www.beachvolleyball.at

Check this site out to see live scoring for all the courts.

Marseille

Marseille was simply one of the best tourneys that Phil and I have ever played. Probably top 5 as far as our performance on the court was concerned. It was a bit windy as Wend. and Thurs. were both shut down. The wind was blowing over 50 MPH with some crazy gusts. Phil and I went down and played one on one and it was comical. You would have never thought that either of us was a pro beach volleyball player.

We had a bye in the first round and then played Latvia yet again. 3rd time in 3 straight tourneys. The first game we smoked them. The second game they played better and I was struggling to sideout. They were ahead the majority of the game but we came back strong at around 17 to 13 or something like that. They kind of crumbled a bit as well and we pulled it out with a sideout to win 21 -19. That was our closest game of the tourney. Our second match was against Heyer and Heuscher from Swissland. We beat them 15 and 16. Our third match of the day on Friday was against Klemperer-Koreng from Germany. We beat them 12 and 15. Just didn't seem like their heads were in the game. David was complaining that Phil was foot faulting and he wasn't even close. Normally they are a much stronger team than that.

On Saturday we played the semis vs. Brink-Reckermann. We won 18 and 15 on the center court. It was windy that day but center court was pretty good to play on as it was blocked by the stands. Both Phil and I served really well. He probably had 5 aces and I had 2 as I was jump serving for some reason. Just felt good. Phil was putting the ball wherever he wanted to. Not really hitting it overly hard but with good pace and great placement. In the finals we played the Spanish team we lost to in Gstaad. Simply put, we played awesome. We didn't give up a real point until the score was 18-10 in the second game. Phil served unbelievably well and we sided out pretty much every time. The final scores were 8 and 14. Hopefully we can keep that up for the rest of the year or at least play up to our abilities. Now for Klagenfurt.

FIVB Klagenfurt, Austria, 28 July - 2 August

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Results will be posted on the Todd Rogers web page: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Manhattan Beach

Been awhile but wanted to catch up starting with MB. We looked and felt strong on both Friday and Saturday and then crashed and burned on Sunday. Our first two rounds on Friday we pretty much had it in cruise control winning 2 matches fairly easily. On Saturday the competition heated up a bit. We played Placek and Moran in our first match and won in 2 games with mild scores. Then we played Furbs and Casey in a barn burner. I frittered away the first game. We were up 20-17. They sided out and then I got scooped and hit a shot wide to tie the game up at 20 all. We ended up losing 23-21. The second game was tight but we won 21-19. The third we played well and they did not winning going away. We played Jake and Rosy in the winners semis and played probably our best match of the year against them. We won pretty easily, 15 and 16. Sided out, served well and blocked and defended well too. Felt great after that game and looked forward to Sunday. On Sunday things were just not clicking. We lost in three to Matt and Kevin. They played a good game and I felt Matt played exceptionally well. He always digs well but he sided out really well which he hasn't done in the past against us. I was struggling to get in a rhythm and it really showed in the third game as they pulled away and I couldn't right the ship. Was a bummer as I would have liked to win 4 in a row but those are the breaks. In Marseille now and will blog on how we do here soon.

FIVB Marseille, France, 23-26 July

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Marseille, France.

Results will be posted on the Todd Rogers web page: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Playoffs in Gstaad

First game vs. the Brazilians on Saturday morning went well. It was a battle back and forth. They actually went mostly at Phil in the first game. He got stuffed once, hit out once and got scooped once but other than that was pretty solid. At 19 all there was a long rally that we won to make it 20-19 and the ensuing point they hit into the net to win 21-19.

The second game was not close. We were scoring points in bunches. I think the final score might have been 14 or something like that.

In our second match we lost to Spain. We played them in Norway and beat them in two games but they played much better. The sand in Norway was pretty deep but it is pretty packed here in Gstaad and I think that helped them. They were bombing their serves in the first game and siding out really well. We came back and led 18-17 though. At 18 all I cut the ball into the net and then at 20-19 I spatched a ball 10 feet out to give them the win.

The second game we smoked them from the get go. We were up 7-2 at one point and never looked back winning 21-16.

The third game was back and forth. We had a 6-4 lead but they crawled back. At 10 all they sided out and Herrera went back and crushed a serve at me. It skipped off the tape and caught me up high on the upper arms and chest. I couldn't control it and it went out to give them a 12-10 lead. Couple of sideouts later it was 13-12 and they were receiving. Phil touched a line shot that I gobbled up and set him on the net. Unfortunately as he was turning he netted and they called it. The next play I again spatched a ball about 10 feet out and that was match 15-12. I spatched about 5 balls out that game. Not sure why. Was mostly fustrated that I didn't make them earn their victory but gave it to them instead. To top it off, I couldn't get out today and have to wait until tomorrow for my original flight home. It is beautiful here in Gstaad so I guess I will take a long hike to the top of some mountain.

Swiss Pool Play

So far so good here in Switzerland. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing but the end result has been good for Phil and I.

In our first match we played Martin Laciga and Jefferson Bellaguarda. Bella, as he is known, is a former player from Brazil. He married a swiss women and after sitting out the past couple of years is now able to play for Switzerland. I actually played against Bella and Paulau in what seems like ages past. I remember he had great ball control, a great digger and had a cannon of an arm. Not much has changed. We pulled out game 1, 24-22. Battle the entire game. The second game I struggled to sideout as Bella was scooping and delivering on me. The third game was a battle too. We were ahead pretty much the entire time. At 11-10 us serving, there was a long rally and controversy ensued. Martin pushed one off of Phil that the ref called an open hand push. I didn't think it was an open hand push. However, Martin netted on his follow through which the down ref didn't call right away. I went over to the up ref and asked if he or the down ref had seen. He said the down ref did but he was calling the push. Wrong call but right result. That put us at 12-10 and they folded and we won 15-10.

In our second match on thursday we played Latvia for the second week in a row. They played better than they had in Stavanger but we won in two 21-17 and 18 to assure ourselves of getting out of pool.

Today we played our last pool play match vs. Estonia. This is a tough team to figure out. When they are playing well they are really good and then sometimes they can be terrible. They were good against us and we played a so so match. They beat us in game 1, 21-18. In the second they were up a bit when Phil went on a little serving run. One ace, a block, and an error later we were up by 2 points. We kept that until the end and won the second. In the third we were up pretty much the whole time. They kept getting a point here and there to make it close but then we would get it back. We won 15-12 to end up first in our pool and be done for the rest of the day. So we sit at 9th now and await the winner of a match to be determined this afternoon. There have been a lot of upsets here in Gstaad so there are a lot of tough draws out there.

FIVB Gstaad, Switzerland, 9-12 July

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Gstaad, Switzerland.

They just completed their first day of play. Results are posted on the Todd Rogers webpage: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Bronze in World Champs

Wasn't what we came to Norway for and we were certainly dissapointed. 3rd is not bad but again, not what we wanted.

In the first round of playoffs we played Venezuela. They are a very athletic team. We came out strong and they missed probably 7 out of their first 10 serves and 2 of those went to Phil. I think there plan was to bomb serves and hope to get us in passing trouble. It backfired a bit. We won 21-9. The next game they sided out better and got their serves in. We ended up winning 21-17.

The next round we played Latvia. The left side guy was the same guy we lost to in the Olympics. Both Phil and I were pretty fired up to play them and I think it showed in our play. We won 21-11 and 21-11 and played very well.

In the quarters we played the Spanish team of Gavira/Herrera. The first game we were a bit sloppy but pulled it out 24-22. In the second game we cleaned it up and won 21-14 or something like that.

In the semis we played Brink/Reckermann who are always a very dangerous team. They sideout exceptionally well, can bomb serves and have good block/defense. I struggled in that match and we lost in 3 games. To their credit they played well but I just didn't have it unfortunately. They ended up going on to win the whole thing. Congrats to them. They played great and earned the victory beating Jake/Rosy, Emanuel/Ricardo, us, and Harley/Allison. That is a tough road.

In the bronze we played vs. Klemperer/Koreng from Germany. We trained with them for 3 weeks in the beginning of the season so we know each other pretty well. We came out strong and they struggled from the get go. We ended up winnning pretty easily in the first game and pulled away in the second to earn the bronze.

New Zealand & Protest

Phil and I forfeited our game yesterday vs. New Zealand for a variety of reasons. One, it has been well documented that my back has been a source of irritation and concern this year. Rather than play and risk that injury, we decided it would be better not to as we had learned that we were guaranteed to come out of our pool.

Secondly, most people probably don't know this but I and all the americans want it to be known that the FIVB changed the Bonus Pool structure this year. Bonus Pool Money is essentially half the money that players get for playing in the FIVB events. Last year the structure was to get all of your BP money, you had to play in 8 FIVB events. You could get 70% of your BP Money by playing in 4 FIVB events. The percentage went up from there until you reached 100% at 8 events. This was confirmed at the FIVB World Council meetings and Permanent Committee meetings last year in late September. Then the changeover from President Acosta to President Wei happened and there was a huge shake up at the FIVB with everyone jockeying for position. Out of the tussle came the President of the Brazilian National Federation AND President of the South American Confederation (similar to NORCECA), Ari Graca. He arbitrarily changed the Bonus Pool Structure in March. Teams now have to play in all of the FIVB events except 3 to get any Bonus Pool Money at all!!! This of course completely screws the American players. Essentially we are being asked to pick between the FIVB Tour or the AVP Tour. The Euro's are okay with it since most of them do not have national tours. The Brazilians are fine with it as their national tour is in the northern hemispheres winter time and there are pretty much no FIVB events during that time. I have been told that the reason for the change is to get the players more committed to the FIVB. I posed the questions that, "don't you think this is going to hurt any current national tours in the northern hemisphere as well as any national tours in the northern hemisphere that would like to start up?" "Isn't the FIVB mandated by the IOC to try and help the national federations grow the sport in each country?"

So for Phil and I, we have to make a decision on who to support. It was a no brainer for us. The AVP is why the American men and women have done so well in the Olympics in my opinion. Who has strong domestic tours in the world? The Brazilians and Americans. The two most dominant countries in the world. To forsake our bread and butter just doesn't make sense. Also, and I am not accusing here, just questioning, who benefits the most from this change? The Brazilians. They already have a national tour and it does not affect it. They tend to play in almost all of the FIVB events as well. My question is and I can't truly say yes or no, is it a coincidence that this was changed considering who is now in power?

The bottom line for Phil and I was we were all set to play in 8 FIVB events this year. We were okay with missing 2 AVP events as we didn't think it would kill our tour. Would it hurt it a bit, yes, but I think it was a fair compromise for everyone. But to ask us to miss 6 events would severely hurt the tour and we won't do that.

I am curious as to what people think out there? Please comment.