Bitter Sweet for Phil and I this past weekend. We won the actual Huntington Beach Open Tourney but then lost in the Cuervo Bonus Round Tourney on Sunday.
We got a bye first round and then beat Fonoi and Dain. Fonoi made it to $1,000,000 for his career and I must say congratulations to him for that. He is still playing very good I have to say as well. We won that game in two and then played Ring and Aaron. We beat them down in the first game but they mixed it up in the second and came out with a 21-19 victory. The third was about 5-5 and then we pulled away to win 15-9 or so. That was our Friday.
On Saturday we started off in the winners semis against Jake and Rosy. Won a very tight first game 23-21. In the second we started off with 2 chuck sets by Phil and then two errors by me. Not a good start and we continued the poor play throughout that game. In the third it was all about the controversial ref calls. The first point I was screaming about an over by Jake that the ref called for them. I still disagree with the refs interpretation as he admitted that Jake was over but felt I was not going for the ball. It was then 5-4 us and Jake hit a ball hard angle that made the line move but the ball mark was out. Another controversial call that went our way this time. There was also 4 chuck calls that were all very tight and 2 other non set calls that probably could have been called based on how the ref was calling it. From that call on Rosy and Jake seemed to be in a funk and we went up 13-7 and won 15-9 or so.
In the next round we played Mark and Stein who had grovelled through the losers. Both games were tight until the end when we pulled away to win 16 and 17. In the finals we played Hyden and Keenan. The first was not close at all as we won easily. The second we were ahead most of the game and then they pulled ahead around 17-15 or so. We pulled it together and made some good plays to win 23-21 in the second. 3 Tourneys and 3 wins. Hopefully we can keep that up.
On Sunday we came out strong against Hyden and Keenan and smoked them in the first game. In the second they smoked us by mixing up their defense and block and siding out better. The third game they had a slight lead and I had 2 costly hitting errors that ultimately cost us the match. Jake and Rosy beat Matt and Casey and went on to beat Hyden and Keenan to win the extra $25,000. Congrats to them. I did not like this format at all but I think most everyone else does. Phil and I won the 3 Cuervo events but don't win the bonus. Same goes for Misty and Kerri due to injury. Very confusing even for the players much less the fans and the casual fan.
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14 comments:
Congrats on the win, but bummer on the Cuervo payout. Will you make that money up in AVP "appearance fee" payouts for going to Charleston instead of the FIVB?
Good stuff Todd. Yeah I thought that Sunday "tournament" was odd. It seems like it was more of an exhibition like when Apollo Creed fought Ivan Drago or how they let the MLB All Star Game determine home field advantage. You and Phil should have taken the whole ball of wax with your threepeat. I still havent seen any of the AVP action on the Fox Sports Net out of Boston. I will taker a deeper dive into those listings. Have you and Phil started getting bombarded with media requests leading up to the Olympics? Must be tough to stay focused with all the demands in your personal and professional life but we know you will get thru them and come out on top. Good luck. If anyone wants to check out some of my pics for Umass last weekend (including one with our new hoop coach) head over to my blog...I am the guy with the Adidas Umass Amherst sweatshirt
http://centerville02632.blogspot.com/
Todd,
Thanks for your post and your candor. I really miss watching the tourneys on the internet. Last year, I was a hardcore fan. Now I'm more of a casual observer. Will I even be able to watch you and Phil win the Olympic gold?
Hopefully I'll be able to catch you guys live in Boulder or San Diego this summer :)
Dave in San Diego
Congratulations on winning Huntington Beach. Sucks about sunday. I thought it was strange that only the winning team won any money. The powers-that-be keep saying they're trying to change these formats to appeal more to a casual fan. As far as that's concerned, I think there are people who love volleyball and then there's everyone else. Changing to rally scoring and shrinking the court, in my opinion, hasn't changed anything.
Also just got around to reading Dig. Reading about Phil throwing up was hilarious(not for him though!). What exactly is involved on the 400's and step days? Also loved the Mikasa ad with you and Phil's mug shots. Good luck this weekend in Charleston.
Garret
2 cents worth
Had the chance to visit the Charleston AVP this weekend and my observations
FORMAT- much smaller set-up than last year with 4 vs 8-9 courts, no qualifier and 24 team draw. However with three courts stacked in line you could catch 75% of the action without having to change seats.
TEAMS- minus ROS/GIB and FUER/JEN
and some teams not travelling (where is Dax?) seemed like a lot of qualifiers had there chance in the big show. Initially impressed with the play but as things moved forward to Saturday the quality of play in the semis and cross-over made Thurs/Friday seem more like a AAA.
SPONSORS- seemed thinner this year compared to last.
VENUE- seemed to be well liked from the few players I talked to, the clubhouse seemed to be a plus providing food for about everyone. Sand looked better and didn't hear any complaints.
PLAY-
without question the surprise of the tourney was the play of Tramblie/Morrison knocking off seeds 2 and 7 in the winner's. Tramblie at 6'0" has a heavy hand, chases down the deep line as well or better than anyone, and just generally loves what he is doing. He is a great face for the AVP and they need to CAPITALIZE.
Wach/Ring are just fun to watch. Huge heat, generally personable guys and Ring just amazes me with his vertical and ability to block consistently. For a recent pairing taking a third is impressive.
Wong/Olson played well, and teams tried to serve either/or; Kevin is deceptively competant at siding out and capitalizing on botched plays for easy points. Matt was chasing down some balls.
Lucena/Scott good showing. Scott seemed the most emotional of the two (unusual) this weekend and took the loss to Phil/Todd in the winner's particularly hard.
PHIL/TODD- first congratulations, I'm sure there are statistics (Dr. Ono) but I have to believe that is one of the shortest roads to a championship (10-0, 3 hours 48 minutes of play); not a bad payday.
Todd seemed all business, studying teams, tendencies, and trends up until the finals. First game was the closest competition for P/T and Willy seemed effective in dropping of the net to pick up Todd's cut shots or rolls. Todd was able to adjust in time to win the game with a minnie come-back. I wonder how much time Todd needs to change from planned cut shot to a full swing if blockers begin dropping off the net last second. On a lighter noteI don't know if it was William's head shot or just good ol southern hospitality, but Todd seemed to finally loosen up and I can finally confirm that Todd has a full set of teeth (Just kidding, but an occasional smile will win over more fans)
FUTURE- Well who really knows but the trend from Adelaide thru Charleston seems to be fewer losses, and more dominance...
Best of luck in Roma, which will hopefully make your qualificiation official
todd, great win at charleston...you were really flying around out there offensively and defensively...worried about you a little after you stuck your shoulder in the sand diving for a dig; didn't get a chance to catch up with you, but i did score a game ball that i will try to get signed in atlanta...great win....alan beverly/birmingham al
The Ventura(phil)/Santa Barbara(todd) connection is dominating the AVP and I love it!
The AVP must be in some serious financial trouble to come up with this crazy format and not even pay out much...what splitting $25k instead of $100k last year.
Maybe you guys need to start screaming and tearing your shirts off like the "Hov" or ripping down the net and pole system like "karch" to build some more fan interest.
Thanks to everyone for the congrats. It was a good win but Sunday I was bad and that was the bottom line I guess.
Not to much demand on time yet. Also, the ability to say no is always a good thing particularly right now.
I think the Olympic games should all be on TV. Not 100% on that but I think so. Planning on being at both tourneys.
The 400's ect... are just that. Sprints trying to reach a time with a set amount of rest between each rest. Beginning is easy, after that....
Your 2 cents were pretty much right on. Personally trying to smile a little more and enjoy myself more. During the semis I was not having a lot of fun even though we won. Have to constantly remind myself.
Todd
oh and I almost forgot about a paranoid hotel guest summoning hotel security/manager while I checked mt e-mails
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