Dallas - Tornados and Roller Coasters

This latest trip to Dallas was very interesting on many levels. First, we arrived on Thursday afternoon with thunderstorms in the forecast. Holly and I went to the tournament site to practice around 5PM. The qualifier was over and many of the main draw teams were getting ready to practice. The sand was so incredibly hard packed that we decided not to do much. We did a little passing and setting, but that was about it.

Later that evening, just as a tornado was about to hit, we went with about 10 other players in a stretch Hummer limo to a nearby club volleyball facility. Before we knew it, we were caught in a downpour and it started to hail. We stopped underneath an overpass on the freeway for a few minutes until it let up a bit. Being a Midwest girl, I was excited to see an intense storm with lots of lightning and loud thunder booms. Once the storm moved passed us, we made our way to the facility.

We met with hundreds of volleyball girls that were patiently waiting for us to arrive. We visited with them and signed autographs then ventured out in the storm again back to our hotel.

We woke up Friday morning to a beautiful day, however, the sand was too hard to play on. In order to protect the players from injury, the AVP cancelled play on Friday and ordered in new sand. The crew guys who work to put our sites together pulled 2 all nighters in a row. They worked non-stop until the site was playable. Our hard working crew members saved the Dallas Open!

Since we would not compete on Friday, I went to Six Flags over Texas with coach Mike Rangel, Misty, and some other friends and rode a few roller coasters. I stayed about 2 hours and then went back to my hotel.

Saturday Play: Because a full day of play was cancelled, the tournament had to be cut short. The decision was made to make the first round single elimination. That would cut out about 16 matches between the men and women which would save at least 3 hours.

Play started at 7AM. We were scheduled at 10AM, but our court was running behind because every match went to 3 games. We started our 10AM match at 12 noon. We played Katie and Tracy Lindquist. We were out of rhythm to start this match and had a difficult time pulling it together. We lost the first set and were down 20-17 in the second. We won the side out for 18, then I went back to serve and we fought our way back. I had a block, they had a hitting error, Holly got a dig and put it away, then another block and we won the second! It was really exciting. That was a huge boost for us going into the third set. We controlled the third and won the match! I was really happy with our composure under that sort of pressure.

Our next match was against EY and Nicole Branagh. This team is playing exceptionally well right now. Unfortunately for us, we could not stop them. They won the match in two sets.

The loss dropped us into the contenders bracket. We faced Nancy Mason and Jenny Kropp. We played really well in this match, finally pulling everything together. We had a great rhythm going with our side out and we were scoring points with our defense. It was a really fun match for us. We won in two sets which put us into 7th place and finished for the day.

Sunday morning, we faced Carrie Dodd and Tati Minello. We picked up right where we left off on Saturday evening. We battled back and forth in the first set until the end when we made a push and pulled away. We kept that momentum in the second set and pulled away early. We won the match in two games and secured a 5th place finish.

We felt great and were ready to go. We faced Jen Boss and April Ross to make it to the semi-finals. We jumped to an early lead, but did not keep it. We lost the first set, but stayed right with them all the way through the second set until the very end. It was very frustrating not to take that second set and push a third. The loss knocked us out of the tournament. We finished in 5th place.

I missed the semi-final matches, but watched the finals. It was the most exciting final I have ever seen. It was filled with hard hitting, incredible digs, and just one spectacular play after another. EY and Nicole looked like they were going to win this one, but Misty and Kerri's confidence in making big plays when it matters most is what won them the match. It was really fun to watch, but my goal is to be playing out there, not watching.

After the final, we went straight to the airport to fly home. We are back in California and training again in the deep sands of Manhattan Beach. We are getting ready for Huntington Beach where we hope to improve on our last two 5th place finishes.

Remember to drink your Real Water and support Team Cuervo!

All my best,
Angie