Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

There is nothing that parallels the emotions of a gold medal match. And we were definitely feeling the familiar mix of anxiety, excitement and anticipation. We played the Brazil Mixed team which had given us so much trouble in the second day of pool play. As we started warm ups it became apparent that the Brazil supporters outnumbered our friends and families by 4 to 1, and we new they would be a very vocal and passionate crowd. Our strategy was simple…come out strong early and take control of the net play.

Although our strategy was sound we started the match off tentatively and Brazil jumped out to an early 7-4 lead. Their defensive coverage of our blocks was solid, and they controlled the pace of the game, which was painfully slow with substitutions, lineup checks, and timeouts. The score would stay close the entire set, with one team making a surge and then the other team responding with a surge of their own. The entire crowd was cheering and yelling in a deafening roar which only attracted more spectators. We called our last time out at 23-22 and were able to close out the match 25-23….still a little to close for comfort.

With the boost of confidence of a win under our belt we came out swinging in the second set. Connecting well in the middle was our setter/captain Shawn Hoover and middle blocker Ursula Geiger. Defensive efforts from Therese Butler and Reba Spooner were instrumental in keeping the momentum in our favor. We won the second set 25-9. However this match was best of 5 so we still had our work cut out for us.

The third set was our best game of the tournament. Our outside hitters Karin Thomsen and Jana Landel kept mixing up their line & cross court shots, while sprinkling in effective tips when the Brazilians were dug in looking for another power shot. Linda Wilson played a strong right side and had several solid blocks which completely shut down their big hitter. One of the most memorable plays involved the serving of Linda Mclellan which was a wicked spinning curve ball serve. Ultimately, the total team effort resulted in a rewarding final set score of 25-11….giving us the Gold Medal.

We sincerely appreciate everyone that has been following our efforts here down under, and to Bill Kauffman at USAV for publishing this blog. So for now, this is Toni Clubb #12 player/coach signing off from the 2009 World Masters in the Olympic Park Sydney, Australia.