Olympic Pool

Our pool, as all the pools are on the men's side is pretty solid. I would say that no one has an easy pool. Some are easier than others but that is how it should be based upon how you are seeded.

In our pool we have Swiss #1, Argentina and Latvia. We play Latvia first on Saturday night. We have played them only once before and that was in Brasil last year. It was very windy in that match and they played really poorly. They have gotten a ton better and gave Matt and Casey all they could handle in Paris. They are young guys around 23 or so. They are really fiery as you might expect. They are not very big. The blocker is probably 6'4 and the defender is around 6'1. They both jump well though and I expect a much tougher match against them than what we had in Brasil last year.

In our next match we play Argentina at 9pm Monday night. This will be a bit weird since Phil and I have not played them since I think 2006 in Austria. We beat them there. This year Martine Conde has been injured and only played in Marseille and Switzerland and then sat out Austria while Baracetti played with Salema. They are a very crafty team with great shots and use the whole court. Martine is a silly good defender. I expect them to be at 100% and going all out like we will be.

In our last match we play Heuscher/Heyer at 9am on Wend. morning. We have played them in Australia, Italy, Paris?, and Russia. We have won all the games. They can serve tough and get us in trouble. They can both block as Heyer is 6'8 and Heuscher is 6'5 with hops. They play very up and down defense. Sometimes they are on and sometimes they are not. Obviously I hope they are off against us.

Should be a fun pool and am looking forward to competing against those guys.