It has been a long first two weeks of travel and tourneys for Phil and I. We were originally all set 2 go to Miami on the Thursday before the event. Standard procedure for most tourneys. BUT....Literally on Wend. before Miami we were asked and confirmed to go to Miami early to do a clinic on Thursday afternoon. I tried to change my flight on Thursday to get in earlier but was not able to do so. Probably a good thing considering I was flying American and that day they cancelled around 1000 flights. So I literally booked a ticket on United and US Airways out of LAX at 4pm on Wend. and flew out of LAX at 10pm. Got into Miami through Philly around noon or so. I was fortunate as I received the upgrade from LAX to Philly which is huge on those redeye flights.
We did the clinic with about 150 kids along with several other athletes and coaches. Played in the tourney and won. We were then supposed to fly out from Miami to Chicago direct on United at 5:45pm on Sunday after the finals. Unfortunately, the AVP moved the final from 2:30 to 3:30 and then a quick rainstorm came up lasting 30 minutes. So we didn't start the finals until closer to 4pm on Sunday. We finished quickly and could have rushed from the beach to make our flight but we had to stay and do the finals ceremony and media stuff. By the time that all ended it was almost 5:15 and we were a 20 minute cab ride from the airport. Not going to happen for us.
We rebooked a flight on American that had us leaving Miami at 10:30 and going to Nashville at 11:45. We booked a hotel in Nashville close to the airport and slept there for about 4 hours. We then got up at 5am and flew out of Nashville at 6am to Chicago. Landed at 7:45am and jumped in a cab to go to downtown Chicago to do a USOC Media Summit all day. Had lots of photos and video done as well as standard media interviews. Literally from about 9:30am until 6:30pm with a 30 minute break for lunch and a 1 hour break mid-afternoon. By the end of the day my head was swimming. We didn't even bother checking into the hotel, just stashed our stuff in the athlete lounge and went around the Palmer House Hotel doing interview stuff ect... At 6:30pm we boarded a shuttle back to the airport and flew out at 9pm to LAX. Got in around 11:30 and Phil drove back to his house with me as his passenger. We had carpooled down on Wend. as we both were taking redeye's that day. I then got into my car at Phil's and drove the last hour back to my house. Got in around 2am or so and went to bed about 2:30am.
Had two days to rest and workout and then Thursday we were back on the plane to Dallas. Got a reprieve on Friday because of the whole sand fiasco which was kind of nice considering. Won the tourney and got home on Sunday at midnight.
Glad this weekend we have off to rest and relax and gear up for what is going to amount to about 23 straight weeks of tourneys. Long season and here we go.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Dallas Recap
Came out on top of the pile again. We were strongly tested by Jake and Rosy in both matches we played against them though.
Friday's play was cancelled due to very poor and packed sand conditions. The weather Thursday night played a small factor as well. There was a tornado warning and a downpour as well. Because of the tourney delay the AVP decided to do the round of 24 in single elim. format. Phil and I as well as the other top 8 teams had a bye into the round of 16 and the double elim. format.
Our first game we played Placek and Marchewka, a qualifier team. They had beaten ALB and Rester in a bit of an upset. In both games we pulled away about mid game and beat them around 15 and 15 or so. They have now qualified in the last two tourneys and have played most teams pretty tough. I suspect they will be in the main draw here fairly soon if they keep up their solid play. Our second game was against Ratledge and Mariano who upset Loomis and Stolfus. 9 seed vs. 8 seed. We were down 9-12 at the break in the first but roared back as Ed made a bunch of unforced errors combined with a dig and block to win 16 or so. The next game we pulled ahead quickly and won by about the same score.
Saturday night we played Jake and Rosy in the winners semis. I was terrible in the first game making a ton of unforced errors. We got smoked and at one point were down 14-5. The second game was a reversal as we smoked them. The third game both teams played well and we were able to pull it out 17-15 for the win.
On Sunday we played Mark and Aaron in the crossover semis. They came out strong as Mark was touching a lot of my shots and hits at the net and they were converting them for points. We were down 14-8 when Phil took over. We won the match 21-16. We scored about 8 points in a row and about 6 of them were blocks by Phil. The second game we maintained our momentum and cruised to the win.
In the finals we played Jake and Rosy again. They came out strong in the first game and won 21-16. We didn't play bad so much as they played great. Particularly Rosy. He saved at least 5 points with great covers and hitting on two. In the second game we got the points he was saving in the first and won 21-16. The third game we were down 6-4 and then sided out and scored a point. We took the next switch up 8-7 serving. At the end we pulled ahead 13-10 but Rosy made a diving pass on my jump float and put it away. Jake then blocked Phil to make things interesting with a 13-12 side switch with them going to the good side. Jake served me and I put it away with a cross court hit. The next play Rosy hit a shot long down the line and we won 15-12.
Friday's play was cancelled due to very poor and packed sand conditions. The weather Thursday night played a small factor as well. There was a tornado warning and a downpour as well. Because of the tourney delay the AVP decided to do the round of 24 in single elim. format. Phil and I as well as the other top 8 teams had a bye into the round of 16 and the double elim. format.
Our first game we played Placek and Marchewka, a qualifier team. They had beaten ALB and Rester in a bit of an upset. In both games we pulled away about mid game and beat them around 15 and 15 or so. They have now qualified in the last two tourneys and have played most teams pretty tough. I suspect they will be in the main draw here fairly soon if they keep up their solid play. Our second game was against Ratledge and Mariano who upset Loomis and Stolfus. 9 seed vs. 8 seed. We were down 9-12 at the break in the first but roared back as Ed made a bunch of unforced errors combined with a dig and block to win 16 or so. The next game we pulled ahead quickly and won by about the same score.
Saturday night we played Jake and Rosy in the winners semis. I was terrible in the first game making a ton of unforced errors. We got smoked and at one point were down 14-5. The second game was a reversal as we smoked them. The third game both teams played well and we were able to pull it out 17-15 for the win.
On Sunday we played Mark and Aaron in the crossover semis. They came out strong as Mark was touching a lot of my shots and hits at the net and they were converting them for points. We were down 14-8 when Phil took over. We won the match 21-16. We scored about 8 points in a row and about 6 of them were blocks by Phil. The second game we maintained our momentum and cruised to the win.
In the finals we played Jake and Rosy again. They came out strong in the first game and won 21-16. We didn't play bad so much as they played great. Particularly Rosy. He saved at least 5 points with great covers and hitting on two. In the second game we got the points he was saving in the first and won 21-16. The third game we were down 6-4 and then sided out and scored a point. We took the next switch up 8-7 serving. At the end we pulled ahead 13-10 but Rosy made a diving pass on my jump float and put it away. Jake then blocked Phil to make things interesting with a 13-12 side switch with them going to the good side. Jake served me and I put it away with a cross court hit. The next play Rosy hit a shot long down the line and we won 15-12.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Todd & Phil WIN second-straight AVP Cuervo Gold Crown event !
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown event in Dallas today. You can find all their scores from Dallas here - http://www.toddjrogers.com/2008.html#Dallas
Friday, April 18, 2008
Miami to Dallas
I will start off with what is going on here in Dallas as it is more current. Sand is a major issue here. The sand has a large component of clay in it and is making the sand stick together and pack down. So much so that some of the areas that get used a lot are very similar to concrete. No one played today because of that and the AVP is attempting to put in some dry sand that hopefully will have a small if not any clay in it in order to keep the sand from packing. We shall see tomorrow morning
Miami was a great tourney for Phil and I to get our first win of the season. It was on a true beach rather than the parking lot which was very nice. We got a bye first round and then played Adam and Vince. We won in 2 games that were not overly close. Our next three matches were barn burners and we won them in 3 games each. Those were against Ty and Hans in which they served well and scored a lot of points off those serves, Anthony and Fred in which they too scored a lot of service winners, and lastly Matt and Casey. They played very well and we were lucky to come out of that match with a win.
In the finals we played very very good. We gave up 5 points on 2 aces, 2 chuck sets and one hitting error by Phil. We both were aced and chucked a ball. I felt great on defense and Phil did a fantastic job blocking and kept them off balance with his serve. Congrats to Nick and Sean as they had a great tourney.
After Dallas I think I will give some insights into new and old teams and how guys are looking out here. Hopefully the big "D" tourney will happen.
Miami was a great tourney for Phil and I to get our first win of the season. It was on a true beach rather than the parking lot which was very nice. We got a bye first round and then played Adam and Vince. We won in 2 games that were not overly close. Our next three matches were barn burners and we won them in 3 games each. Those were against Ty and Hans in which they served well and scored a lot of points off those serves, Anthony and Fred in which they too scored a lot of service winners, and lastly Matt and Casey. They played very well and we were lucky to come out of that match with a win.
In the finals we played very very good. We gave up 5 points on 2 aces, 2 chuck sets and one hitting error by Phil. We both were aced and chucked a ball. I felt great on defense and Phil did a fantastic job blocking and kept them off balance with his serve. Congrats to Nick and Sean as they had a great tourney.
After Dallas I think I will give some insights into new and old teams and how guys are looking out here. Hopefully the big "D" tourney will happen.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Miami Recap Coming Soon
I have to apologize to everyone who reads this blog. I have been running all over the place and have not had a chance to blog. Even this is going to be short and sweet. I promise that either during the Dallas event or the following week I will catch up on the Miami event as well as inform about the Dallas event. Thanks for your patience.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Miami
Off to the first AVP event of 2008 in Miami in a couple of days. Playing on South Beach instead of in a parking lot which is always a bonus. Hopefully the weather will be good and their will be good crowds.
I believe that Phil and I will be the first seed and Jake and Rosy will be the second seed. After that it gets to confusing for me to follow. I do not believe that Stein and Lambo are playing due to some tenderness in Lambo's knee still. That would leave either John and Brad or Matt and Casey as your third and 4th seeds. The next several seeds I have no idea about. I know they will be Sean and Nick, Anthony and Fred, Mark and Aaron and maybe Dax and Billy. Not sure if they will be in the top 8 but it will be close.
Hopefully we can repeat as champions but every year it seems to get tougher and tougher.
I believe that Phil and I will be the first seed and Jake and Rosy will be the second seed. After that it gets to confusing for me to follow. I do not believe that Stein and Lambo are playing due to some tenderness in Lambo's knee still. That would leave either John and Brad or Matt and Casey as your third and 4th seeds. The next several seeds I have no idea about. I know they will be Sean and Nick, Anthony and Fred, Mark and Aaron and maybe Dax and Billy. Not sure if they will be in the top 8 but it will be close.
Hopefully we can repeat as champions but every year it seems to get tougher and tougher.
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