Davenport University Athletics

"Hola y espero que todos estan bien! (Hello and I hope that you are all well!) We began our last full day in Nicaragua with an amazing breakfast (either pancakes or waffles) and headed out of Granada. We drove about 45 minutes back to Laguna de Apoyo where we visited the first day we were here; however, we got a little different view of the lake today! We drove down to the base and were given the entire day to enjoy the gorgeous views and amazing sunshine! We could kayak, swim, hammock, and paddle board as much as we wanted! There was a floating swim dock that we spent hours jumping off of and taping each other, and of course a bet went out for Charlie to do a belly flop...let's just say ask any of the girls for the video and we will happily show you :).The day continued to get better as 17 college girls were presented pizza for lunch. I can tell you that other than a diamond, a girls best friend is pizza! We stayed at the lake until 3, and then loaded the bus to head back to Managua for our final match of the week against the national team. We got to play at their national training center in the heart of Managua. During our game, it rained so hard that we had to literally stand face to face and yell at each other in order for us to hear what anyone was saying! In the end, we lost a tough match in four. We fought hard and headed back to the hotel to end the day with dinner. We are so thankful for an amazing, humbling, and safe week for our entire team, and we can't wait to see you all and tell you all about it! Buenas noches y hasta manana! (Good night and see you tomorrow!)"

-Junior Ashley VanderHorst

August 7, 2017 (Day 6)

"To start the day, we had a delicious breakfast by the pool in our hotel. After eating we loaded the bus to go on a jungle boat cruise through Lake Nicaragua. We got to see monkey island but sadly we weren't allowed to play with any of the monkeys. After the boat ride we had some free time to explore the beautiful city of Granada and grab lunch. Then we traveled to a gym where we held a youth camp for some young girls from Granada. It was a unique opportunity to bond with some local children through our love for volleyball. When the camp was finished we all felt like celebrities because all of the girls wanted selfies with us. We then returned to our hotel and walked to a cafe down the street for an awesome dinner. After dinner we had some team bonding time by the pool and then we were off to bed."

-Junior Sarah Wendling

August 6, 2017 (Day 5)

"We left the hotel around 9AM, and made the drive from San Juan del sur to Granada. The drive was about an hour and a half long so we were able to get a nice nap. Once we arrived we went to a restaurant that was run completely by deaf servers for lunch. They even gave us earplugs so that we would be able to experience a small piece of what there lives are like daily. In the same building men made hammocks to sell and we learned how to make hammocks. We were able to buy a hammock if we wanted to. After a delicious pasta lunch, we checked into our hotel in Granada, and were able to walk around the town and explore a bit. The town was fun and had a different feel than San Juan Del Sur, but it was hot so after exploring a lot of us hopped in the pool for a quick swim. Our game was indoors this time, on a glossed over concrete floor. It was an intense game, but we ended up losing in 4 sets. Afterwards, we went straight to dinner at a pizza joint in town. The pizza was amazing! We ended dinner by celebrating Sarah's birthday. We sang to her while she blew out a candle on a trés leché cake. It was a great day!"

-Freshman Laura Bouwkamp

August 5, 2017 (Day 4)

"The day started out with a rough ride to the peak of Nicaragua, we were strapped in and ready to go. We were headed to zip line the country, but before we could “wahoo” our way down the line we had to fend off some 1,000,000 ants that were eager to climb up our legs and give us some not so loving bites. Some of us were conquering our fear of heights, and or our fear of dangling from a cable wire that was probably closer to the ground than we thought!
The view was beautiful, the ride was amazing but that was just the beginning of our fun filled day.
After zip lining our way thru San Juan Del Sur, we had a quick change into our beach attire and were off to Playa Hermosa -one of the best surfing spots in Nicaragua! Before heading into the Pacific Ocean, we had a wonderful lunch with a glass of iced tea that resembled the refreshing taste of an Arnold Palmer, it was delicious. Now that our stomachs were full of juicy chicken it was time to hit the waves and hit them we did. 3 heats of 30 minutes with our surf instructors and we were ready to conquer the waves on our own, and that we did. After the three heats I decided to grab my rash guard and head out, soon after a couple other girls came out and joined me. What felt like minutes was a few hours, the sun the sea and the sky were encapsulating, it was a wonderful care free day and I cannot wait to head out to the ocean again, soon!"

-Sophomore Jenn Kay Vander Meer

August 4, 2017 (Day 3)

"In the morning we split up into two groups, one group volunteered at Escuela Adelante a local preschool and another group went to Manos Unidas, a cooperative for people with disabilities. This was a wonderful experience for everyone, reaching out to the community and giving back to the people of Nicaragua. After volunteering we had some free time to explore the town and get some lunch! The shops around town are so cool and have a lot of neat items to choose from! For lunch a lot of the girls stopped at a local pizza shop and ate pizza cones ( literally a pizza shaped as a cone) and finished that with some gelato! Afternoon came around and we suited up for our first match versus the Nicaraguan national team! We were a little nervous about the concrete courts, but very intrigued by the environment! The sun was setting so it was so hot, and we got to play under the lights! Music was going the entire match and the environment was lively. We played great and took them to 5 sets. We were down 8-10 in the fifth when suddenly the lights shut off! Complete darkness. We then grabbed our stuff and walked next door to a little restaurant for some quesadillas! After that we went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep to get ready for zip lining and surfing the next day!"

-Senior Krissy Dill

August 3, 2017 (Day 2)

"We woke up and ate breakfast early in the morning. The hotel had a buffet with a large assortment of food including omelettes, bacon, fresh fruit, and fresh juice. We then loaded the bus around 8 to head to San Juan Del Sur. Halfway there we stopped at a scenic overlook. We looked out on a volcanic crater lake called La Guna de Apoya. It was very beautiful yet very windy. My hat almost fell off many times. If people had to go to the bathroom we had to pay 30 cents. We hopped on the bus to finish our ride to the city. We arrived to San Juan Del Sur and jammed all of our bags in tiny room cause our rooms weren't ready. At around 1 we all hopped in the back of two pick up trucks. We went for a ride through the jungle to a lunch provided by the women's cooperative group. One of the trucks lost a tire so we had to go back and pick the rest of the girls up. There was a ton of food at lunch. There was chicken and rice and beans and salsa and plantain chips and veggies and watermelon and other stuff I can't remember. It was all homemade and delicious. After lunch we played with the children at the local school. We could play soccer, trouble, uno, color or do puzzles. We then made our way back to the hotel and had a couple hours to relax and explore. For dinner we went to a restaurant on the beach and watched a few folklore dances and listen to live music. We learned how to salsa dance. After that we went back to the hotel and went to our rooms for bed."

-Senior Emily Kutch

August 2, 2017 (Day 1)

"We started off our trip by departing DU around 5:30 a.m. for a three hour bus ride to the Chicago airport. No one forgot anything serious (minus coach :) ) and Carly managed to only throw up once on the bus ride. Our first flight was only two hours to Atlanta, after which we had a three hour layover. During that time we all ate, Carly peed 12 more times, and everyone tried to charge their phones. Our last flight was four hours and took us to our first stop of Managua. We all jumped into vans and made our way to the first hotel. We had dinner, which were chicken burritos. I think everyone on the team enjoyed it, except Izzy. We finished with a short talk on some Nicaraguan culture. After our talk, the whole team went to their rooms and crashed for the night.

Laters peeps" -Junior Sami White

The Davenport volleyball team is less than a week away from embarking on a 7 day trip to Nicaragua. They will be the first DU athletics team to embark on a foreign tour. All 17 members of the 2017 squad will be traveling along with Coach Lenhart and her husband, assistant coach Hannah Stone, and athletic trainer Cathy Bersuder.

The trip will be broken up into thirds - a third outreach, a third competition, and a third culture. The team will begin and end their trip in Managua, Nicargua's capital city. They will spend three days of the trip in San Juan del Sur where they'll visit a local women's cooperative, assist at a local school, volunteer at a cooperative for people with disabilities, and work with a local preschool.

In their last destination of Granada, the team will get to visit artisan markets with goods made by people with disabilities and host a youth volleyball clinic.

Throughout the trip, DU will play three matches against the Nicaragua national team. One of those matches will be on an outdoor court near the beach.

The team is so excited for this experience. We hope to have a small impact on these communities as they have so little. 

Please return to our blog for updates, as well as our Facebook and Instagram pages.  We hope to show some live video from our matches as well.