best performance. I know I can play a lot better and I'm sure I will. Since we won both of our matches we made it to the semifinals!

On Sunday our semifinal match was against Sm'Aesch-Pfeffingen. This match was pretty crazy because it went to five. I played in the first two sets but I played pretty terrible at all so I sat for the next three. We lost both of those sets but then ended up winning the next three! We were up by a lot in the first set but then at 20-20 they went on a five point run to win that set. The final three sets were pretty intense but we ended up serving aggressively which helped to slow their offense. It was a great team effort and by winning this game we were headed to the finals!

The final match was against Volero Zurich. They won Super Cup last year and also won the Swiss Cup. They have one good Swiss player but most of their players are from Serbia, Croatia or Bosnia. The only rule that the league has is that you have to have at least one Swiss player on the court at all times. Last year NUC got second in Super Cup so we were ready to have a rematch. I played all four sets and I played a TON better than earlier that morning. I was proud that I was able to forget what happened this morning, have a positive attitude and just play! Bryn reminded me to just have fun and that really helped! The first set we started off really flat and we didn't start playing until the end when it was too late. We won the second set! We passed better, played defense better and served tough. There was one long play that I remember where the rightside for Volero hit the ball so hard I couldn't get out of the way fast enough so it hit me in the shoulder and knocked me over! I got the ball high enough that Bryn set Nadege on the outside and we got the kill! The third set they started off strong and we had difficulties passing so we lost that set. The fourth set was a true battle. They were up for most of the set but we fought back to get to 22-22. We hit a ball out and they got a kill to end the match 23-25. Overall we were pretty happy with our performance because we fought hard. We had some ups and downs this weekend but it ended strong! It was nice to finally play other teams and a perfect way to lead into the season.