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By Cassie House
Senior-to-be, outside hiter
We had a little mini travel day in the middle of our Aussie adventure today. We’ve spent the beginning of the trip on the Gold Coast and today we are heading south to Melbourne. Since it’s further south, we’re preparing for less of the sunny, warm temperatures that we’ve had thus far and are ready for the chilly city.
When we landed in Melbourne, we were quite the sight to see. While none of us really packed for winter weather, we stuck out like sore thumbs with all the locals were in big puffy coats and scarves. Keep in mind it was only about 60 degrees. When we got to the gate, we were also greeted by three UNM alumni and Aussie natives who we got to talk to and learn more about. It is always so cool so see where people migrate to and what they do after they finish their years at UNM.
We hopped on our new, upgraded bus and headed off to the hotel to get checked in and get some lunch.
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After lunch we headed straight to the gym to get a practice in and do some scouting while the Croatia and Australia national teams played each other.
Now, we had heard in Brisbane that Melbourne (and from what I understood, most of Australia) does not have heating in their homes and buildings so we walked into a pretty chilly gym where even the refs were ready for an arctic blast. I got a chuckle out of it as we all stripped down to t-shirts and spandex and began practice because it truly wasn’t that cold.
We had a good practice and went off to scout. The teams we’ll play, beginning with New Zealand and followed by Australia and then Croatia, are the teams that will compete in the Olympics if they qualify. This is a really great experience for us and some good competition that we are all excited for.
Croatia plays very high with their artillery of tall front row players and takes big rips at the ball. Australia was definitely outsized but ran a lightning-fast offense to beat the big girls. I’m proud to say we’ll be able to match in size and speed so we’re expecting good games.
While the day didn’t consist of crazy adventure, I can always count on this team to make some ridiculous fun out of any day. Like Victoria choosing an entire baked chicken for her dinner snack or Julia entertaining us/frightening us with her stories about people getting kidnapped while overseas or simply making jokes that leave you gasping for air and crying from laughing so hard.
Safe to say, your Lobos are living it up in the land down under. Thanks for reading! Cheers!
Fans can follow the team’s Facebook page (University of New Mexico Volleyball) and Twitter (@UNMVolley) to keep track of the Lobos during their trip.