DEKALB, Ill. -- Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) and
Samantha Boever (Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert) of the Northern Illinois University volleyball team will participate in the 2017 European Global Challenge this summer in Pula, Croatia on July 11-14.
Wolowicz, who is competing in the event for the second consecutive season, is a member of the BIP Midwest U22 team while Boever is representing the BIP South East U22 team.Â
Wolowicz's team began its trip in Prague, Czech Republic, arriving on July 6 where they will play a pair of warmup matches before making their way to Croatia. Boever and the BIP South East U22 team arrived in Munch, Germany on July 6 before moving on to Bled, Slovenia for another warmup match prior to arriving in Croatia.Â
Updates from Wolowicz and Boever will be provided on NIUHuskies.com, follow NIU Volleyball on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat at niuvolleyball. Fans can also follow the program on Instagram @niuvolley.
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July 8, 2017 (Wolowicz)
Hi! So after a couple long flights and some plane switches, we have made it to Prague, Czech Republic! It is beautiful!! Yesterday we ate dinner which, of course, was salad, pasta and pizza, so yummy!! Then we went sightseeing and saw the Charles Bridge, the sunset and we had the opportunity to take so many cool pictures!
Today we practiced in the morning, there are nine of us. Lots and Lots of hard work got put into the gym which is incredible and means we're getting better! Today we went sightseeing and got lunch on our own. Tonight we are going to dinner soon and tomorrow we play in our first friendly!
Go Huskies!
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July 10, 2017 (Wolowicz)
Hey everyone!
Today was another great day! We left the hotel at 6 a.m. and drove to Vienna, Austria. We spent a little under three hours doing a walking tour and exploring the beautiful city. We hopped back on the bus and headed for Maribor, Slovenia where we went down the alpine slide and played in our friendly. We won against a Croatian Junior National Team. Yay! We head to Pula, Croatia tomorrow for Opening Ceremonies and then we are going to start the tournament! It has been quite the experience and I love it and can't wait for it to continue!
Go Huskies!
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July 10, 2017 (Boever)
This morning our team work up early in Slovenia and ate breakfast at the Star in hotel! Our team rented bikes and rode about two miles to practice in a small gym that had no air conditioning. After practice we played four sets against the Slovenian U18 National Team. We won two out of the four sets we played against them. After the friendly match we all got on a bus and headed off to Pula, Croatia. At the border, we all had to stop to get out and let them stamp our passports. We arrived at the hotel in Pula around five o'clock and ate dinner. The food is really good but there are lots of meats that aren't labeled, so we never know what we're actually eating (haha)! We then went to the ocean for a little while before the Opening Ceremonies were held on the streets of Pula near the coliseum. All of the teams lined up for pictures and almost all of the girls from the foreign teams could sing along to the American songs better than we could. After pictures, everyone danced in a circle and learned a lot of foreign dance moves. I saw Meg and we took a picture in front of the stage holding an NIU flag!!Â
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July 11, 2017 (Wolowicz)
Yesterday all of the teams for the tournament drove to Pula, Croatia where the tournament is held. Which means Sam and I finally met up! We both discussed how much we are enjoying our trips! We then went our separate ways with our teams and headed down to the square for Opening Ceremonies. Opening Ceremonies are so fun because you get ot see all of the teams in the tournament all together! After those we went back to the hotel to get some sleep. We play today! We each have two matches.. We play the Czech Republic U23 team and the Israel U23 team! Tomorrow we play the College National Team. That's all for now!
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