Y2K5Vball results

Date	Location	Play Level	Format	Surface	Teammates	End Result	Notes
4/23/05	Fort Lauderdale, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	6-2 2nd place	Our first tournament since December and also the first time I touched a volleyball since then. We started out slow, barely beating some teams that we should have handled easily. The tour switched to rally scoring which kept me serving conservatively. We had a 3 way tie at the top in pool play that we had to play an extra game to break. We handled our first two playoff opponents pretty easily, including beating the team that beat us in pool play. In the finals we played on a net that was a bit higher and a court that was pretty wavy. The team we played in the finals was good. The one player was extremely smooth, hitting whatever spot he wanted. A bit too good for BB if you ask me. The finals weren't very close but I did a decent job with the opportunities I had. I was pleased with the day. Compared to last year, our debut was much better. I steadily improved throughout the day so I had nothing to be sour about. No major injuries either. It was a good day.
5/14/05	Singer Island, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	2-2 N/A	The first time Randall and I played together we missed the playoffs and improved from there and didn't miss since. The streak ended this weekend with a 2-2 finish and missing the playoffs. We had an embarrassing loss in our first match to a team that was not much more than glorified picnic ballers and never recovered. Overall, our play wasn't all that bad. I had a half dozen really good ups on hammered hits and we had a number of scrambling, hectic saves but more often than not we wound up not getting the point. We wound up playing the team that Rich and I had a run in with years ago. We had to win to get to the playoffs. I wanted to win in the worse way to even the old grudge. It was back and forth for awhile and then it fell apart late. We couldn't make them pay for serving Randall consistently and the few opportunities I had to hit, I didn't convert as many as I should have. It was a disappointing result after driving nearly 3 hours to get there.
5/21/05	Hollywood, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	2-2 N/A	I was all fired up to do better after our disappointing result the prior week. Instead we had an instant replay of the last tournament. We lost our first and last match and didn't make the playoffs. It's frustrating. We had many brilliant, hustling plays where we made great digs, saves, and shots but then we had even more unforced errors where we hit simple shots out, serve out or try to make pretty looking plays instead of just getting the point. In rally scoring, you have to do what you consistently do best. We just haven't done that. I'd much rather get beat going up and aggressively swinging away and getting blocked than lose trying to place a shot.
6/25/05	Pottstown, PA	BB	Doubles	Grass	Charlie	8-2 N/A	It was as hot if not hotter than any Rumble I ever played in, 95 degrees + and humid. 11 people were taken to the hospital. We still performed well. We went 7-1 on a good net to snag first place. Our first playoff game was against a solid older team that we handled pretty easily. We had played better as the day went on and were pretty confident. Then we hit a wall. Our 2nd round opponent had a player that was sand bagging big time. He hit an inside out, hard hooking serve that we just shanked and shanked and shanked. Before we knew it we were down 8-0. On a few plays where we thought we were going to get points, they made incredible saves to negate them. We would up getting skunked 11-0, something that never has happened to me at the Rumble. It was disappointing to have it end that way after putting so much effort in to get to that point. But if I look at the big picture, we did quite well and even a loss like that doesn't take all that much glow off the day. It was a lot of fun. Playing with Charlie always is.
7/23/05	Fort Lauderdale, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	1-3 N/A	The downward slide for our team continued. It was foot melting hot but it wasn't an excuse. The only team we beat all day was a guy playing with a 12 year old kid. When teams play us it has become very lopsided on serve receive with me seeing a small percentage of balls and us in turn not being able to force them to move away from that strategy. We have missed playoffs now this year more than we have made them. It just shouldn't be the case. Something needs to change, I don't have much time left on my competitive volleyball clock.
8/6/05	Delray Beach, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	3-2 5th place	It was my first time at Delray, it's a quaint little beach that reminded me a bit of Rehoboth. For the first time since April, Randall and I made playoffs. Unfortunately our last game of pool play was a loss to a team I never thought we would lose to and then we followed up with losing the first playoff game. Still, it was an improvement over our recent performances so I'll have to be happy with that.
9/10/05	Fort Lauderdale, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Jeremy	1-3 N/A	Randall was out of town so I played with Jeremy, someone I have played against several times this summer. Unfortunately the plot followed the same lines as much of the summer. I got very few serves and was unable to set Jeremy consistently enough to get teams to change their plans. It was frustrating. Playing once a month certainly doesn't lend itself to having your skills razor sharp, but I never would have expected for this season to go as it has. Making playoffs in BB used to be automatic. Now it is an accomplishment.
9/17/05	South Beach, FL	BB	Doubles	Sand	Randall	4-2 3rd place	Turnout for the tour championship was surprisingly light with only 2 nets of BB. The sand condition was atrocious as it was filled with coral, rocks and broken glass. It was a split format covering 2 days. Randall and I overall played the best we have in 2005 which was a nice way to wind up the season. The teams in our pool took 1st thru 3rd which was cool. We took 3rd, beating two young good teams along the way. I am beat up from playing my first consecutive days of vball in 6 years or more but it was worth it.
12/10/05	Siesta Key, FL	A	Doubles	Sand	Randall	1-4 6th place	No BB was available so we played A. The temps were cool, in the upper 60's. The record didn't reflect the day very well. We played well considering the circumstances. We had rust and the normal amount of unforced errors but even so, our losses in pool play were by no more than 2 or 3 points. We had a team in our pool with a player that was definitely sandbagging big time. I imagine he could play open if he wanted to. Our play convinced me we could play more A than BB next season. We may not win much in A but we can definitely hang. After we finished, I had enough energy to meet up with Ali and run a 5k.