2002 Siesta Keys Recap
Rich flew down to play with me in an event in Siesta Keys. He flew down last year to play an event in Lauderdale and it didn't go very well so we were hoping for better results this time around. A month earlier I flew up to PA to play the Rumble with him and we had a decent showing. The beach was beautiful and the event organizers had their act together. Just for signing up we got tournament t-shirts and a case of water. Last year I played this event with Jim and we didn't win a game in A so we decided to give BB a go.
We had 2 nets going. It was sunny, hot and humid but there was a decent breeze helping to keep things bearable. In Florida, pool play is only 1 game against each team instead of the two that we are used to from playing up north. We played the first game against a decent team. We sided out back and forth forever. The score was 6-5 for what seemed 15 minutes. Rich and I weren't super sharp but we played good defense and wore them down. I believe the final score of that game was 11-6. The match took a long time, I was very tired and we had the pleasure of having to go right into match number 2.
Our next match was against 2 super speedy young guys that seemed to have very solid skills. They reminded us of the team that spanked us 11-0 last year in Lauderdale. This game again was a long one but they slowly crept ahead basically because we were not producing offensively. We made a lot of nice digs but couldn't convert them into points. They won the game 11-6 (I think) Afterwards I was tired and frustrated by my inability to get out of the sand and hit with any consistency. We had 3 more matches to go and I was wondering if we would be able to sneak into the playoffs.
Match 3 was against two youngsters. The one kid was about as tall as me but thin as a bean pole and the other kid was a super strong indoor hitter who was new to playing sand. We got down early to them just as we had in all of the matches prior. The most memorable part of this match for me was Rich giving me a great set that I had a strong approach on and then mishit into the net. This was the peak of my frustration level all day. Even with the offensive part of my game in the shitter we were making points with placement shots, strong serving and good defense. We managed to get by the youngsters 11-8.
Our next match was against some more skinny early 20's guys that hustled hard but didn't have great skills. We took care of them 11-3. This was our only "easy" match of the day. During this match we started to execute bump, set hit with consistency. More so than any point up to then.
Match 5 was the turning point of the day for us. We were playing another fast younger team. In fact the one guy was the brother of one of the members of the team that beat us earlier. Again we started slow, they jumped out to a real fast 6-0 lead. Rich and I were having flashbacks to our earlier match of the day and even back to the blanking we took last year. Their girlfriends were annoying us and almost seemed to be laughing at the fact that their guys were up 6-0, they thought they were up 8-0. Well I was getting pissed as I normally would in such situations. We finally got on the board on a wacky misdirection, windmill hit by Rich that totally faked out the other team. That little spark ignited us back to tie it up at 6-6. You could tell the other team was nervous about blowing such a big lead. The rest of the match was back and forth. Rich and I executed all aspects of the game well for that time period and managed to claw out a 11-9 win. I have not been involved in a big comeback like that in quite awhile and I think it was a big confidence booster for both of us. So we finished up pool play at 4-1 and were second off the net. The team that beat us earlier went 5-0.
There was a playoff for the last playoff spot between the young skinny kids and the team that we played first. The skinnies won it so they were the number 4 seed. Our first playoff game would be against the team that we just had the grind it out win over. Surely they had revenge on their mind. They took an extended period of time to warmup, practicing serves and hits more then you normally would late in the day. Perhaps they thought that inadequate warm ups contributed to their last loss. In this game we leaped to an early huge lead, I believe it was 8-1 or 9-2. We got points primarily by serving them tough so that they couldn't setup to wail down on us. Once we hit that lead they made a little run that made me nervous. They scored 4 or 5 points in a row. However unlike recent history, we stopped their rally and managed to win the game 11-6. They were dejected but great sports. We figured our finals match would be against the team that beat us earlier however we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the skinny young team took them out 14-12! The finals were set.
Again we romped out to an early lead in much the same manner as the semi's. Serve hard, dig balls and hit it where they aren't. But again they started to come back. We made a few unforced dumb errors that they converted into points. What looked to be a romp was now a match. They played us very tough and didn't give up. Everytime I get into a situation where we should put the team away I have those thoughts of the recent games where we were on the edge of victory and let it fall away from us. This time we took a timeout, gathered our energy and got the few points we needed to put it away. Championship point was a strange one. Rich hammered two hits that they got up by accident, the 2nd hit bounced straight up in the air off of the diggers chest. Finally on the third try he got a placement shot by them for the 15-9 win.
It is my first win since the Shore in the spring of 2001 and my first noteworthy win since Fall of 99. I really had thought our days of winning tournaments with high level competition were behind us but I guess I was wrong. We demonstrated resiliency that made me proud. All day Rich and I would take turns in picking up for the other's mistakes. We played great defense without having to block and hustled all over the court. Everyone that was there were good people and the environment was just great. We received great prizes and enjoyed every aspect of the day and winning. Physically I have all over body aches and nasty sunburn but nothing that a few aspirin and a couple days off won't fix. I would equate the day to finding a folded up 20 dollar bill in the pocket of your pants that you didn't know you had. I thought I'd have to rely on old memories to keep the vball spirit going but it was great to turn in a fresh, hard fought victory to rekindle the flame.