This is the first stop on the 2013 FIVB World Tour. Last year, the World Tour incorporated both Opens and Grand Slams, but this year, it includes only the ten Grand Slams (ten Grand Slams, what kind of sense does that makes?) and the world championships in Poland.
Today's qualification day in Shanghai, for the men. 32 teams play today in a single-elimination bracket, and the 8 teams that win twice join 24 straight-ticket qualifiers in the main draw. Centre court started its day with
Todd Rogers/Ryan Doherty (USA) vs. Roman Sutter/Andreas Martin Sutter (SUI)
I don't know a thing about this Swiss duo, and that's perhaps par for the course of being the #32 seeded team in the qualification tournament. 56 teams in the tournament (32 here and 24 who go straight to the main draw), and they're the last-placed team out of all of them. I was surprised to see the former Olympian and 'Avatar' as he's coming to be known get relegated to the qualifier. According to BVBinfo.com, it's the first time he's had to play a qualifier in almost a decade (last in June 2004, before partnering with Phil Dalhausser — who would've only been 24 at the time). I was not expecting a close match.
In the midst of a very rainy day in Shanghai, a close match was exactly what unfolded. It was almost entirely sideout after sideout through to the midway point with the Americans ahead just 11-10. The next point on serve didn't come until 15-13 in their favour, at which point the Swiss team called time. It's tough to say a whole lot about this match, because the camera to which I was connected was covered with raindrops. The Swiss took two coming out of their timeout to close to 16-15 and then another on serve down 17-16 to tie the match. The Americans reached set point by taking one on serve at 19-18, some great net play by Doherty proving the difference. His block touch allowed an easy pass for Rogers, and then he sent it over on the next hit (which he had to, of course, the block touch counting as a hit in beach) and finding open court. A great attempt on defence by the Swiss just left them muddy in the wet sand. The Americans finished it off a point later to take set 1 21-18.
The Americans ran out ahead much quicker in set 2, with the Swiss making some errors on service reception leading to some poor hitting chances. The Americans led 5-2 after seven points, the last two coming on unforced errors from across the net. The Swiss responded by taking five of the next seven themselves to draw the match even again, including a ludicrously unlikely unforced error by the towering Doherty as he hit the ball straight into the net. The Swiss mixed up their serving patterns, sometimes going to Doherty and sometimes going to Rogers. It seemed to catch the Americans off-guard a little at first, but less so as the match went on. Just as in set 1, the Americans held a slender 11-10 lead at the halfway point. Even though the Swiss serve receive looked better than it did earlier in the set, the Americans still got themselves some breathing room by taking three of the first four out of the midpoint timeout, to prompt the Swiss team's charged timeout. And the Americans really started to pull away, extending from 14-11 to 19-11 before a service error finally got the Swiss the sideout. The match didn't last a lot longer, set 2 ending 21-12 for the American side.
But the day was not to be a good one for Rogers and his Na'vi teammate, as they lost in the second round of qualification, and rather convincingly at that. They will not advance to the main draw. It's obviously too soon to say if this is anything more than one bad day, but it's something to keep your eye on, no doubt.
Hevaldo Sabino Moreira/Thiago Santos Barbosa (BRA) vs. Maverick Hatch/Sam Schachter (CAN)
All right, some Canadian action! This Brazilian team made the main draw in Fuzhou, while there were actually no Canadian men at that tournament at all.
The Canadians took the earliest of leads at 3-1 with Hatch finding sand for a service ace. That held to the side switch with the Canadians ahead 4-3 on reception. The Brazilians served Schachter pretty consistently, even though to look at them there's not much difference physically between the two Canadian players. Hevaldo did well to come up with a kill on 6-4, as the set was taking him way out of bounds, but he angled his hit just so to rebound off the blocker and out. That sent him back to service, and he aced Schachter to tie the set, but with the sideout and Hatch's block against Thiago, the Canadians went back up 8-6 at the second change. Hatch got his team's second ace of the set to make it 9-6, and then on that rally the Brazilian offence just fell apart. Weak hits easily dug by Schachter, and the two of them fell bass-ackwards just trying to keep a ball alive as it flew away. The Brazilians sided out at 10-7 but still trailed 12-9 at the halfway point.
The Canadians nearly went up five on a serve by Schachter that landed just inches long. They made a little mistake on their next service reception, at 14-11, by both attempting to play the ball. This left Hatch to make an off-balance hit that had really nothing behind it, but it still rebounded off Thiago and onto the sand. A good reminder that just because a team have the Brazilian flag next to their names, it doesn't necessarily mean they're the huge favourites every time they step on the court. The Brazilians called time trailing 16-12. They took one back on serve at 17-13 and nearly got another when the jump-float just trickled over the net. At 18-16, the Canadian hit rode the top of the tape for seemingly a solid second or two before it fell back on their side, drawing the Brazilians within a point. That prompted the Canadians to call time. Hatch, getting a relatively rare hit attempt, hit it just wide and long to tie the set. Schachter at last sided the Canadians out with a ball that Thiago just could not chest-dig. The Canadians reached set point at 20-19 and put it away on serve, Hatch finding the block up the middle. That elicited a roar from the big man.
The Brazilians started set 2 with a big run on serve from Thiago. The Canadians actually got the sideout on a point they had no business taking. Their serve reception led to a free ball going to the Brazilian side, and yet Hatch still came up with the middle block. That made it 5-2 at the first side change, which just psychologically seems a lot better than 6-1. They took the first two after the change to cut it back to 5-3, which held up to 8-6 on the second change. A long rally on 9-6 ended with a kill for Hevaldo (curiously, though he's the smaller of the two Brazilians, Thiago seemed to take more hits) to put the Brazilians up four. An ace for Thiago made it five, and the race to 15 was looking likely. The Brazilians got it to six before the Canadians sided out, and led 13-8 on reception at the halfway point. The Canadians never came any closer, and Brazil closed out the set 21-16.
Brazil held the small 3-2 lead at the first side change in the 3rd, a Sam Schachter angle-shot landing wide. A block for Thiago against Schachter made it 4-2, but the Canadians tied it at 4. Schachter came dangerously close to reaching over the plane on the 4-3 rally, but his kill stood as played. At 5-4, Hevaldo made a dig with the top of his head, and I'm pretty sure it was intentional. No doubt he's played soccer in his past. That led to the Brazil side taking a 6-4 lead at the second side change. Hatch got it back a few sideouts later with a service ace to tie the set at 7. Schachter's hit on 8-all found the blocker on its way out to give Canada their first lead of the set at 9-8. It was 10-all after four side changes, and Thiago took one on his own serve to put the Brazilians back on top 11-10. That next rally was a long one, ending with a kill for Hevaldo off Schachter's block and out. Canada called time facing a late 2-point deficit.
The Canadians came out very strong from that timeout, getting the necessary sideout and then adding a kill for Schachter and a block for Hatch, both after long rallies, to go back ahead 13-12. That prompted Brazil to call time. They got their sideout to make it 13-all, with a kill for Hevaldo, leaving the match to be a race to 2. Hevaldo came close to digging Schachter's swing on 13-all, but it flew wide, making it match point for Canada. The serve on match point rebounded off Hevaldo and flew wide for ance, advancing Hatch and Schachter to the next round.
Though the score ended up pretty tight, I'm gonna go ahead and stand by that claim of them looking like the better team (and yes, I realise I could just edit it out anyway). They play this match 10 times, I think Canada win 6 out of 10, maybe 7. Seed lines be damned (it was 3 vs. 30).
Cheng Chen/Jian Li (CHN) vs. Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl (AUT)
I'm gonna beat this dead horse one last time — I tried to look up these two Chinese players, so I could tell them apart if nothing else, and every way of searching I could think of ended up getting me information on about 10 different people (including women's player Chen Xue….or is it Xue Chen? I genuinely don't know….and even her partner). Even the FIVB website was of little help, since it doesn't give player height (the easiest way to tell players apart, even if the difference is small). Sure there's headshots, but it's not as if the players are going to be facing the camera while they play.
(I'll really try not to go back to that well again. I'm sure it's not any more enjoyable for you than it is for me.)
Clearly, what most gets my interest in this match is the Cinderella Austrian team from last week. This was the first second-round match of the day on centre court, the first match to ticket a team to the main draw. Obviously Huber and Seidl played the main draw last week, and achieved great success, but so too did Chen and Li. The Chinese scored on serve first, the rally ending 4-2. They had a shot to take a (relatively speaking) commanding 3-point lead at the side switch, but a ball from the Austrian side that looked diggable wound up finding sand. They took another on 6-4, with a block straight up the middle. On the next rally, a soft hit by Huber was easily dug by the Chinese, leading to a spike and kill for them. Huber let the serve go on 8-5 and though it looked close, he made the right call, with it landing long. Huber got the kill on Seidl's serve of the next point to close the Austrians back to within two at the side change. Two aces later, and we were knotted at 8's. A middle block for Seidl made it 9-8 Austria, a pretty strong turnaround. That prompted the Chinese to call time, but Austria kept up the pressure coming out, with Seidl finding the block on the left side to make it 11-9. His side led 11-10 on reception at the midpoint.
The next seven were sideout after sideout, to give Huber and Seidl the lead 15-13 on service after four changes. The Austrians got themselves a little breathing room with a kill on serve at 17-15, siding out to win at 21-18. At that point, the live feed abruptly cut out, and didn't come back until late in the second set, with the Austrians already leading by a point and a sideout at 17-15 again. The Chinese got as close as 18-17, though on 19-17 they let Huber's serve got and it was ruled in for an ace. That proved crucial, as the Chinese got within a point again at 20-19, saving two match points, but the Austrians were at last able to sideout and win the match 21-19.
Christian Redmann/Josh Binstock (CAN) vs. Miguel Angel de Amo/Inocencio Lario Carrillo (ESP)
Typically court 2 has been the one and only outer court to have a camera (and pardon the beggars being choosers moment, but would it really be so hard to have cameras on all four courts? There's almost always 2 of the 4), but this match was actually on court 4. The Spaniards led 8-6 after two side changes and poured on the pressure leading to the midpoint, taking a 13-8 lead as the teams went for their water bottles. At this point, the webcast blinked out for a moment and came back with one of the stranger camera angles I can easily recall:
Just as I told the twitter-machine.
So while I was happy to get to see Canada play, it was tough getting a good enough look at anything to offer any real insights. Interesting to note the proximity to the next court that this camera angle shows. I always thought they were pretty close together, based on the frequency of whistles, but this shows just how close they are.
The second set started off back-and-forth, point-for-point, until the Canadians got a couple on serve to go ahead at the first side change 8-6. On 9-7, the Spain team played one of those no-win points where they did an amazing job defensively just to keep a ball alive, but had no chance to set an offence afterwards. It was 11-10 Canada, on reception, at the halfway point. It kept up sideout after sideout until Canada snuck one in on 14-12 to get a little breathing room. Spain called time trailing 18-14, but Canada extended it to five on the next rally before they could side out. The final in the 2nd was 21-16, and we were off to a 3rd again.
After a 3-2 'split' to precede the first side change, Canada got the first four on serve, showing fine blocking and hitting form to go up by five. A particularly emphatic block from I believe Binstock made it a five-point margin, which you should really never lose in a 15-point beach volleyball set. Spain called timeout to regroup, and at last got their sideout in advance of the second side switch. Canada were whistled for a fault on 7-3, double contact I believe (would fit with the timing of the whistle, but as you can see above the referees weren't visible on this feed). They protested it momentarily, but that hardly ever matters. On 8-4, Canada dug the Spanish hit so high into the air that one of the Spain players had time to casually take off his hat and toss it to the side. Such a high pass left ample time for a solid set, and Canada got the kill to go up five again. They extended to six on the next rally, seven on the one after that, and Spain made no serious inroads. The final for the 3rd set was 15-7.
Over on court 2, Hatch and Schachter got it done again Müllner and Wutzl of Austria (21-18, 21-17). Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk were eliminated by a Swiss team, but you know what Meat Loaf said. (And if you don't, well….figure it out ;))
Qualification results
Round 1
#1 Rogers/Doherty (USA) d. #32 Sutter/Sutter (SUI) (21-18, 21-12)
#2 Doppler/Horst (AUT) d. #31 Beyeler/Bissig (SUI) (21-9, 21-18)
#30 Hatch/Schachter (CAN) d. #3 Hevaldo/Thiago (BRA) (21-19, 16-21, 15-13)
#4 Sorokins/T Smedins (LAT) d. #29 Pastukhov/Hudyakov (RUS) (21-19, 21-15)
#28 Hasegawa/Ageba (JPN) d. #5 Semenov/Koshkarev (RUS) (14-21, 21-19, 15-13)
#27 De Amo/Lario (ESP) d. #6 Grimalt/Grimalt (CHI) (24-22, 21-11)
#7 Gabathuler/Weingart (SUI) d. #26 Morten/Hordvik (NOR) (21-15, 21-19)
#8 Huber/Seidl (AUT) d. #25 Georgios/Nikos (GRE) (26-24, 19-21, 15-12)
#9 Chen/Li (CHN) d. #24 Kunert/Petutschnig (AUT) (21-16, 21-16)
#10 Saxton/Schalk (CAN) d. #23 Ramos/Golindano (VEN) (21-15, 21-12)
#11 Redmann/Binstock (CAN) d. #22 Yakovlev/Kuleshov (KAZ) (21-16, 17-21, 15-13)
#12 Ingrosso/Ingrosso (ITA) d. #21 Vesik/Kollo (EST) (19-21, 21-18, 15-9)
#13 Kapa/McHugh (AUS) d. #20 Cès/Rowlandson (FRA) (21-17, 21-9)
#14 Müllner/Wutzl (AUT) d. #19 Sergiy/Samoday (UKR) (21-17, 17-21, 15-12)
#15 Gunnarsson/Brinkborg (SWE) d. #18 Giginoglu/Sekerci (TUR) (21-16, 17-21, 15-10)
#17 Böckermann/Urbatzka (GER) d. #16 Losiak/Kantor (POL) (21-15, 21-11)
Round 2
Böckermann/Urbatzka d. Rogers/Doherty (21-15, 21-13)
Huber/Seidl d. Chen/Li (21-18, 21-9)
Ingrosso/Ingrosso d. Hasegawa/Ageba (21-16, 21-14)
Kapa/McHugh d. Sorokins/T Smedins (21-10, 21-16)
Hatch/Schachter d. Müllner/Wutzl (21-18, 21-17)
Redmann/Binstock d. De Amo/Lario (15-21, 21-16, 15-8)
Gabathuler/Weingart d. Saxton/Schalk (16-21, 21-15, 15-11)
Doppler/Horst d. Gunnarsson/Brinkborg (21-14, 21-18)
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