What is 1,414 miles due west of Long Island? The answer is Minneapolis, Minnesota. And that’s where the girls varsity volleyball team will travel to on October 12. Captains Jill Laino, Julia Pugliese, and Kayla Rende organized the trip last February. It’s the first-ever trip for the girl’s volleyball team. However, starting this journey was quite difficult due to the immense amount of fundraising the team had to do.

The girls needed to raise around $14,000. To reach that goal, the team held various fundraisers at Moe’s, sold lottery tickets, had a car wash, and hosted a volleyball clinic for grades 4th-8th. The girls worked tirelessly to raise money and ended up obtaining over $12,000 after their carwash. As a means of breaking the tedium of fundraising, the girls began to invent words like merh, which has no real definition but will make volleyball players laugh.

The team will depart at 6:00 am and return October 14 at 11:00 pm. Head coach Dan O’Shea and assistant coach Susanne Hoffman have set up a fun-filled, swag schedule. The first day in Minnesota, the girls will watch a University of Minnesota volleyball game, tour the campus, and also tour the athletic facilities. The coach of the University of Minnesota women’s volleyball team, happens to be the head coach of the USA men’s volleyball team, Hugh McCutcheon.

The information that Coach McCutcheon tells us will provide us with a good idea of what being a college athlete is like. The next day, the team will play in a tournament against local teams from Minnesota.

“We’ll be playing some really good competition, but as long as we play our game, we’re set,” says player, Tori Spencer. On the final day, they will be going to the Mall of America and doing karaoke.

All in all, this trip to Minnesota will be an educational experience and allow the girls to become even closer than they already are. Besides the trip, the girls plan on continuing their hard work for the rest of the season. Right now we are 4-0, but have some stiff competition coming up. The hard games coming up can be pretty nerve wracking, but when we think of “merh,” all our nerves will go away.