China Trip Blog Day 3: McNeal Impresses; Team Head to the City

Nebraska today won five of seven sets versus the Shanghai Pro A Team, a pro team comprised of players in their twenties.  Both squads split up initially so that there were two matches of two games each.  Then the full teams played three more games against each other.

Both Nebraska setters and right sides again played well, as did middle blocker Jordan Wilberger, Allison McNeal, Tara Mueller and Hannah Werth. Coach Cook called this a break-out performance for McNeal, who is thumping her attacks and blocking better than cholesterol.

The Shanghai Pro A Team coach was not pleased that his professional group would lose to a college team, repeatedly lighting up a cigarette and even talking on his cell phone at one point.  He calmed down later and was a hospitable host of a luncheon for the coaches - a farewell luncheon after forty-eight hours at the Shanghai Pro Team's training facility.

The Huskers then traded the vast grounds and concrete arena in the country for the bright lights and jammed streets of Shanghai. After lunch, the team boarded a bus for the one-hour drive to the Shanghai Radisson, our home for the weekend.  Coach Cook even allowed the team the rare luxury of American fast-food cuisine at a mall before attending the Shanghai Acrobats show tonight, a show not to be missed.  The players were transfixed.

After training hard since our arrival on Wednesday, the Huskers attend the Shanghai Expo tomorrow, a world expo with pavilions from many countries and hundreds of thousands of visitors daily.  We should also get a bus tour of many of the famous areas in this city of nearly 20 million people.

The Huskers have played two matches; there are eleven left over the next two weeks.

I'm John Baylor with the Huskers in China, describing what I see.  Feel free to email us feedback on these reports or ask questions to the Husker coaches and players in China at John@JohnBaylorTestPrep.com