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Keep On Keepin’ On
June 13, 2010 | By Rich
Well, we have arrived in Prague after a week in Moscow.
Our feelings from Moscow are mixed. At times we played fantastic and at other times, during our last match, I felt like I didn’t deserve to represent Canada.
Our first match was against the top seeded team in our grouping, Germany. The Germans are the 6th ranked team on the World Tour and, according to our ranking of 27th, it seemed like an easy match up for the Germans. However, the more time you spend on this tour, you quickly come to understand that the talent pool is so tight, there are very few easy wins anymore. We came out ready and took charge in the first set. We were both feeling good at the service line and took some risks that paid off with some bombing jump serves. Our side out was close to perfect against this great team and we managed to beat them convincingly, 21-15 and 21-15.
We then lost to the Brazilians, Harley and Pedro. This team won the tournament in China a few weeks ago, but we were certain that we had a chance. Well, not today… Harley served me off the court. He was ripping his jump serve down my line and, although he got a few aces, the balls I was able to pass were not up to the net for a comfortable sideout and they made some strong blocks and digs against me. I was not happy after the match and came out fired up against Americans, Fuerbringer and Lucena in our final “pool play” match.
This game was very enjoyable. I played great at the net blocking and siding out and Redmann made some key digs. We really had great chances to win both sets including a side out to win the first and a comfortable 14-10 lead in the second but we were unable to clutch out and win the match that would send us directly to 9th and first in our pool.
Saturday morning we were up against Jennings and Keenan from USA. We were feeling good about our game and our chances against this new team. We walked outside to grab the shuttle to go to the venue and the wind almost smashed the hotel door back in my face!!
We got to the court and we were focused and ready and prepared. The Americans, however, hosed us down as they were obviously more adept at playing in these gale-force conditions.
Tournament finished. Result, another 17th.
We know that we are close. Our time will come.
Perhaps here in Prague.
We are well prepared, healthy, disciplined, working hard and keeping the belief.
