WE “GOING BACK-TO-BACK” -DRAKE
Travel went too smoothly for us – quick hour and 45-minute flight and we were in Chicago at 10:30am. We crammed (legit – I had a suitcase on my lap and about 2 inches for breathing room) into an Uber with some family and made the 30-minute drive to the Drake hotel. Being short has its perks but not when it comes to car rides with a group of people…. If you are the smallest person you are getting thrown in the back without anyone having any sort of pity for you. When I got out the car a little wobbly since my legs had been in my chest so there was no feeling in my feet no one cared. I on the other hand was dreading the pins and needles feeling the entire 30-minute drive and what do you know… they hit me right as I was lugging my suitcase up the stairs to the lobby of the Drake.
Highly recommend 3 Arts Cafe
We had a 12:15 reservation at 3 Arts Café with Carol, Mary and Jeni (wonder who reads this first?), so we were on a time crunch. I checked in like we always do stating our last names and that we are with the AVP (they provide a hotel room from Thursday to Sunday). We quickly went up to the room and threw our bags down, but we were confused when noticing only a king bed. Before making the 15-minute walk to lunch, we tried to sort things out with the front desk. We were told there were two rooms under our name, and both were with the AVP, but no double occupancy rooms were available. The front desk lady said to contact AVP. Long story short – when you are the number 1 seed you each get a hotel room with a king bed. Once learning that, we were sad which may be the first time that any team has ever said that. After returning from lunch, we again approached the front desk asking if they had any conjoining rooms… we have never been apart during a tournament (except MBO 2021 & that didn’t go well so we are erasing that from our memories). We ended up getting two rooms that were right next to each other so we each had our own room, but we both slept in my room each night. Are we weird? Yes, probably, but that is all we know, and we didn’t want to change anything.
Once the room situation got figured out, we made our way to the executive suite for an interview. It was a harmless 10–15-minute interview via zoom. While walking back to the room we received a text from the AVP PR personnel, “Sooooo RJ forgot to hit record! Are y’all able to come back?!” First take was better, but he hit record and the interview was actually complete this time.
The rest of the evening was less eventful besides the occasional texts or facetimes from Taryn to say she missed me since we were separated by a wall. We also got to visit with some more of Taryn’s fam, including the infamous Bob and Jane. With our crazy schedule it is so hard to find time to talk with everyone, but when we do have some down time, we thoroughly enjoy catching up. For dinner we hit Beatrix, and it was phenomenal. To quote Tracy, Taryn’s stepdad, “this was the best meal I’ve had on a volleyball trip.” Pistachio crusted white fish, beef pappardelle and the caramel pie were outstanding… So much so that we actually went back Friday night as well and ordered the same minus the pie.
Game day morning was rather chill since we had an 11:30 match. We walked across the street to get the provided breakfast and got to receive some very insightful wisdom from Al Lau, AVP CEO. Upon arrival back at the hotel, Tricia and Londyn were waiting with our coffees in hand (we are very spoiled and blessed). In addition to coffees waiting for us, Mike, Taryn’s Dad, was waiting to surprise Taryn. He had said something came up at work and he would not be able to make it anymore… he loves a good surprise.
As we were warming up for our match, the ref came over and asked Drew if he had his credentials to which he did not; so, about 5 minutes before our match started Drew had to run over to the AVP tent to get his credentials. You would think we would remember these things by now. We did not let that distract us – beating Horton/Newberry in straight sets.
Match 2 – Harward/Kolinski – After Taryn won us the first match with her jump serve, we were cruising along in the second with a 13-8 technical timeout. The song “Respect” came on and Taryn and I just started jamming. It’s times like that where we wonder if the mic’s in our box can hear us. This sometimes really makes you think about what you are going to say, but during that moment, we didn’t care if our amazing singing voices got heard or not (they did not).
Post match we took the first giant TKN Nation pic after doing a meet and greet for the AVP. Like previously stated we went to Beatrix and on the walk back to the hotel it was just me, Taryn and Eric (Taryn’s boyfriend – secrets out). Turns out when there are two people 6’4” and above people notice. Walking behind them was comical. One girl turned to her boyfriend and stated in amazement, “THEY ARE BOTH LIKE 6’5” to which my nosy self butted in and said actually 6’4”. The girl gave me the weirdest look and we both just kept on walking. After that encounter I decided it was in my best interest to run ahead of the two lovebirds to make sure they could see if someone took me. That evening I was able to do some catching up with my friend Megan while chowing down on some delicious zucchini bread made and brought by my cousin Jasmine. A nice evening treat.
Pic Creds: Bryan Malloch - one of the best photographers! Thank you Bryan!
Match #3 – Scoles/Flint – 1:30pm. With the afternoon game, we had time to walk to Dollop Coffee, a nearby-ish coffee shop, with our moms + Londyn. Of course, since we came to Chicago a heat wave also came with us. Saturday was a high of mid 90s and that temperature was surely felt on the sand. Oak Street Beach has very dark sand, so any sun exposure is surely felt on the feet. That could be seen during our warmups… I was standing in the one shaded spot provided by a pole while Taryn was standing on her sarong. The pole and the sarong got the job done and it was time to head to the court. The match was a back-and-forth battle which culminated with a 3rd set. Unfortunately, I did not perform my best. Hitting balls out of the court is never good in a short game to 15. Contenders bracket we go.
The AVP invited us to meet and chat with some of the title sponsors for the event, so even though we had just lost we had to go do some chit chatting. Once that was over I went into a hermit like mode. I didn’t want to talk to anyone or see anyone. I wasn’t necessarily angry. I was more sad with a dent in my confidence. I kept trying to get myself to shake out of it but for about 3 hours I was definitely on the pity me train. Thankfully no one else saw that. This is not a reaction that usually happens to me, but I think all athletes have been here on more than one occasion. You just really have to boost your confidence back up and something I should have done earlier in the evening… see other people and get your brain off volleyball. I got my brain off volleyball because Mrs.Tricia was coming to my room to do some treatment on my legs (leg flush/stretch, etc). It was a great break from replaying points over and over in my head.
We had an interesting dinner that evening… we got breakfast from one restaurant which Mike went and graciously picked up for us, and then we also ordered bolognese from a nearby Italian restaurant which Eric went and picked up. We deleted that meal on Taryn’s hotel bed. Absolutely delicious.
I ended the evening with some much needed visitors – Megan, Jasmine and Sara. As much as I didn’t want to be around other people it was definitely a blessing that I didn’t even realize I needed. I don’t think volleyball was discussed one time. The lost game was forgotten about and my confidence was back.
Championship Sunday – Match 1 – Graudina/Bauer. We started strong and then they fought back in the second. With timely plays we were able to pull out the victory in 2 sets. We had a little over an hour before we were scheduled to play the semis against Hughes/Cheng. Like Saturday, Sunday was a hot one. Hotter than Saturday. With the quick turnaround, we settled for a dip in the lake before changing into fresh suits. Our moms and my Aunt Clare went and did some errand runnings for us… getting food, coffee and my Coke Zero. (What would we do without all the support/help???) When the 15 minute mark before game time hit we decided we should probably get up and head to the court. I think a handful of warmup swings happened, and before we knew it we were in serve receive for the first point of the match.
They came out strong with a solid 21-17 win. Set two was more back and forth and I think the heat started to play a slight factor. We could see them feeling the high 90 temps, but since we train in way worse everyday it gave us confidence. In addition, we were feeding off or 70+ people cheer section. Sitting under our umbrella and listening to different sections of a packed crowd chant TKN is a scene that will never escape my brain. And I think I can speak for Taryn and Drew as well. Drew even asked, “What is happening because this has never happened.” Focus was back on the game and the elements, and we knew we could handle the elements. We took that and ran with it pulling out a thrilling 3 set victory. Finals set – rematch from last years championship.
We had 2 hours before the finals and I wish I had a videographer following me around. Taryn directed Tricia immediately to the players tent because I could feel some foot cramping coming on. I was straight up scared that this was the beginning of full body cramping. I knew the finals were going to be a battle but all my focus was directed on not cramping. All I could think in my head was “will my body hold up for me?, how much do I have left in the tank, how much does Mel/Brandie have left?”. Within the first 30 minutes post semis I think I drank 3 liters of water with 5 packets of liquid IV. I needed as much sodium in my body as possible. Drew was feeding me water and food, my mom was feeding me water and food and Taryn was feeding me food all while Tricia was doing treatment on me. It was a true team effort.
Georgie also came through – we decided it would be best for me to do a cold tub at the hotel, so my dad handled that. I made the quick 8-minute walk to hotel for that. On the walk back I just kept telling myself, “Your body will hold up, your body will hold up.” But I definitely had doubts. I was not feeling fresh in the slightest. I felt my muscles on the brink of cramping. I didn’t take a single jump pre match. I was feeling good after the first set but when the second set started going downhill a little bit of panic was setting in, especially when I dove for a ball and my right quad slightly cramped but released. Only to then have my right hamstring slightly cramp but both released immediately. Phew. Crisis everted… for now. No one may have noticed, but I was panicking to say the least. Set 3 started and I was in survival mode which I ultimately thing helped. I couldn’t try and do anything stupid offensively because I physically couldn’t. That paid off. Taryn absolutely BALLED out all weekend long, so it was only fitting that the final point ended with her blocking the ball. Back-to-Back Chicago Champs and to the lake we went… slowly!
A tunnel was formed, and Taryn and I went running through it before diving in. Most of our group joined in the excitement. Splashing, splashing and more splashing. People who we did not even know were just coming over to enjoy the festivities and excitement. To quote a random lady from the water, “I don’t even know what we are celebrating but this is fun. I’m down!”
By: Kristen Nuss
