Over the weekend I was in Dallas where the US Men’s National Team played a trio of FIVB World League matches. The boy’s Junior Nationals were also going on, not coincidentally.
The volleyball was average. The best match of the weekend – that I saw (didn’t see Australia v Bulgaria) – was USA v Bulgaria. The home side dropped the first set and had to come back from 5+ point deficits in sets 3 and 4 to get the win. I’m not saying the quality of play was great in that match. Rather, it was the one with the most tension. The rest of the matches were pretty one-sided.
This was true even of the USA v. Russia match on Sunday. That’s the one I expected to be the best of the three, but the Russians just weren’t up for it. The first set started ugly for the USA, with a string of hitting errors and blocked balls. They just didn’t play well. The thing is, though, Russia never got out to a lead of more than a couple points. It ended up being a really tight set that went over time – ending in a US win. After that, it was basically a USA rout. Russia just didn’t play well.
And there were some REALLY bad plays. Balls dropped between players. An MB taking a free ball, just stood there and didn’t make himself available to hit. Stuff like that.
The USA matches had pretty good attendance. The crowd made a fair amount of noise, especially during the more dramatic periods.
Introductions
The games weren’t the only thing going on, though.
Volleyball Coaching Wizard Ruth Nelson was on-hand as part of a reunion. It featured players from the area who were USA national program players going back into the 1960s. One of the ones she introduced me to was the woman who was the first to run the Texas 1-foot takeoff. You might know that better today as the slide.
Ruth also introduced me to Doug Beal.
While I didn’t actually meet them, I also saw the guys from The Net Live. Kevin Barnett did the broadcast for the USA matches and spent some time in the seats near me during the Australia vs. Russia match on Friday. DJ Roueche actually sat three rows in front of me the whole weekend.
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