Week 7 of the AVP League had us heading to Anaheim, CA early Friday morning. By early I mean waking up at 4:20am and out the door at 4:48am. I walked out the door to Taryn waiting in the car for our 20ish min drive to the Baton Rouge airport. BTR is amazing. We were parked, through security and sitting by the gate in under 15 minutes. Flight to ATL was smooth. We were able to get breakfast in the lounge and then I made a slight mistake... I already had an americano, so I went to get a decaf coffee and some fruit and sat down to check what time we boarded… the boarding pass said 9:45 and my phone showed 9:42 on the lock screen… uh oh. I took a bite of pineapple and hustled out. E to T terminal was not very close. I boarded the tram, got off at T and then took the wrong escalator and found myself in baggage claim. I was already late and now slightly worried I was going to miss the flight. I was frantically texting Taryn but after sprinting through T terminal I happily found myself waiting in line on the gate bridge. I sat down next to Taryn, and she had a coke zero waiting for me. Gulped down the coke zero and took some deep breaths to calm some of the anxiousness. Next stop Cali.
For the first time during a league event, we decided it was best to rent a car. (Side note: Renting a car is probably at the top of my list for things that make me feel older and grown up.) We got on the transport shuttle and headed to pick up our rental car. By this point it was about 1pm ET so 3pm CT. We were ready for lunch and LA traffic was not our friend. DeSimone Deli & Bakery was our destination and boy am I glad we stuck with our plan. We knew exactly what we wanted to order when we walked in, and the homestyle Italian deli customer service was elite… so friendly and offered his menu suggestions. We obviously split so we went with a Cuban and a club along with an eye-catching caramel apple bread pudding. Food was devoured and hangryness was gone. Our next stop along the route to the hotel was Target. We had to stock up on the essentials: sprite 0 being at the top, some fruit and other snacks. We even decided to just grab food for dinner since we knew leaving the hotel in the evening was going to be challenging due to our early rising and time change. We finally strolled into the hotel, picked up our evamor water that was waiting for us upon arrival, and headed to our room for some much-needed feet elevation.
Showering always feels amazing after traveling. Showering and being able to put PJs on at 7pm when traveling feels even more amazing. We relaxed by turning the TV on to watch Divergent and enjoyed our Target dinner. Staying up was hard but we pushed ourselves to 10pm.
Saturday morning was our first chill Saturday of the AVP league as this was the first and only location where we did not have a clinic. However, due to the time change we were finished eating our breakfast from Urthé Caffe (see pic) by 8:30am. To get our legs moving, making the 24-minute walk to Brot Coffee Co was decided upon. It was a chilly 60ish degree walk which felt nice in the sun but a little too chilly for me in the shade. Another first for us at a league event… we practiced on Saturday afternoon with assistance from our lovely men’s team. We got some solid touches, and we were ready to head back to the hotel to get ready for our matchup but more importantly our walk-in outfits.
We wanted to get a quick rinse in the shower only to discover that the construction on the hotel meant the water line to our wing being shut off for 30 minutes… poor timing. In the meantime we placed an Uber eats order from a nearby deli since the menu for dinner involved just about all dairy options. We devoured the sandwiches, put clothes on, put the stilettos on and headed out the door.
I am not sure how people regularly wear heels because they are so uncomfortable. I was thrilled to take them off my feet immediately after doing our walk-in. Should have recorded how quickly I and everyone else changed. Much respect for people who have to do that daily.
We were the first match of the evening, and our opponents were a San Diego Smash team needing a solid weekend to stay in contention for the championships. They came out firing. Nailing serves on each sideline, swings clipping end lines and none of that was happening for us. I was able to get some digs in the first set, but it meant nothing because I could not get the ball to the sand in transition… we got swept. NOT GOOD for making the championships. (p.s. If we had a good weekend, we could have just about solidified our spot in LA, the destination for the league championships.) We also unfortunately watched our men lose a nail bitter. They were cruising and then Chase Budinger turned it on. 0-2 Saturday was detrimental. We no longer controlled our own destiny.
John Speraw, the new USA Volleyball CEO, came out to the event so we got to meet with him after to discuss beach volleyball’s future. It was very much a conversational meeting about each sides wanting to grow the sport of beach which is very exciting. He has his hands full I can tell you that.
Sunday morning, we of course went back to Urthe Café since we always hit the same spot twice when we like it. Taryn got the same exact meal, but I ventured away from the burrito since there was cilantro on it the day prior and decided to go with an egg white, spinach and mozzarella panini on sourdough. Delicious. Post breakfast we decided to book a trip to NYC for my birthday because you know we don’t travel enough.
Match 2 had us up against the New York Nitro’s Cheng/Hughes. They made plays and we did not. I am not sure if we even ever had a lead in the match. We were swept again. Marking our third straight sweep in a row. We really felt like we let
the team down. We had to wait in pure anxiousness, hoping our men could pull off an upset against one of the men’s teams playing the best indoor/beach volleyball at the time. I write indoor/beach since these indoor environments with shallow sand are a little closer to playing indoor as opposed to be beach. It is slightly frustrating for a player like me whose skill set is more suited for true beach, finesse, wind and deep sand. This new environment is more suited for the more physical players/teams… aka the Taylors which is even more impressive that our men pulled out a gutsy three setter against them. They gave us, the Austin Aces, our first win on the weekend and more importantly sole ownership of the 4 seed in the league.
We certainly made things interesting heading into the final week. We must be better or our AVP season will be over. We need you! Come out to Dallas or cheer from home… it’s a BIG weekend ahead!
Geez, it's always something! Rushed travel, LA traffic, and high heels! Stay positive! You two are blessed with awesome talent, an incredible friendship, and the ability to turn things around. There is a reason the two of you were brought together. Now, it's up to you to determine how you want your story to play out.