Great games but unfortunate result

After the rankings for the Brazilia FIVB open, we would up drawing the only other Canadian team in the tournament.  This is always a tough game to get excited for as playing fellow country men in a single elimination round outside your country leaves one team on a bitter vacation without volleyball. Ray and I kept solid attitudes and were able to stay calm and execute in this first round match.  We played extremely well, making few errors and created many defensive scoring opportunities.  The winner of our match drew Venezuela who are one of the most athletic teams on tour and by far the most aggressive offensively.

Venezuela's second team consists of two jumpers who elevate more than 38 inches out of the sand.  Their game is all power and little finesse and our game plan was for me to be an aggressive blocker and challenge them to shoot around me.  Ray and I made many great transition plays but we wound up losing two VERY close sets.  We played the best we have ever played and we couldn't be more pleased with the application of recent adjustments to our defensive strategies.  Ray played two fabulous defensive games but unfortunately the second was a loss. We made 5 errors in 2 sets and Venezuela made 1 error with quite a few lucky digs, lets and line touches.  We are pleased with our aggressiveness and look forward to our main draw start in China next week.

Ray will be heading back to Toronto early to attend to a sore knee and I will be staying here as I would like to scout the new teams on tour this year.  It will be a very even one as many freshly formed teams will be battling close games with each other, and the consistent top ranked teams.  

I will sign off for now as it is late but I hope to upload highlight vids of our games today shortly.

Good night from Brazilia!