Sienna Zapparoli watched the Paris Olympics women’s indoor volleyball gold-medal match last August. Well, some of it. She was asleep for most of the action seven time zones away. Zapparoli moved from Italy to Champaign this year for a “change of perspective,” and during that transition, Italy and the United States played each other for the gold medal, which conflicted Zapparoli.

“I was just enjoying good volleyball,” Zapparoli said. “In my heart, it’ll always be Italy, but I was rooting for Team USA.” She used to play for the Vero Volley club in Italy, the same club a couple of Italian national team players attended. Let’s just say Zapparoli wasn’t the biggest fan of those players, which shifted her rooting interest a little more toward her new home.