The 1/15/00 Cocoa Tournament Recap

A mere 6 days after our Sunday (into Monday, with the drive back) tournament at Eckerd, we were off to Cocoa Beach to play in our 2nd and last tournament of January. We showed with Kurt and Mike VanDyke as our middles, Raik, Rick and Gregg as our outsides/passers, Wade as the offside and me setting. Many of our other players couldn't make it: Shane and Jason had to work, Matt sprained his ankle celebrating his birthday a week ago, Alan had a wedding, Bill and Mike couldn't make it, ... you get the picture.

There was one men's pool of 5 teams and one women's pool of 4. We arrived a bit late, but didn't have play until the 3rd match. We started off against Ramshackle and started off well. Their passing was uncharacteristically poor and we took full advantage of it winning quickly: 21-7, 21-15. Next, we played a new (to us) team called No Protein. Although they had some size in several positions, they turned out to be "No Problem", as we won: 21-17, 21-19.

We did our Publix food run and watched some of the Dolphin thrashing on Rick's TV that we brought with us and then played Double Bogey which was 4-2 at the time. Our blocking and defense picked up and we took care of business: 21-15, 21-17. At this point we were 6-0 and mathematicaly guaranteed 1st place in the pool and a bye into the finals. Our last match we played Pat's D which was last weekend's Diet 69 team. I sat and Raik set with Rick and Gregg passing. With No Protein reffing, there was an ugly missed call when we blocked the ball off of one of Double Bogey's hitters and out of bounds. The ref was reaching for a Gatorade at the time and the linesperson was gulping one. It was such and obvious touch, but the ref refused to call a playover. We got a warning for having players other than the captain talking to the ref. Several points later, we passed a ball during a rally and Raik jumped to play in at the net, but couldn't reach it. The ball was passed along the net from the left front and was not in the plane of the net, nor was it traveling over the net. The middle blocker from Double Bogey reached over and blocked it down with one hand. An obvious infraction, we waited for the ref (who has since put his Gatorade down) to make the call. He then signals a point for the other team. Much unhappiness! He again refused to listen to anyone, even our floor captain - obviously festering a Napoleonic complex. I shouted from the bench "Hey, you're missing a great game out here." For which Napolean Jr. gave us a bench yellow card. This continued to crush any reffing credibility he though he may have had, as I was A) telling our players that the Miami-Jacksonville game was something to behold - as it was on the television in the backround (how could that warrant a yellow card?) or B)seeing as I was in a tank top (not a uniform) and sandals and had no affiliation with the team in that match, I could just as easily sat near the opposing team's bench and hollered the same thing (would that have given their team a yellow card?).
Either way, I left and went to the other side of the gym to continue watching the Dolphin's-Jaguars game. After game 1 was over, the boys came over and told me they had won 21-15. We won the 2nd game 21-17 and went through pool 8-0.

We worked the semifinal match between 3rd place Ramshackle and 2nd place Double Bogey in which Ramshackle avenged a 0-2 pool play loss to Double Bogey by winning 25-21. In the finals against Ramshackle we played well in the 1st game and our 2 teams exchanged many sideout points. We finaly got a few blocks and rallied a few balls to take and keep a lead, winning 21-18. In the 2nd game, the passing was a bit more erratic and we fell behind. We would catch up on some good blocking, them drop a few points again; Ramshackle was playing well. We found ourselves trailing 19-16 with Wade going back to serve. We got some big blocks and good rallies and scored 4 points in a row. Ramshackle tied us at 20 and again at 21. We pulled out a sevice point and won 23-21, an undefeated tournament. There was much rejoicing. We went to "Coconuts" to celebrate with Dave Crowder (our tournament host) and Theresa McLamb. The drive home was much shorter than from St. Petersburg last weekend.

The DORKSIDE (a.k.a. the DORK AWARD)

Although there were some early contenders, we never awarded the Dorkside. Mike had a very ugly free ball pass and Kurt had a moment or 2, but there was no award given this week. We though of giving it to Matt for the way he sprained his ankle (as told by Kurt), but the Dorkside needs to be earned on the court, so NO AWARD this week.

ROOSEVELT SCHOOL, COCOA BEACH
USAV TOURNAMENT - 1/15/00

MEN'S DIVISION
COURT 1		 GAMES
WON    LOST		 PLACE
1. RAMSHACKLE 4 4 3rd
2. NO PROTEIN 1 7  
3. PAT'S D 3 5  
4. DARKSIDE 8 0 1st
5. DOUBLE BOGEY 4 4 2nd
Court 1
9:00
1 vs. 3
Ref:5		 Court 1
9:45
2 vs. 5
Ref:4		 Court 1
10:30
1 vs. 4
Ref:2		 Court 1
11:15
3 vs. 5
Ref:1		 Court 1
12:00
2 vs. 4
Ref:3		 Court 1
12:45
1 vs. 5
Ref:4		 Court 1
1:30
2 vs. 3
Ref:1		 Court 1
2:15
4 vs. 5
Ref:3		 Court 1
3:00
1 vs. 2
Ref:5		 Court 1
3:45
3 vs. 4
Ref:2
21 - 18 18 - 21 7 - 21 21 - 13 17 - 21 21 - 23 21 - 19 21 - 15 21 - 13 15 - 21
24 - 22 10 - 21 15 - 21 21 - 12 19 - 21 14 - 21 19 - 21 21 - 17 21 - 13 17 - 21

PLAYOFFS





Standing (L-R): Dan Zawadowycz, Rick Taylor, Dave Crowder (tournament director), Raik Helmes
Sitting (L-R): Wade Galt, Kurt Bogad, Mike VanDyke, Gregg Oosterbaan