Starting their third and final day at Rio de Janeiro for the AASB Final Four Tournament, the Hawks were up early, motivated and in the pursuit for the bronze medal; they would, in four hours only, play three games. On the bus, the chants were loud and energetic, as nothing can break the EABH spirit – "let's get that first place", they sang. Arriving at EARJ, the girls and boys had to split up as two games were happening simultaneously, at 8am: boys volleyball and girls futsal.
The energy preceding the volleyball match was nerve-wracking, as the boys recovered from their unfortunate loss to the Sant'Anna wolves and were now facing their longtime foes, the OLM team. The Hawks, having won the past five games against Our Lady of Mercy, were highly motivated to keep their streak. In a beautiful victory of 3 sets versus 0, they reassured the natural order of things and beat the Lancers by a large multitude, guaranteeing themselves a place in the podium. The futsal match, played concurrently by the Lady Hawks, was not short of success; they would also get the bronze medal with a large advantage of points. Going against the Nations Cougars, EABH's athletes offered a free show: as the timer zeroed and one of the best games they have ever played was over, the scoreboard marked 8x3.
After both victories, the Lady Hawks still had one game left to play: volleyball against OLM at 9:45am. The Lancers were bitter after their loss to the Hawks just minutes before, and their cheerleading team went feral over EABH. The Lady Hawks — which, for the most part, had just played over an hour of futsal and were tired — could not handle the intensity and, mournfully, lost all three sets. The defeat did not, however, hinder the productivity of the day. At the closing ceremony, two out of the three EABH teams were awarded medals as the crowd cheered. Though Nationals might not have gone exactly as expected, the Hawks came home to their beloved Belo Horizonte with their heads held high, excited to host the Futsal-Volleyball AASB Final Four Tournament, in their very campus, next May!