By Aaron Rozek 

From July 24th to August 4th of this past summer the volleyball team journeyed to Japan, more specifically the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. For these twelve days the team traveled, learning the culture of the Japanese people as well as practicing and getting to play four volleyball matches against some of the local teams and colleges.
           
The volleyball team used this time "to come together as a team and build more team chemistry" said senior outside hitter Jackie Jones. Since this year's team had a lot of new faces on it, including three incoming freshman, the team took this time "to welcome the new players and try to grow closer as a team leading up to the season." 
           
Throughout the twelve-day venture the Maverick volleyball team played four matches against local university teams. Playing these matches were used as valuable experience for the new-look Mavericks, when asked about the matches and how the Japanese teams compared to the teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and the United States, sophomore outside hitter Morgan Olson said, "the biggest difference in the teams is the height, the Japanese players are a lot shorter which made them have a different playing style than what were are use to." When asked the same question Jones said "The Japanese defense was unlike anything we've ever seen before, they are extremely scrappy and seem to get every ball back over the net." Jones went on to say, "playing that type of team it really prepared us even more for our season back in Mankato." While playing in Japan the Mavericks were confronted with something they rarely see; heat. "Most matches were played in a gym where it was anywhere from 85 to 95 degrees," Jones said. "Playing in those conditions made us a lot tougher and mentally stronger as a team, as well as just being able to over come any adversity thrown our way".

When the team wasn't sweating it out in the gyms they were adventuring throughout their stops over in Japan. Some of the adventures included; going to the Imperial Palace, learning about Shintoism at the Meiji Jingu Shrine, and touring the oldest Buddhist temple the Shintennio Temple. But out of these journeys and many others the team took while they were there they all seemed to agree that biking around the lake at Mt. Fuji was by far the team's favorite thing they did while in Japan. The team described the eleven-mile bike ride as a breathtakingly gorgeous ride, and was so peaceful the eleven miles felt like just one mile.
           
"Being able to go on this whole journey with this team was a once in a lifetime experience," said Olson. Not only was the Maverick volleyball team visitors to Japan but they also were representatives of both the US and Minnesota State University. "The opportunity to be able to represent the US and Minnesota State was amazing and our team took it as a huge honor," Jones said. "This whole trip was an amazing experience that I know we will never forget and meant a lot to me and the rest of the team that we could do something like this."