Love the Deep Sand

Back in the winners circle in Hermosa Beach. Good to be back after a one week hiatus. Great weather, great ambiance, great tourney.

Enjoyed playing in very deep sand for the first time on the AVP this year. Australia had pretty deep sand but other than that, Miami, Dallas, Huntington Beach, Charleston, Italy, Louisville, and Atlanta were all hard packed and shallow. It is so much more fun to play defense in the deep stuff. Guys can't get up and bang from way off the net or hit severe angles where the defensive player is at such a disadvantage. The good defensive players were making a lot of digs this week.

We started off against the qualifier team of Aaron and Travis. I actually recruited Aaron to UCSB but he shined me and went to UCLA instead. Good player with great ball control but small. First time in the main draw for him so congrats to him. We won the game pretty handily in two with scores of around 14 and 12 or so. In our second game on Friday we played Tramblie and Morrison. We struggled with them in Atlanta and barely beat them in two. We were much better in Hermosa and won 15 and 15 or so. I have to say, Ty is the best defensive player on the AVP tour. It isn't close in my opinion. Phil and I were discussing it and he apologized to me saying that after the performances that Ty has put in against us, he had to vote for him for best defensive player. I have to agree with Phil. Ty plays with a passion for defense that is unmatched by anyone on tour. It is fun to watch and to play against. Keep up the good work Ty.

On Saturday we played Nick and Sean in the quarters of the winners bracket. When the draw is a full field draw it is getting pretty tough. Nick and Sean were the 9th seed! We won in 2 games with scores of about 16 and 17 or so. The first game we came out strong and maintained a healthy lead the whole way. The second was much closer until the end when we pulled out a bunch of points. We had to wait the entire day after playing at 9am. We played Rosie and Jake after the women's final at about 4:0o that afternoon. Kind of lame since there are about 1000 courts to play on at Hermosa. Anyways, as always it was a battle. Kind of a war of attrition. In the first game Phil and I were very bad and lost 21-15. In the second game Rosie and Jake were very bad and lost 21-12 or so. In the third game it was tight until 5-5. We then scored 3 in a row. Phil had an over set that he should have blasted straight down but sent it 15 feet out the back of the court. That gave them momentum and I let that mess with my head. I sided out the next play but then they reeled off something like 5 points and ended up ahead 13-11. I sided out to make it 13-12. I scooped Jake but then hit a line shot out to give them match point. I sided out again to make it 14-13 Jake and Rosy. I served Jake and he hit it high off of Phil. I chased it down at the end line and threw up a 50/50 set to Phil who pounded it with no block up. The next point I scooped Jake and we scored again to make it 15-14 us. I then pulled a super dumb dumb and served a jump float to Jake about 4 feet out the back line. Retarded!! I sided out the next play though and then we won on a scoop by me I think. Have a tough time remembering the last points of close matches. Great game and entertaining for the fans.

On Sunday we played the surprise team of Nygaard and Mayer. They are playing very good volleyball right now and seem to compliment one another. I expect them to continue to have some good finishes throughout the rest of the year. We won in 2 games pulling away at the end of each game to win 16 and 16 or so. Nice finish by those guys.

In the finals we played Matt and Casey. It was a great defensive battle. No aces and only a handful of blocks. Tons of digs though with lots of great rallies. The first game was close but we broke it open midway and cruised to a 21-14 victory. The second game they were up 12-9 at the break but we caught them at 17 all. Casey made a great scoop on an angle bang by me and put it away to go up 20-18. I put the next ball away to make it 19-20. Phil had a great jump serve to Casey but Casey made a fantastic pass. Casey shot a short line shot which I picked up off the sand. I hit the ensuing set off of Casey but Matt ran it down. His set went over the net and I hit it off Casey again. He blocked me but it went high on our side and right to Phil. I set him and he banged it hard off of Casey's block to tie it up at 20 all. We traded side outs for a bit and then Phil and I got another point off of a scoop and put away by me. A couple sideouts later I got another scoop and we scored the final point to win the match and the title. Congrats to Matt and Casey who are playing really good volleyball right now.

Time to catch a plane to Berlin now. Never seems to end. I will catch up with you all of you from Germany.