Brasilia W

War of Attrition. That is essentially what Brasilia became the longer a team moved on in the tournament. Simply put: It was hot, hot and hot. If you were fortunate enough to be playing on an outer court than you had the luxury of a nice breeze to cool you down in the roughly 90 degree heat. If you were inside center court, there was no breeze to be found. They wrap the stadium with a fabric that doesn't let the wind through. Combine that with a packed house of crazy screaming brazilian fans and the heat index rises considerably. So as the game progresses on center court, every play gets more and more difficult. Every sideout gets a little tougher. Every rally becomes exhausting. Who can rise out of the sand on the next play after a 30 second rally in the previous play. Add in the dry desert heat and you are at 3,000 feet, not at sea level, and your lungs are sucking for air after anything that is not a pass, set and putaway.

Still fun to win though. The tournament itself is usually the toughest of the year since it is the first one of the year and it is in Brasil and you have more than 3 or 4 Brasilian teams. This was no different with 7 Brasilian teams this year. Add in 5 American teams and that is a tough tourney.

The tourney itself was a good test for Phil and I. Our first round game vs. Chile was easy. I think they were a bit overwhelmed. First time in the draw for them I believe. Second round was our toughest test vs. the Brasilian team from Georgia. We survived one match point when Phil received the ball with us down 14-13 in the third and shot a deep angle shot over the blocker's head for a kill. Won that won 18-16 I believe. Next day we played Spain and Emanuel/Alison. Spain smoked us in game 1 and I was struggling. Had an upset belly all tourney long for some reason. Not sure why. Game 2 we turned it around with some tough jump float serving. Both Phil and I were float serving as at that altitude it is tough for Phil to consistantly get his jump serve in. We were down 15-13 in game 2 but then went on a 6-1 run powered by tough serves and kept the momentum through game three. Emanuel/Alison were similar to the Spaniards. We got smoked in game 1 but came back strong in game 2 with a good push at the end. Barn burner in game 3 until about 10-10. I think Alison ran out of gas in a very hot game in center court as Phil stuffed him twice and he hit out twice. In the semis we played Marcio and Ricardo. Normally a very tough game but they were cooked. They played that morning vs. Nick and Matt and our American compatriots wore them down for us. Thanks guys. Marcio was cooked and Ricardo wasn't much better. Our game on center court was again very hot and they just didn't have it in them. We won 16 and 13 I think.

The finals were a rematch of the winners semis and a very high level first game. Both teams siding out pretty good. We got up in the end though and won 21-18 in the first. In the second Emanuel/Alison ran out of gas. Lot of setting errors, hitting errors and Phil was really big at the net. I think I only dug a handful of balls but when you are mostly serving Alison it is either a kill, block or error as the guy is an absolute monster of a hitter. I think I dug one hard driven ball of his and it went up about 100 feet in the air. Think a slightly smaller version of George Romain. Like 6'8 and 250 pounds rather than 6'7 and 270 pounds. A big man to say the least.

Always good to win on Brasilian soil in front of their fans. Phil and I have done it twice in a row and I must say it feels pretty good.