The first day of SAAC we played against the two hardest teams, Brasil and Ecuador; however, after suffering and giving out the best of us we were able to beat them. Throughout the following days, we played against Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, but we were undefeated and gained momentum after every game. We played with so much strength, excitement, optimism, and passion, that every point we scored was like winning the final. We wanted so badly to win this tournament that we gave everything in every single game, and that's why we got so far.
We got to the finals after fighting, yes, we suffered against the hardest teams, but no one was able to beat us. The environment at the final was so powerful that it encouraged us to give everything we had. All of the teams were watching us, and there was a lot of pressure inside the gym. We had to play against Ecuador again; we knew it was going to be a tough game. Playing against this team was really challenging and we suffered after each point, we finished every set with a one point difference. It was the 3rd and last set of the SAAC tournament and the score was 16-15 for Ecuador. The ball was in the air, and it was our time to spike, we did it, but they received the ball, they set it up, they hit it with madness, and they scored a point.
I was devastated. We had reached so far, and tried so hard that the final had to be ours. Sadly, we lost the finals, but that didn't change our great sportsmanship throughout the tournament. All of the teams surrounded our court and started cheering for us. I had never seen that before; even though we were opponents the level of friendship was admirable. That's exactly were I noticed, that no matter if you win or lose, the people who value you will always be there to help and support your team.