Seaside was a tough one. Phil and I took second place to Mike and Stein. High level match from what everyone told me.
Our first match was against a kid I recruited at UCSB named Alex Gutor. He just graduated from Penn State this year and is a very good outside hitter with a live arm. We beat he and his partner pretty easily, 9 and 7. In our second match we played Blanton and Baxter and had to go three to beat them. They played well in the first and beat us 21-19. We came back strong in the second and third and beat them by a couple of points in each game to advance to the quarters on Saturday.
In the quarters we played Ring/Olsen. We played very well and beat them handily in two games. Never really trailed and got out to good leads in both games. Our next round was against Loomis/Stolfus. They had beat Williams/Jennings and received a great draw when Mariano/Ratledge beat KK/Wong. We beat them in two games although we had to come back from being down 12-9 at the break in the second game. Good luck to Ty and Hans as they represent the USA in the PanAm games coming up. Do us proud boys.
In the crossover semis we played team jump serve, Fred and Anthony. They had groveled all the way through the losers bracket to get to the crossovers. They played well and served well too. I don’t think they had many aces but they got Phil in a lot of trouble passing. He was all over the court and I was sending up sky ball bump sets from everywhere. Thankfully Phil is probably one of the best in the world at dealing with that kind of set and at the end of each game we pulled it together and won 21-19, 21-15.
The finals were a great match between two teams that were playing very high level volleyball. Stein and Mike ended up winning the match 23-21, 15-21, 15-13. Really good game with crazy rallies that had all the players gassing for air. Just wish we could have come out on top.
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14 comments:
Great game tough Loss TJ!
Side note. Your web page lists the links for Wallpaper on your Toddjrogers.com website as being over bandwidth. Not sure what that means, but you may want to look into it as all of the pictures (at least when I tried to check are unaccessible for this reason). GL next tourney!
Cheers, DR - TKY
Todd-
I caught the Finals on the free AVPTV offer. Yes the volleyball was great. Phil had a couple blocks that just fell outside the tape which was huge. If those stayed in you guys would have taken the crown. The broadcasters were talking about the progress of your home court and mentioned you had some issues with neighbors...are they expecting wild vb parties?? One question...the Miami Dolphins did an extensive study about body temperature in relation to the color of the uniforms. Thus they wear all white from head to toe at home since it is found to lower the body temp by 5 degrees. So why are you wearing a black Red Bull hat? I think a white hat like Stein had is more appropriate. By the way his hat was constantly falling off...if a spike going out hits his airborne hat as it is coming off his melon does that count as a touch? It almost happened once. Have a great week and enjoy the time at home with the family! Scott from Cape Cod, Mass
Todd,
Interesting couple of weeks for you and Phil. Was hoping you could follow up on some training tips both during and off season. You had alluded to some things in your earlier blogs.
thanks
Jeff
Scott- Honestly, kind of shocking that they had to do a study on something like that when it is well known that White reflects light and black absorbs it. We all learn that in 4th grade or something like that. The black hat is what they send me. Has not been very hot at any of the events I have worn the hat at. Louisville and NJ were probably the two hottest events while I have worn the black hat and both of those were comfortably warm but certainly not hot like AZ.
Jeff- Anything specific? Can't remember what I said and don't want to go through all the blogs.
Todd
Todd,
I was surprised at how many of the breaks went to Mike/Stein in the Seaside Final (and to your opponents in the last few finals). And I was impressed with Stein's hitting. Seems like he was in a zone against you guys.
It time for you guys to climb to the top of the podium again. I predict that the "zeitgeist" in Germany will be with you guys this week -- Phil will block like a wall and you will scoop anything he misses.
I see a 21-18, 23-25, 17-15 final over Ricardo/Emanuel in my little black eightball.
:)
Good Luck!
Dave (still) in San Diego
For me it seems like the thing missing in your team is the energy. Your team can do everything better and still your loosing.
Mayby you should bring in a coach, only for pumping up the energy and motivation.
my weekends are free, I'll volunteer to sit in your corner and fire you guys up
Jeff
Todd and Phil take down the Kiwis in pool play...Good!
You will win the Tournament in Berlin this weekend.
I don't know if the draw will allow it but good luck in Berlin to you and Phil and hopefully it can be an all American final and you can avenge your loss to Lambo and Stein.
Secondly, I enjoyed reading your interview in Dig Magazine, especially about the co-ed grass tournament with your wife and Phil being up @1am night before you supposed to play. Really great stuff from you. Hopefully they can do a part 2.
Gibb and Rosenthal lose in 39 minutes? What happened there against the 26th seed? From the pictures it looks like it is freezing over in Germany. Even the Nestea dancers are covering up their T's and A's! Todd you have my permission to wear the black hat this week....Scott from Cape Cod
Todd
good luck tomorrow. Time for the tough points fall your way.
Jeff
Charleston, SC
Thank you to everyone for all of the support. I hope you are all correct that we will win. So far so good.
I agree with the energy thing. Neither Phil or I are wear our emotions on our sleeve guys like Stein/Lambo/Jake. That being said, there is a time or place to ramp up the energy and certainly the finals would be it.
Jeff- I will take that under consideration. :)
It has been cold and rainy here in Berlin. Shocker...NOT. Been this way everywhere it seems. Today was a little better but it was raining this morning. Sun came out late though and it is supposed to warm up for this weekend.
Todd, I agree, Seaside was fun to watch and well played. You had a handful of uncharacteristics hitting errors. I am sure you will bounce back to win the next one!
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