Maybe you don’t think Latvia when you think beach volleyball. Maybe you should. (photo credit: Daniel Garcia/AFP)
Today we crowned a champion.
I missed out on a bit of today's action as well, but this time I can't blame dodgy internet connections. No, this time, it's my own stupidity that's to blame.
And it's not even a matter of doing arithmetic with the hours to find out when the matches started in my time zone. No, no, no, the truth is much stupider than that. When I was checking the schedule to see at what time the matches started, I wasn't looking on the line for the semifinals. I was looking at the line for the bronze medal final. You know — the match that would happen after the first two of the day.
So when I joined the match between Todd Rogers/Phil Dalhausser and Mārtiņš Pļaviņš/Jānis Šmēdiņš, the first set was already almost over. The Americans had a 17-11 lead. A Rogers block got them to 18-11. The Latvians made a run to 18-16 at that point, largely off serve receive. They aced Rogers twice and Dalhausser once — the Thin Beast was probably just shocked he actually got a serve. The second time Rogers was victimized he was actually called for double contact when the ball ricocheted off his face after he tried for a bump pass. He loudly protested the call, shouting "That's not the rule!" and I gotta say I agree with him. He was yellow-carded for his demonstrative behavior, and that shut him up. Rogers finally put one away on the next point, and the American duo went on to win the first set 21-17.
The Latvians took the first four points in the second set before Rogers was finally able to get his side on the board. The Latvians took one on serve to go up 6-2, and I was wondering if it might already be over. Rogers was unable to spike through Pļaviņš' block on 8-4, and as the ball came back down on his side, he kicked it, in visible frustration. The run extended to 11-4, with Šmēdiņš putting up the brick wall this time, before Rogers was at last able to side out again. Rogers and Dalhausser fought back to 14-11 mainly on the strength of Dalhausser's net play. After the timeout called by the Latvian side, it was actually Rogers' block that got them back to within two and then Dalhausser's service ace to make it 14-13. Quite a comeback. But that appeared to be all the gas they had in the tank. They just made too many errors as the set went on. Rogers staved off one set point on 20-14, but the Latvians took the next with a Rogers net violation to send us to a third.
This was Rogers and Dalhausser's sixth match of the tournament, and their fifth (and fifth consecutive) three-setter. I speculated yesterday that they had to be just about running on empty here, and I think that's what happened. These guys are still a great team — Dalhausser might be the best setter on the circuit, his blocking speaks for itself, Rogers looks tiny in comparison but he's 6 foot freakin' 2 and is capable of some powerful hitting. But the world's coming back to them. They were untouchable in Beijing, as you may recall — they're starting to show some cracks in the armor now. I wonder how much longer Rogers will go (he turns 39 in September). Dalhausser's realistically got one more Olympic cycle in him (he's 32) but I don't know if the partnership will last that long.
The Latvians took the first two point lead in the deciding set with one on serve to go up 4-2, and then another to 5-2. Dalhausser made a couple of ugly flubs on great defensive plays from Rogers. The Latvian run extended to 10-3 amid all kinds of errors and simple errors of execution that made this one pretty ugly. The Americans were both looking absolutely gassed as the set went on, and honestly, who could blame them. The closest Rogers and Dalhausser came was 11-6. Pļaviņš powered through the block to get to match point at 14-8, and they put it away on serve on the first attempt.
That took us to the second semifinal, featuring the Austrian team of Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst vs. Rogers and Dalhausser's compatriots Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. I figured the Americans had to be the heavy favorites here. They've already all but clinched the season points title, and who exactly are Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst? They came to the tournament as the #25 seed, making quite a run to get to the semifinals, defeating the likes of Thiago and Bruno (a new but extremely talented partnership) to get here. They seemed a definite Cinderella run.
The beginning to the match was very even. The teams were equally effective and ineffective, trading service errors and smart net play. The advantage of who served with the lead vacillated a couple of times, but it wasn't until the Americans went up 14-12 that anyone had a 2 point lead. That advantage was short lived; a service ace from Doppler knotted the set again at 15. His block brought the Austrians to 18-16, and it was at this point that Gibb and Rosenthal were granted a five-minute medical timeout. Gibb had apparently injured his back on the prior point, though it did not appear that he landed particularly awkwardly after swinging. A trainer worked over his lower back and did a stretch pulling his right leg over his body as he lay on his back. Honestly, that looked like it should have hurt like hell. When play resumed, the Austrians quickly reached set point at 20-17. Rosenthal staved off a couple at the net, but not the last, with Doppler and Horst winning the first 21-19.
In between sets, the trainer continued working on Gibb's back. Whatever in fact caused it, the guy was clearly in a lot of pain. It began very much like the first, with neither side pulling out to a 2 point advantage for a while, yet it wasn't all sideout after sideout either. The Austrians were the first to go ahead, at 9-7. Upon the technical timeout with Doppler and Horst leading 11-10, the trainer again worked on Gibb's back, and it was pretty clear coming back that he was not at full strength. Rosenthal took up most of the blocking responsibility, which is not his usual role. Surprisingly, the Austrians still mostly served Rosenthal. I might have tried serving Gibb to see if he was up to jumping for a swing, or to leave Rosenthal to send it over on two. The Austrian lead stretched to 17-13, and neither side scored on serve again, sending the #25 seeds to the gold medal final. Doppler lay in the sand with his arms outstretched, a look of joy on his face. I thought he was gonna start doing sand angels, but he didn't.
I would class this as a pretty big upset, but you have to keep in mind one of the members of the favored team was playing through injury for more than half the match.
That set up Rogers/Dalhausser vs. Gibb/Rosenthal for the bronze medal, but this match never really happened. Five points in to the first set, Gibb retired. He was simply unable to continue. Pain mixed with contrition covered his face as he took off his cap and waved it at the crowd. The crowd, to their credit, was gracious in being denied a bronze medal final. They gave the two American duos a rousing ovation as they left the court.
Organizers filled the time with a short exhibition match between the teams of Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, who had been eliminated by Rogers and Dalhausser in the quarterfinals, and Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz, who fell to Doppler and Horst in round 2 of the knockout stage. Yes, both of these teams are Polish. They played just a single set, so as to not run into the warmup time for the gold medal final. Fijalek and Prudel won 21-16. The crowd really seemed to love it, and the four guys on the court were obviously having a good time, too. Szalankiewicz performed a reverse-worm dance in the sand, which really got the people going. He and Kadziola both took off their jerseys and flexed for the crowd after the match was over, and the female lungs in the audience were shriekin'! Szalankiewicz in fact tossed his jersey into the crowd. Not sure Kadziola did.
Gold medal final
Pļaviņš/Šmēdiņš and Doppler/Horst then squared off in the final match of the tournament. Pļaviņš and Šmēdiņš were always a strong bet to make it this far, having been bronze medalists at the Olympics, but I'm not sure who bought a ticket to today's session expecting to see Doppler and Horst in the marquee matchup. Going strictly off of seeding, they shouldn't have even gotten out of pool play, and here they were in the gold medal final. For both nations, let alone both teams, this would be the first time on the podium for them in 2012. Pļaviņš and Šmēdiņš had been there once before, last summer, but this was the first rodeo for Doppler and Horst. First Sunday afternoon rodeo anyway.
Far from resting on their laurels, Doppler and Horst came out swinging, looking instead perhaps to validate their presence in the gold medal final. They took the first two points of the match, and from there the teams traded 2-point mini-runs until 8-6. The Austrians went ahead to 10-6 after a terrific point where Horst made a diving pass to Doppler from a ball that was mere inches from hitting the sand, Doppler sent over a freeball, then the Latvian swing was dug on their side leading to a great line shot for a kill. The Latvians were undaunted though, and rolled off a run to close to within 11-10 before the technical timeout. On the first point back, they knotted it at 11. Pļaviņš was called for a long hit on 12-11, and the flagger sort of flinched, looking like he was first going to signal in before he signaled out. Pļaviņš understandably didn't like that, but he kept his cool. The Latvians showed superior athletic ability as the set went on, eventually edging ahead to 16-15. Doppler looked a little shaken up as the Austrians went to timeout. It seemed like the crowd was on their side. Šmēdiņš' block got the Latvian team a 3 point cushion at 18-15. They then got to set point at 20-17. Doppler staved the first off, and then Horst got an ace to close to 20-19, but a beautiful line shot from Pļaviņš ended it at 21-19.
I took notes on the second set, but I really can't read them. I was sleepy |-) Suffice it to say it was every bit as even as the first set, but the Austrians actually edged ahead toward the end and the Latvians had to fend off a couple of set points. Šmēdiņš' block ended the match, and the tournament, giving the Latvians the gold.
It's time to think of these boys as realistic players in international beach volleyball. They should be at just about their physical primes come the Rio Olympics — Šmēdiņš will be 29 and Pļaviņš will be 31. And who knows what their successes might do to inspire new generations of Latvian beach volleyball players. We could have a new national powerhouse on our hands in a few years' time, and it'll be pretty much all thanks to these two guys. What a partnership.
Day Five results:
Men's semifinals
#12 Pļaviņš/Šmēdiņš (LAT) d. #4 Rogers/Dalhausser (USA) (17-21, 21-15, 15-8)
#25 Doppler/Horst (AUT) d. #2 Gibb/Rosenthal (USA) (21-19, 21-17)
Bronze medal final
Rogers/Dalhausser d. Gibb/Rosenthal via injury forfeit
Gold medal final
Pļaviņš/Šmēdiņš d. Doppler/Horst (21-19, 22-20)
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