Best of the Beach

Phil and I were not able to defend our title as the best of the beach in San Francisco. That went to the well deserving team of Matty Furbs and Casey Jennings. They have been playing really good ball lately and showed that in the finals. Congratulations to them on winning!

As for Phil and I, well, we were pretty average this tourney. We were lucky to make the semi's in truth. We beat Nick and Mark in 3 games but should have lost. We were down 8-3 in the third as I couldn't side out or find the sand for the life of me. We came back purely behind Phil's blocking and several errors by them. Fortunate to escape.

Against Anthony and Fred we once again escaped by the skin of our teeth. We got smoked in the first game due to a gaggle of aces by Fred and Anthony. They again mostly went at Phil with very tough serves and forced a lot of bad passes and shanks. In the second game the tides were turned as Anthony was struggling to find the court with some shakier sets by Fred. In the third, we found ourselves down 13-10. Phil sided out and then controversy struck. Phil dropped and scooped a line shot by Anthony. He swung deep angle and it barely hit the line. I heard it hit the line. The line judge called it out first and then changed his call to in. The top ref gave it to us and then they had to check the line ect.... Fred kept saying it was out as did Anthony. Ended up giving it to us and Fred just about killed the ref. I went and looked and to me it looked clearly in. It was funny as we were discussing all this my daughter came out on the sand and gave her "two cents." It was pretty classic in my view. I don't think anyone else appreciated it though.

That made the score 13-12 us down. We switched sides and Anthony hammered one angle that I picked barely off the sand and it shot over the net to Fred who hit it into the net to tie it 13 all. They sided out the next play as did we. Next play I remember is Phil stuffing Anthony for match. Escaped again.

During the first game my daughter, Hannah, who was right next to the box, was trying to give Phil passing advice. She was yelling Phil's name and when I looked over she was showing him how to get low and get his arms out in front of him. Put everything in perspective for me after that. Phil didn't see her doing that but it was a classic moment for me.

In our semifinal game vs. Jake and Rosy we straight up got beat. They came out very aggressive from the service line and had 4 clean winners down Phil's line and also forced several bad passes by him. They were really fired up and we were not. Rosy played great defense and Jake blocked a bunch of balls. Mostly me in transition as I think he got me about 3 times. The second game was closer. We were up 18-17 before they sided out and Phil hit two balls out. Rosy then sided out for match to win 21-19. We were very lethargic and just didn't have it that day.

Phil's knee has been bugging him and we are both pretty banged up. Therefore, Phil decided to rest the knee rather than play in the third place game. Hyden and Keenan took our place and beat Mike and Stein in 2 games. Phil is okay and we will be playing in Brazil in the last tourney of the year. Thank God on that one!!!! Ready for the season to be done!