This last tournament in San Francisco marked the end of the 2007 AVP season. It was great being in San Francisco where I lived just before making the decision to play Professional Beach Volleyball. Brooke and I started out extremely strong, winning our first 2 matches of the tournament, securing us in the Final Four.
The tournament consisted of the top 8 teams on the AVP tour with a double elimination format. We were the 7th seed coming in so our first round was against the 2nd seeds, Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh.
This was a really fun match. We always have a battle with this team. There was a great crowd, exciting rallies, and close games. We lost the first game 25-27. But we bounced back strong. We took game two 21-19. Game 3 was back and forth the whole way. We were down 13-11, but fought hard to stay in it. We fought off match point and came away with a 17-15 win. It was really exciting!
We then played Barbra Fontana and Dianne DeNecochea. We had lost to this team the previous 3 times we played them. We came out strong and dominated game one, winning 21-15. We had a slow start in game two and had to dig ourselves out of the hole. We were down by 6 or 7 points at the beginning, but really got the momentum toward the end of that game. We lost 18-21, but all the momentum was on our side. We came out firing in game three and won 15-9.
That was it for Friday. We were on a roll and really excited. We did not have to play until 5PM on Saturday night. We went to the site to watch all the matches that played into us. We saw EY/Nicole take down Wacholder/Turner in 2 games. Then they played Boss/Ross and won a hard fought match in 3 games. So we had to face EY/Nicole again!
The fans were crazy during this match. There were lots of hecklers. I had trouble siding out in this match and they let me know it. We lost the first game 21-11. EY was serving really tough which put us under a lot of pressure.
Game two, we came out and dominated. We served tough and got them into trouble. We got a big lead early in the game and had to fight them off. We won 21-16, but they had the momentum at the end. They took that straight into game three and won the match 15-8.
It is really hard to beat great teams two times in a row. Especially in the same tournament. They get really fired up and feel that they must get revenge, meanwhile you are doing everything you can to beat them again.
So our loss to EY/Nicole put us into the Bronze Medal match. We had to play Fontana/DeNecochea again! So we play 4 matches in a tournament, but only play against 2 teams. In a way, it was really frustrating. We came out really strong in this match. Brooke played really great defense. We battled back and forth, but could not hold steady throughout the match. We gave up stretches of points which killed us in the end. We lost 19-21, 17-21. I was really disappointed in my own play. My ball control was not very good. It was not the way I wanted to end the season. It would have been really great to end with a win.
I am going to choose to remember Friday as our end of the season. We beat two teams ranked above us. Besides May/Walsh, those two teams are the only ones that finished ahead of us... and we beat them on Friday! We finished 4th place out of the top 8 teams. I am proud of that.
There is so much this year that I am very proud of. Brooke and I went through so many ups and downs with each other this year. We stuck it out through thick and thin and ended up having a great season. In fact, it was the best season in both of our careers.
We are both sad that the year is over, but we are really excited to continue building our partnership for the years to come. We will take some time to rest, but then work really hard this off season to come back next year and pick up right where we left off.
We are considering playing in Hong Kong this November in an FIVB satellite event. I will keep you posted.
Jeremy and I are leaving this Thursday for Chicago. We are going to a Cubs game on Friday and then we are going to Notre Dame for the Michigan State football game. ND is struggling more so than ever, but we are still looking forward to seeing campus and visiting with friends. After that, we will visit with my family for a while before coming back to California.
Early October I will pick back up with my workouts and start building for next year. I won't touch a volleyball until November though. That will be the longest break from volleyball in my 6 year career! I think it will do me good.
Thanks for reading.
All my best,
Angie
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Vegas Baby!
I just returned from 4 days in Las Vegas for the Gods and Goddesses of the Beach event. I was the alternate for day 1 of competition in case there were any injuries. Brooke and I finished the year tied for the ranking of 13th place. The top 12 go to the tournament, while number 13 is brought in to be the alternate. Misty May-Treanor pulled out of the tournament, leaving an extra spot in the main event. A similar situation occurred on the men's side. To determine which player would be in the main event and which would be the alternate, it came down to a coin flip. Brooke and Fred Souza won the coin flip, putting them in the main draw. Anthony Medel and I were the alternates. Being the alternate means that you must be at all the matches ready to play in the case that any player needs to pull out.
The tournament is a lot of fun. Players are put into pools where they play one match with each of the other players in their pool. At the end of the first day, the top 2 players from each pool advance into another pool. They play another round of matches with each player and from that, the top player advances to the Final.
Brooke did really well in her pool, winning 2 of her matches. However, she did not advance because her loss was in 2 games as opposed to the other girls' losses coming in 3 games. But, she was the top player to not advance (meaning she had the best record) so she became the alternate for day 2 of competition.
Kerri Walsh and Elaine Youngs came out of their respective pools advancing to the Finals. Kerri chose to play with April Ross, while EY chose Jenny Jordan. It was an exciting 3 game match which EY and Jenny won. EY has won many tournaments, but this was her first Goddess of the Beach title.
John Hyden and Phil Dalhauser advanced from the men's side. Phil chose Sean Rosenthal while John chose Mike Lambert for another really exciting 3 game match. John and Mike won making it John's 2nd ever beach victory and first time God of the Beach title.
The crowds were great for the competition. The energy at the Finals was really exciting. Geeter was amazing on the mic, as always. It was a really great event marking the near end of another fantastic year.
We leave on Thursday for San Francisco for the last event. Then it is officially the off season.
More later. Thanks for reading.
Angie
The tournament is a lot of fun. Players are put into pools where they play one match with each of the other players in their pool. At the end of the first day, the top 2 players from each pool advance into another pool. They play another round of matches with each player and from that, the top player advances to the Final.
Brooke did really well in her pool, winning 2 of her matches. However, she did not advance because her loss was in 2 games as opposed to the other girls' losses coming in 3 games. But, she was the top player to not advance (meaning she had the best record) so she became the alternate for day 2 of competition.
Kerri Walsh and Elaine Youngs came out of their respective pools advancing to the Finals. Kerri chose to play with April Ross, while EY chose Jenny Jordan. It was an exciting 3 game match which EY and Jenny won. EY has won many tournaments, but this was her first Goddess of the Beach title.
John Hyden and Phil Dalhauser advanced from the men's side. Phil chose Sean Rosenthal while John chose Mike Lambert for another really exciting 3 game match. John and Mike won making it John's 2nd ever beach victory and first time God of the Beach title.
The crowds were great for the competition. The energy at the Finals was really exciting. Geeter was amazing on the mic, as always. It was a really great event marking the near end of another fantastic year.
We leave on Thursday for San Francisco for the last event. Then it is officially the off season.
More later. Thanks for reading.
Angie
Monday, September 3, 2007
Cincinnati Recap
This has been the fastest season on record to me. We have played 16 events since April with never more than 2 weeks off. I cannot believe that the regular season is over.
We had our chance to make the Vegas tournament, as part of the top 12, this past weekend, but came up short by a mere 20 points. We were vying for the spot against Fontana/DeNecochea. We finished 3rd place and they finished 2nd place. All in all, a great tournament for us, but we did not play well against them which makes it a little bit harder to swallow.
Our path to 3rd place was interesting. It was a 24 team draw tournament, which meant that the top 8 teams had a first round bye. The men's final was on Saturday. There were only 6 courts, so the men started play at 8AM on Friday morning. The first women's matches were played at 11AM. We were scheduled to play at 2PM, but in reality, we started our match at 3:30PM.
It was a long, slow moving day. We were seeded 3rd coming into the tournament. Our first match was against Chara Harris and Brooke Langston. We won 21-13, 21-10. That was our only match on Friday. The win secured us in 9th place.
Saturday morning at 11AM, we faced Logan Tom and Nancy Mason. This was a back and forth battle. The match started with both teams trading sideouts. Then we took turns scoring runs of points. The other team would fight back to tie it up. We traded sideouts for awhile again, then we finally scored a point to take the first game win 28-26.
We jumped to an early lead in game 2, but could not hold on to it. We were up 10-4, but quickly gave up several points. They fought back to win the game 21-17, pushing game 3.
There was a distinct good side/bad side, which makes scoring points and siding out crucial when you have the good side. We were able to get the lead 11-9 when we took a side change going to the good side. They got the sideout to make the score 11-10 (still our lead). We took care of the next ball and went up 12-10. We got an ace for 13-10, then earned another point for 14-10. They got another sideout for 14-11 and we switched sides going back to the bad side. Fortunately we had a cushion, which made us a bit more relaxed. We got the sideout on the first serve and won the match 28-26, 17-21, 15-11. Well fought by both teams. The win put us into 5th place.
We had until 6PM before we would play our next match, so we went back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit. We were to face Holly McPeak and Jen Fopma. They beat Jenny and Annett earlier in the day.
It was a bit strange to sit for so long between matches, but thankfully I had an air-conditioned room to rest in. I watched a bit of football. Season openers are always fun and exciting, except when the Irish do not do well. I saw the first few drives of the game and then had to turn it off. My husband said that Lou Holtz always told the guys if on your game day, you play later in the day, go ahead and watch the other games, but do not get emotionally involved in them. Doing so will take more out of you than you think. I could feel myself getting excited and anxious after only a few minutes, so I decided to turn it off. I picked up my book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and read.
After a few hours, I went back to the site to get ready for our match. I felt great. It was only our 3rd match of the tournament, so we were fresh and excited to play. We came out strong and ready to have some fun. It was an exciting match from a defensive standpoint. Holly and Brooke were digging machines. They both made spectacular play after spectacular play. We came out on top 21-17 in game one. We had the momentum and ran with it in game 2. We won 21-9 and made our second final-four appearance of the year.
We were feeling really good, only playing 3 matches in 2 days. Our next match was at 12:30PM on Sunday. We were to play the winner of Tom/Mason and Fontana/DeNecochea. That match was intense. I sat and watched the whole thing, which was probably not the best idea. I spent a lot of energy getting involved with the match. I knew it meant a lot. If Tom/Mason won, we were in for Vegas, but if Fontana/DeNecochea won, we would have to knock them off ourselves in order to earn the spot. Tom/Mason had match point in game 3, but ran out of steam. Each game was decided by only 2 points with the third game ending 21-19 in favor of Fontana/DeNecochea. We then had 30 minutes until our match.
We came out flat while they came out on fire. We had a lot of trouble putting the ball away against the big block of DeNocochea. It felt like we got killed, but the scores were somewhat close. We lost 18-21, 17-21. I am really bummed that we did not play our best. I believed that we would make another final at this tournament. Anything less was a bit disappointing.
On a much brighter note, our seed going into next season is going to be great! We finished the season strong, which was our goal. We made the San Francisco tournament and we are tied for the alternate spot at the Goddess of the Beach tournament in Las Vegas. Both tournaments will be a lot of fun. I am excited to go back to the Bay Area. I lived there for 2 years before moving to Southern California to play on the beach. I have not been back since and cannot wait to visit our old favorite spots.
Two more weeks remain on the AVP schedule and then its officially the "off season". I think I will keep busy with some new books, some experimental cooking, some football, and of course, lots of working out. I will most likely take about 2 months off of volleyball (which I have not done since I began playing!) If you have any great book recommendations, let me know. I just finished The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, for the second time and loved it. Now I am onto Harry Potter.
Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy the last bits of summer. I am off to the beach, not for work, but to relax and enjoy the day.
All my best,
Angie
We had our chance to make the Vegas tournament, as part of the top 12, this past weekend, but came up short by a mere 20 points. We were vying for the spot against Fontana/DeNecochea. We finished 3rd place and they finished 2nd place. All in all, a great tournament for us, but we did not play well against them which makes it a little bit harder to swallow.
Our path to 3rd place was interesting. It was a 24 team draw tournament, which meant that the top 8 teams had a first round bye. The men's final was on Saturday. There were only 6 courts, so the men started play at 8AM on Friday morning. The first women's matches were played at 11AM. We were scheduled to play at 2PM, but in reality, we started our match at 3:30PM.
It was a long, slow moving day. We were seeded 3rd coming into the tournament. Our first match was against Chara Harris and Brooke Langston. We won 21-13, 21-10. That was our only match on Friday. The win secured us in 9th place.
Saturday morning at 11AM, we faced Logan Tom and Nancy Mason. This was a back and forth battle. The match started with both teams trading sideouts. Then we took turns scoring runs of points. The other team would fight back to tie it up. We traded sideouts for awhile again, then we finally scored a point to take the first game win 28-26.
We jumped to an early lead in game 2, but could not hold on to it. We were up 10-4, but quickly gave up several points. They fought back to win the game 21-17, pushing game 3.
There was a distinct good side/bad side, which makes scoring points and siding out crucial when you have the good side. We were able to get the lead 11-9 when we took a side change going to the good side. They got the sideout to make the score 11-10 (still our lead). We took care of the next ball and went up 12-10. We got an ace for 13-10, then earned another point for 14-10. They got another sideout for 14-11 and we switched sides going back to the bad side. Fortunately we had a cushion, which made us a bit more relaxed. We got the sideout on the first serve and won the match 28-26, 17-21, 15-11. Well fought by both teams. The win put us into 5th place.
We had until 6PM before we would play our next match, so we went back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit. We were to face Holly McPeak and Jen Fopma. They beat Jenny and Annett earlier in the day.
It was a bit strange to sit for so long between matches, but thankfully I had an air-conditioned room to rest in. I watched a bit of football. Season openers are always fun and exciting, except when the Irish do not do well. I saw the first few drives of the game and then had to turn it off. My husband said that Lou Holtz always told the guys if on your game day, you play later in the day, go ahead and watch the other games, but do not get emotionally involved in them. Doing so will take more out of you than you think. I could feel myself getting excited and anxious after only a few minutes, so I decided to turn it off. I picked up my book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and read.
After a few hours, I went back to the site to get ready for our match. I felt great. It was only our 3rd match of the tournament, so we were fresh and excited to play. We came out strong and ready to have some fun. It was an exciting match from a defensive standpoint. Holly and Brooke were digging machines. They both made spectacular play after spectacular play. We came out on top 21-17 in game one. We had the momentum and ran with it in game 2. We won 21-9 and made our second final-four appearance of the year.
We were feeling really good, only playing 3 matches in 2 days. Our next match was at 12:30PM on Sunday. We were to play the winner of Tom/Mason and Fontana/DeNecochea. That match was intense. I sat and watched the whole thing, which was probably not the best idea. I spent a lot of energy getting involved with the match. I knew it meant a lot. If Tom/Mason won, we were in for Vegas, but if Fontana/DeNecochea won, we would have to knock them off ourselves in order to earn the spot. Tom/Mason had match point in game 3, but ran out of steam. Each game was decided by only 2 points with the third game ending 21-19 in favor of Fontana/DeNecochea. We then had 30 minutes until our match.
We came out flat while they came out on fire. We had a lot of trouble putting the ball away against the big block of DeNocochea. It felt like we got killed, but the scores were somewhat close. We lost 18-21, 17-21. I am really bummed that we did not play our best. I believed that we would make another final at this tournament. Anything less was a bit disappointing.
On a much brighter note, our seed going into next season is going to be great! We finished the season strong, which was our goal. We made the San Francisco tournament and we are tied for the alternate spot at the Goddess of the Beach tournament in Las Vegas. Both tournaments will be a lot of fun. I am excited to go back to the Bay Area. I lived there for 2 years before moving to Southern California to play on the beach. I have not been back since and cannot wait to visit our old favorite spots.
Two more weeks remain on the AVP schedule and then its officially the "off season". I think I will keep busy with some new books, some experimental cooking, some football, and of course, lots of working out. I will most likely take about 2 months off of volleyball (which I have not done since I began playing!) If you have any great book recommendations, let me know. I just finished The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, for the second time and loved it. Now I am onto Harry Potter.
Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy the last bits of summer. I am off to the beach, not for work, but to relax and enjoy the day.
All my best,
Angie
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