Volleyball Blog #4
By Gabby Rawson
Here's the final days' blog from Stan State volleyball's trip to Costa Rica. This one is from senior libero Gabby Rawson.
8/4: Today we slept in a little longer than we have been, had breakfast and headed on the road again to an organic farm.
We arrived and the first thing that happened was an introduction of what exactly we were going to do today on our trip. We started with a tour around the organic farm and saw all types of fruits and trees that we don't normally see in the U.S. We also saw ants carrying tiny leaves in a line back to their home and a poisonous red frog. Lots of bugs, especially mosquitoes. Throughout the trip we have been applying lots of bug spray but who even knows if that's been working.
After the organic farm tour, we planted our own tree and then headed down to the river for a swim to cool off from this hot, humid and sticky weather.
We had lunch under a cabana that consisted of rice, chicken, beans, squash, salad and chocolate cookies. This trip we have consumed a lot of chicken and rice.
After lunch, our tour guide gave us a cacao introduction followed by us making our own cacao paste by spinning and grinding the beans. After that we mixed the paste with liquid and sang "Bate Bate Chocolate". We then waited until our guides provided chocolate milk with cinnamon or Cheyanne pepper. After toasting with our hot cocoa, we made chocolate molds with sprinkles, salt, coffee powder, almonds and coconut flakes.
As we waited for the molding to harden, we started making sugar cane juice. The guide held out a sugar cane on one end while two people were spinning a lever opposite ways on each side and another person on the opposite end of the guide catching the cane after juicing it. We repeated the process 2-3 times and then switched groups. With a new sugar cane, we repeated the whole process again.
Once we had enough sugar cane juice, we added lemon to it and had a drink that tasted like lemonade. We toasted and enjoyed our drinks.
After we finished our drinks, our chocolate molds were ready to be packed into a baggy for us to enjoy and we headed back on the road again to our hotel.
8/5: On the road again! We had breakfast in our hotel and packed our buses up with our luggage to head to the city of Jaco. Jaco is known for the beach and surfing. The drive from San Carlos to Jaco was about 3 1/2 hours. On our way we stopped at a souvenir shop and got some goodies for us and our loved ones. After we shopped, we stopped to get lunch but first we walked to see where the crocodiles live nearby. We enjoyed some smoothies next door from our lunch spot and as we were getting ready to leave it started pouring!
We headed back on the road to our hotel; we checked in and enjoyed some downtime before we had dinner. Some of us went to the pool or the beach or both. Others enjoyed their downtime by hanging out in their rooms or going shopping downtown which is about a 10-minute walk from our hotel.
We enjoyed dinner downtown and were given money by our guide to choose whatever restaurant we wanted and a lot of us went to a Tex Mex restaurant and enjoyed some food we would normally eat at home. We have been missing American food. After dinner we headed back to our hotels and went to bed.
Latest Athletics News
- Stan State men 15th at UCR Invitational; Jackson Oliveira leads the wayLed by a top-10 finish from Jackson Oliveira, the Stanislaus State men's cross country team battled a deep and talented field in the 8K Invitational race at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, finishing 15th out of 24 teams. The Warriors were one of just five Division II programs in the race and held their own against a lineup filled with Division I competition.
- Warriors Sweep Chico State for Third Straight CCAA VictoryThe Stanislaus State volleyball team turned in a dominant performance Friday night at Fitzpatrick Arena, sweeping Chico State in straight sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-13) to extend its winning streak to three matches and remain unbeaten in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play. Led by Isabella Saucedo's 14 kills and a balanced team effort at the net, the Warriors improved to 5-5 overall and 3-0 in conference action while limiting the Wildcats to just a .082 hitting percentage.
- Stanislaus State Men’s Golf Heads to Western Washington InvitationalThe Stanislaus State Warriors men's golf team will continue its 2025-26 fall campaign next week, teeing off at the Western Washington University Invitational, hosted at Bellingham Golf & Country Club in Bellingham, Wash. The event is slated for September 29–30, featuring 54 holes (36 on day one, 18 on day two) with shotgun starts at 8:30 a.m. each morning.
- Rodriguez, Figueroa Goals Lift Warriors to 2-1 Win at WestmontStanislaus State leaned on clutch goals from Kellyann Rodriguez and Jocelyn Figueroa — and a dominant 19-7 shot advantage — to earn a 2-1 road victory over Westmont on Thursday afternoon. With the result, the Warriors improved to 3-1-2 on the season. Rodriguez struck first with her opening goal of the year, and after Westmont equalized midway through the second half, Figueroa answered just two minutes later with her first career game-winner — and third career goal — off a cross from Haylee Sousa to push Stan State past their hosts.
- Stanislaus State Cross Country Set for UC Riverside Invitational SaturdayAfter capturing the Kim Duyst Twilight and finishing seventh at their last meet two weeks ago, the 16th-ranked Stanislaus State women's team and the Warrior men return to competition this Saturday, Sept. 27, at the UC Riverside Invitational on the AgOps Course.
- For second straight week, Warriors hold No. 16 nationally and No. 1 in West Region in USTFCCCA/NCAA DII RankingsFor the second week in a row, Stanislaus State women's cross country is ranked No. 16 in the NCAA Division II national poll released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
