American opposite Nicole Fawcett debuted for Praia Clube Uberlândia earlier this week in a pair of friendlies against Fluminese, per the teams official Facebook page. Fawcett was a member of the American team that won gold at both the 2014 World Championships and 2015 Pan American Games and was named the MVP of both the South Korean V-League and the NORCECA Championship in 2015.
In her fist game, she played in all four sets, albeit sporadically. On the second game, she subbed in in sets one and two, and later played the whole third set.
Earlier in the week, Praia Clube’s coaching staff had said that due to the team’s deep roster, they are in absolute no rush to get Fawcett playing, being very specific in stating that she still needs to do a lot of physical and conditioning work to get in top shape for Superliga. Meanwhile, they’ll only use her minimally in friendlies, playing only a few points to get her feet wet.
In her media presentation conference, Fawcett that she is eager to play with Uberlandia’s Olympic champions, Fabiana Claudino, Walewska Oliveira, and Fernanda Garay, and although she will never be able to take Daymi Ramirez’s place at the hearts of Praia Clube’s fans, she will do her best to fill that void. She also said that after playing in Brazil a few years ago, that this was the perfect opportunity for her to comeback and that former national teamer teammate Alix Klineman, who played in Praia Clube last year, had lots of advice to give to her on playing in Uberlândia.
This will be Fawcett’s second season in Brazil, as she played for Uberlândia’s bitter rivals Minas Tênis Clube in 2010/2011, after which she circled the world playing for many different teams in different countries. She will be looking to comeback from below average seasons in Turkey and Italy in the likes of her former national teamer teammate Destinee Hooker, who had previously vanished from the volleyball world, only to renew her legacy last season with Minas Tênis Clube.
She seems do be doing very well already, at least with her teammates. Here is a pic she posted on her personal Instagram page of Fernanda Garay’s wedding:
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