Y2K4Vball results

Date	Location	Play Level	Format	Surface	Teammates	End Result	Notes
5/01/04	Siesta Keys, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	1-2 N/A	The first time I ever played with Randall. He is a good shot maker and a good player overall. We had a lot of issues that you would expect when you play with someone for the first time, miscommunication, both going for the ball stuff like that. With a 4 team pool you only play 3 games, which sucks. We lost the last game to a team we should have beaten pretty easily. That loss booted us from the playoffs. I played up and down. I didn't get to hit that much so I never got into a good rhythm. I made some really dumb plays as I always do. However I think with more playing time, Randall and I could be a decent team. We plan on giving it another go at the Fort Myers tournament in 3 weeks.
5/22/04	Singer Island, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	5-2 3rd place	Our second tournament was much more productive. It was killer hot, 95 degrees at it's highest. Our pool was tougher than Siesta Keys but we did better. The deep sand screwed up my power game more than I like but overall we played good defense and were solid. We lost in the semi's 25-23 but then won the 3/4 playoff game. Physically I came out of it great except for 2 burned feet from the scorching sand. Time for some sand socks.
6/5/04	Deerfield Beach, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	3-3 4th place	Our 4 team pool was the toughest one yet, all the teams were strong. Our first two games were marathons. The first one we won, the second we lost to some very good high school players. We made the playoffs, finishing 2-1 in our pool. We steam rolled our first playoff opponent 11-2. Then we got steam rolled in the semi's by the high school kids and then again in the 3-4 playoff game. In those games there were a lot of unforced errors and I didn't see enough serves to get into any rhythm. It was a disappointing finish but still I had good time competing. My knee and shoulder hurt a bit but nothing too nasty. I didn't have the same "hit-in-the-net-itis" that I did at Singer, I hit better but my defense was less than good, Wish I could get it all together at the same time.
6/26/04	Pottstown, PA	BB	Doubles	Grass	Charlie	7-4 9th place	A ninth place finish doesn't sound so great huh? Well wait a second let me fill in some blanks. Charlie and I never played doubles together before. Charlie never even played competitive doubles. Charlie started cramping late in pool play. And yes did I mention there were 108 TEAMS in our division????? We did great, much better than I could have ever expected. Other then the 99 miracle run when we won the whole thing, this was my best run at the Rumble in the 10 years or so I have been playing it. We didn't get finished until 8pm. In the end, Charlie's cramps slowed us down but we played great in the playoffs, even in the loss. It was one of my top 3 or 4 favorite tournaments ever. We beat Kristov AGAIN. :) We also took out the 2nd highest rated team in the playoffs who finished pool play 8-0 and had a 62 POINT POSITIVE POINT DIFFERENTIAL! I played pretty well overall but I really give credit to my partner who hustled his ass off all day and battled through till the last point.
7/10/04	Siesta Keys, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	5-1 2nd place	Randall and I continue to improve as a team. I was unsure if I was going to play up until a few days ago because my bad knee has been aching a bit since the Rumble. It hurt a bit during the day but nothing that slowed me down much. We went 4-0 in our pool. The guys that beat us in the 3/4 playoff at Deerfield were in our pool. We took them out during the last round of pool play which was some sweet revenge. In the playoffs, we won a grueling semi-final match against an A and AA indoor player but then lost in the finals. We lost to a man/woman team whom both normally play A in their respective divisions. We served the man probably 85% of the time which in retrospect was a mistake. It was hot as hell and neither of us brought a shelter so we baked most of the day. Overall I played well with my normal assortment of missed easy plays, followed by my mini temper-tantrums. No real complaints though as it was a great day overall and I am thrilled to be out there and be consistently competitive.
8/7/04	Hollywood, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	4-1 3rd place	The morning started out extremely humid and warm, during the first game I was already feeling beat down from the heat. Luckily it clouded up and cooled down later. We won an easy pool in convincing fashion. It may have made us a bit over confident. After a 2 and a half hour wait we were not in the groove for our semi-final match and lost badly. We came back and played well in the 3/4 playoff game, going on an 8-0 run to win it. We both thought this would be the week we won it all but we fell short. It was still a good day. Physically I came out of it as well as I can remember in the past 5 years. Hardly a scratch or an ache.
8/21/04	Fort Lauderdale, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	5-3 4th place	Even though the record wasn't terrible our play was not good at all. We both were off and my hitting especially was bad. I just could not adjust to the deep sand and bowled out court we played on. When I hit poorly it just ruins the game for me, I have zero fun. We won games ugly all day but our luck ran out in the last two playoff games. I can only hope things go better in the 2 remaining championship tourneys I am playing in. Things were so bad I questioned if I really wanted to even play anymore. I threw some bad tantrums, I was frustrated beyond belief by the end of the day.
9/18/04	Clearwater Beach, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	3-3 6th place	The month off didn't help my game, especially early in the day as I was having issues in most aspects of the game. Every game was a struggle and we kept putting ourselves in big holes early. We finished pool play 1-2 and then had to win 2 mini-playoff games to 7 to just get out of the pool. We took turns making unforced errors throughout the day. We had a couple highlights. We came back in pool play down 14-11 to win 16-14 and then in one of the mini-playoff games we were down 5-2 and won it 7-5. (both of these comebacks were against the same team) In our first real playoff game I didn't get a chance to do much on offense so it was a frustrating way to lose. If we were up to speed we would have won that game easily. One more tournament to go, hopefully it goes better.
9/25/04	South Beach, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	4-2 4th place	South Beach was a cool venue, unfortunately the tournament got screwed by yet another hurricane. What was supposed to be a 2 day format was compressed into one afternoon/evening because of Jeanne. I played better than Clearwater and we went 4-0 in our pool. The playoffs were rally games to 11 which meant there was very little room for error. Again we had letdowns at crucial points in the games and lost both the semi-final and 3/4 playoff game in close contests. I was frustrated because the last half of the season we went from improving as a team to doing the same or worse every week. There is something about our game that doesn't click as it should. Well I have the off season to think about it. There are a couple more tourneys yet this year. I may play them or I may just let this be the end to my up and down vball year. It was great to play consistently again but the frustration that came with it took some of the luster away.
12/11/04	Fort Lauderdale, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	4-1 1st place	I thought my season was over and done with but got notice of this holiday tournament. Enough time had passed that the bitterness from our late season slide had faded and I was ready to get on the saddle again. I went into the tournament with zero expectations. If we won more than we lost that would be cool. I literally had not touched a volleyball since the last tournament. It was a small pool, we only had 2 nets but the teams were decent. We got double revenge, beating the team that beat us in Clearwater and then beating a team of two young high school indoor players that beat us in pool play, in the championship game. Our play wasn't flashy but it was tough. We hustled all day and won a lot of back and forth points. I made sure to keep my cool as much as possible all day and it paid off. Our first win of 2004 came on the last tournament of the year. My first win since 2002. Merry Christmas to me.