All preambles said, let's get right to it.
Ryan Doherty /Todd Rogers (USA) vs. Konstantin Semenov/Yaroslav Koshkarev (RUS)
This was the match I thought I switched to centre court for in the first place. This effectively marked the beginning of the second session for the men. Doherty and Rogers defeated a Norwegian tandem in three sets and in just under an hour earlier, while Semenov and Koshkarev were handily beaten in their first match, and in half the time.
For how often players are hard to tell apart, I've got to appreciate the Doherty/Rogers partnership for that. There's no mistaking which player is which, with Rogers always wearing his cap and shades and oh by the way he's about a foot shorter. So of course the Russians always served him, but the opponents always served him in his partnership with Phil Dalhausser, too (it's why this partnership, and Rosenthal/Dalhausser, both made perfect sense).
Neither side really took control early, as a long stretch of sideout volleyball made it 7-all following two side changes. The Americans took the first lead at 9-7 with a left-side kill that caused the Russian blocker to fall flat on his butt. Serving on 9-8, the Russians curiously opted to give Doherty a hitting attempt — maybe they figured it would take them by surprise? But he was ready to pass, Todd was ready to set, and the hit was thunderous. An unforced error on the Russian side put the Americans ahead three for the first time at 11-8, and the third side change came at 12-9. The Russians made the risky choice to completely abandon a serve on 13-10, and paid for it, as Rogers' serve fell in for an ace to put the Americans up four. the margin which held up the rest of the way to the 21-17 final.
The Americans went ahead early in the 2nd, with Doherty coming up with the sort of net plays you want a 7-footer to come up with. It's clear he's not just there because of raw physical gifts (something I had wondered at one point being that beach volleyball is his second career), he knows what he's doing. While the Americans led after one side change, the Russians took their first lead of the match at 6-5 with a block straight up the middle. It got a little streaky at that point, with the Americans running out to 8-6, and the Russians responding to ahead 10-8. The third side change and short automatic timeout came with Russia ahead 11-10. The Russians started to pull away from there. Rogers, never a player who fails to speak his mind, seemed upset about something on the rally ending 16-12 leading to the fourth side change, but I couldn't tell what it was. The Americans got it as close again at 18-16, but centre court was treated to yet another third set with the Russians finishing it off 21-18.
Even though it was only about 3:30 pm local time as the match went into its third set, rather conspicuous overhead lights came on as the decider began. I would have figured those would come on between matches rather than between sets, though I guess it's good to get them on ASAP when they're necessary. The camera showed literally nothing besides the court itself, so it was impossible to gauge how overcast or dark the skies were. About an hour and a half later, though, Lauren Fendrick, whose tournament starts tomorrow in the women's main draw, tweeted this picture. Whoa boy. That's China for you. I guess.
Russia took the first small advantages of set 3, including with a nice service ace that died in front of Rogers to go up 5-3. It was 6-4 after two side changes. The Americans played a great point on 6-4 to avoid falling in a 3-point hole. Rogers had to lay out for a ball and Doherty was forced into making one of those "wait for him to get up" sets — a set that all but literally touches the sky. It worked, though, but as this was a point on the Americans' service reception it didn't actually count for all that much. A Russian miscue led to the Americans closing to within 8-7 at the third side change. 9-7 was probably the point of the match, with some great synergy shown on both sides of the net. The rally ended with Doherty finding some open court to again make it a one-point set. The Americans took it on serve on the next ball to make it 9-all, at Russia's timeout.
After four side changes, it was even at 10's. Numerical ties occurred again at 11, 12, and 13. The Americans got the first match point at 14-13, but to no one's surprise the set was extended to extra points. The score was tied again at 15's for a sixth side change in the set. Finally, on their fourth attempt at match point, the Americans put it away to win what ended up being a slugfest.
I then started to watch Xu Linyin/Gao Peng (CHN) vs. Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh (AUS)
The Chinese came out for this match wearing Under Armour type underclothes like a few of the women's teams did. I don't know why exactly I'm doing the fashion report in addition to the volleyball report, but it just strikes me as interesting that some teams would make these choices and others not.
If the folks in Fuzhou gave their countrymen any sort of home-court advantage, I didn't really see it. I didn't hear much crowd noise at all, in stark contrast to last year's Stare Jablonki Grand Slam, which I also covered in detail. At that match, the crowd were a lot louder for Poland teams. As it is, Xu and Gao fell behind early in set 1 in a match that they, by the seed-lines, should win. Midway through the set, the camera went dark (but audio could still be heard), and when it came back, the camera angle was from slightly further back, showing grey skies in the background as well as some of the crowd — and the fact that every last one of them were holding an umbrella.
So it was probably miserable playing conditions, but much like football, beach volleyball's philosophy is "the show must go on." Suddenly, though, the camera cut out altogether, and I had to go back to court 2. Just a few points remained in the Russia/Brazil match taking place, won by Brazil. The next match on court 2 was of interest.
Sean Rosenthal/Phil Dalhausser (USA) vs. Daan Spijkers/Steven van de Velde (NED)
Great name of a volleyball player, eh? Spijkers? But he got very little opportunity to do anything of the sort, with the Americans surging ahead to 5-2 at the first side change. The Dutch called a very quick timeout one point later at 6-2, looking a bit like deer in the headlights. They rebounded a bit after that timeout to close to 8-6 at the side change. Nice little bit of sportsmanship as the two teams passed under the net. A hit from the Dutch side had rebounded rather nastily off Rosenthal's face for a point, and they quickly shook (slapped?) hands as they passed each other. Nothing to it, but I thought it was awfully nice.
The Americans went to work between the second and third side switches, and despite a grotesque reception error on 8-6 that drew the Dutch within a point, it was 13-8 at the tech-timeout, and dominance was re-asserted. A big run on serve for Dalhausser happened late in the set, including a couple of aces that just left the Dutch duo defenceless. It brought the Americans to their biggest lead at 19-10 before the Dutch finally sided out. Another not so great service reception happened on 19-12, as Dalhausser had to dive for a ball. Rosenthal's attempt at a free ball (and isn't "attempt at a free ball" just one of the saddest possible phrases in the English language?) flew long. Nonetheless, the Americans did finish off the first set 21-16.
Rosenthal and Dalhausser went out ahead early in set 2 as well. I thought the Dutch had taken their first lead of the match on the first rally before the side change, and it appeared that one of the players was celebrating like they had, but the point went to the Americans. On 4-4, the Dutch hit appeared to land inside the back-left corner on the American side, but the flagger ruled it out. Nobody seemed to mind. The Dutch took a point on serve to make it 7-7 at the second side change. The Dutch team were playing with a lot more confidence in set 2, and took the lead 11-10 at the third side change. I guess that confidence comes from the run at the end of set 1. They were never going to come back from 19-10 to win the set, so making it as competitive as they did was itself a small victory.
After the Dutch team extended to 12-10, the Americans scored three straight to reclaim the lead themselves, and prompt the Dutch team to call time. The run continued to 15-12 with another great run on serve from Dalhausser, with the Dutch eventually siding out at the fourth side change at 15-13. The Dutch came up with what might have been scored as a double-block in indoor volleyball, something you almost never see in beach volleyball (such that I'm pretty sure such a scoring category doesn't exist outside) to draw to within a point at 16-15, and they were clearly, audibly excited about that.
But they never did get over the hump. A long stretch of sideouts ended with the Americans' first match point at 20-18, and Dalhausser's middle block kept them from needing to go for it on reception. And those reception bugaboos earlier in the match are the sort of mistakes you see from a new team. Those'll get ironed out, I have no doubt. There's every reason to believe in this team and their future.
Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (ITA) vs. Adrián Gavira Collado/Christian García (ESP)
Don't really know this Spanish duo, and I actually don't know a lot about the Italians either. Obviously they've got name recognition, having eliminated the defending Olympic champions at last summer's London Games. They carry a strong seed (#4) in this tournament, so it probably stands to reason that they're the favourites here.
Nothing really jumped out at me about this match, except the air, as weird as that sounds. Dare I say it, but it seemed to be clearing up a little as the day wore on. I wonder how the locals stand it. Pollution so thick you have to turn on stadium lights at 3:30 pm. The China Olympics 5 years ago really glossed over this quite nicely (and that's not a compliment), in hindsight.
The Italians took the lead early and added to it little by little as the set wore on. The Spanish called time down 16-11, but it didn't slow the Italian roll. A big middle block by Nicolai (I….think) on his own serve made it a pretty big margin at the fourth side change, and the Italians held it up to the 21-14 first set final.
The Spanish team were stronger in set 2, leading 12-9 at the tech-timeout. The Spaniards held that 3-point advantage through much of the set, but at the fifth side change Nicolai and Lupo closed to within a point. They drew even on the first point after the change, and took their first lead in quite a while on the point after that, prompting the Spanish team to call time. The Italians got match point at 20-19, but the Spaniards staved it off. They got another match point at 21-20, but a Spanish kill through the block staved that one off as well. The third Italian match point wasn't converted, either. Nor was the fourth. Finally on their fifth attempt, the Nicolai and Lupo emerged victorious, on a weird play where a diving dig led to, effectively, an overpass, but onto an unoccupied area of the court. Something you'd never get away with indoors, but on the beach, sure.
That was the last scheduled match of the day on court 2. Somehow, centre court ended its day only about 20 minutes later (a set or so) despite being much further behind schedule than that. Here's the full day one results. Remember that in each pool, the winners receive a bye to the second-round in the knockout stage, and the fourth-place team are eliminated from the competition altogether.
Pool A
#32 Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl (AUT) d. #1 Wu Penggen/Wu Jiaxin (CHN) (21-17, 21-12) I wouldn't read much, if anything, into these seed lines. There's something in the rulebook about qualifying teams from the host nation being given the #1 seed without otherwise deserving it. I'm willing to bet that's what happened here.
#16 Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (NED) d. #17 Julius Brink/Sebastian Fuchs (GER) (21-18, 21-14) Brouwer/Meeuwsen d. Huber/Seidl (21-19, 21-19)
Brink/Fuchs d. Wu/Wu Jiaxin (21-16, 24-22)
Pool B
#2 Sean Rosenthal/Phil Dalhausser (USA) d. #31 Maksim Hudyakov/Alexey Pastukhov (RUS) (21-15, 21-10)
#15 Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz (POL) d. #18 Daan Spijkers/Steven van de Velde (NED) (21-11, 21-16)
Rosenthal/Dalhausser d. Spijkers/Van de Velde (21-16, 21-18)
Kadziola/Szalankiewicz d. Hudyakov/Pastukhov (21-16, 21-16)
This makes tomorrow's Pool B action pretty straightforward. USA vs. Poland determines who gets the first-round bye, while Russia vs. Netherlands determines who advances at all.
Pool C
#3 Pedro Solberg Salgado/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA) d. #19 Ruslans Sorokins/Toms Smedins (LAT) (21-19, 21-16)
#14 Ricardo Alex Costa Santos/Álvaro Morais Filho (BRA) d. #30 Serguei Prokopiev/Yury Bogatov (RUS) (21-18, 21-19)
Ricardo/Álvaro Filho d. Pedro/Bruno (21-18, 21-19)
Prokopiev/Bogatov d. Sorokins/T Smedins (17-21, 21-15, 15-10)
Pool D
#4 Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (ITA) d. #29 Matteo Ingrosso/Paolo Ingrosso (ITA) (21-18, 21-19)
#13 Alexey Sidorenko/Alexandr Dyachenko (KAZ) d. #20 Adrián Gavira Collado/Christian García (ESP) (16-21, 21-19, 16-14)
Nicolai/Lupo d. Gavira/García (21-14, 25-23)
Sidorenko/Dyachenko d. Ingrosso/Ingrosso (26-24, 21-19)
So Pool D will have the same circumstances tomorrow as Pool B.
Pool E
#5 Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik (GER) d. #28 Sergiy Popov/Valeriy Samoday (UKR) (21-12, 21-19)
#21 Vitor Gonçalves Felipe/Evandro Gonçalves Oliveira Júnior (BRA) d. #12 Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst (NED) (21-15, 14-21, 15-12)
Vitor Felipe/Evandro d. Erdmann/Matysik (21-17, 21-19)
Popov/Samoday d. Stiekema/Varenhorst via injury forfeit
You never want to see that. Calls into question the team's readiness for their match with Erdmann/Matysik tomorrow.
Pool F
#6 Janis Smedins/Aleksandrs Samoilovs (LAT) d. #27 Hevaldo Sabino Moreira/Thiago Santos Barbosa (BRA) (21-18, 21-17)
#22 Chen Cheng/Li Jian (CHN) d. #11 Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif (GER) (25-27, 24-22, 15-8) A linescore that reads like conditioning played a factor.
J Smedins/Samoilovs d. Chen/Li (21-19, 21-14)
Dollinger/Windscheif d. Hevaldo/Thiago (21-13, 21-14)
Pool G
#7 Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel (POL) d. #26 Konstantin Semenov/Yaroslav Koshkarev (RUS) (21-18, 21-10)
#10 Ryan Doherty/Todd Rogers (USA) d. #23 Iver Andreas Horrem/Geir Eithun (NOR) (21-18, 16-21, 15-11)
Fijalek/Prudel d. Horrem/Eithun (28-26, 21-11)
Doherty/Rogers d. Semenov/Koshkarev (21-17, 18-21, 18-16)
Another couple of winner-take-all matches for tomorrow
Pool H
#8 Xu Linyin/Gao Peng (CHN) d. #25 Andy Cès/Edouard Rowlandson (FRA) (21-15, 21-23, 15-13)
#9 Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson (USA) d. #24 Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh (AUS) (21-14, 25-23) I actually did get to see a little of this match. The Americans trailed big early in the second and did well to come back and win.
Xu/Gao d. Kapa/McHugh (17-21, 21-19, 15-12)
Gibb/Patterson d. Cès/Rowlandson (21-18, 17-21, 15-11)
And that's two more winner-take-all matches for tomorrow. It's curious to me how the FIVB website gives the diacritic for Cès' name (if you haven't figured it out, I'm doing a lot of copying and pasting for these names) but not any of the Latvian names.
Tomorrow women's action gets underway. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day at the beach. I'll see you there!
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