Doug Beal's World Cup Journal - Nov. 19, 2007
As pleasant as it was to write after yesterday's match, it is just that disappointing and unpleasant to write now.
The world of sports is reality in all its glory and despair. Today, we were simply not as ready to play and compete at the level required and thus we lost to a very determined and very good Puerto Rican team, 3-1. We were out-served, out-passed and terribly out-dug – PUR had almost 30 more digs than the USA. They led to lots of scoring opportunities, most of which went to their very good opposite hitter Hector Soto (former collegian at IPFW) and he had 27 kills on 51 swings to easily be the top scorer in the match by a wide margin.
The set scores were 21-25, 25-20, 17-25 and 22-25. At this point in the tournament only RUS, BUL and PUR are 2-0, very wide open.
We used almost everyone on the roster, with little change in the team's performance. Sean Rooney did get some kills off the bench, too little too late. Kevin Hansen set in the 3rd and 4th games for Lloy, Gabe Gardner subbed for Clay Stanley and Rooney played for Riley Salmon. Tom Hoff came off the bench for David Lee, also in the 3rd and 4th sets. Sadly, nothing worked well.
This event doesn't give you much time to evaluate or spend time on the previous match. We have to get ready for the European champs from Spain tomorrow. Spain has lost to both BUL and BRA, but has been very competitive in both matches and will be a handful. We need to capture the energy and patience we displayed vs. BRA, and the decision making from that match.
A few stats; we had 17 service errors (for the 2nd night in a row), and only 2 aces!!! We had 11 transition attack kills compared with 24 for PUR (that's what those 30 extra digs will do for you). Stuffs were almost even: 10 to their 12.
Priddy was our point leader again with 16. The team only killed about 35% of our swings – a very low number. The reality is that this could (and perhaps already has) become a very wide-open event with 5-6 teams competing for the 3 Olympic spots and several teams could wind up tied in match record. We just have to play much better and get that rhythm back we displayed the 1st night. I will let you know after the Spain match tomorrow if we do.
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Doug Beal's World Cup Journal - Nov. 19, 2007
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