2/12/00 Gator Invitational, Gainesville, FL Tournament Recap

Our pool was a 5-team pool and our 1st match was against Embry Riddle. We won easily 2-0 and played FSU next. Although they looked impressive in hitting warm-ups, the game proved to be quite a different story. Their big hitters could not find the court and we had 2 fairly quick sets against them, winning 2-0. We continued to vary the line-up, giving everyone a chance to play and looking to see if any one particular arrangement looked better that another. Our next match was against Palm Beach Academy (P.B.A.) - the college team we scrimmage against on Thursdays. Is seemed they knew the outcome of the match, just as we did even before we played. We won the 1st set easily and Raik set the 2nd set, which we won as well. That put our record at 6-0 with one match to play: Florida.

Florida was also 6-0 and was scheduled to meet us in the last match of pool play to decide 1st place in the pool. We were both in the playoffs, which was going to be a single elimination bracket of the top 2 teams from each pool, with the 2 best records getting byes into the semifinals. We came out against a fired up Florida squad playing in front of their home crowd. They played well, and won key rally after key rally. They kept a lead and we couldn't close the gap, our blocking and defense just didn't score the points needed. Siding out proved more difficult than in the previous matches, as Florida's soft block and subsequent transitions proved challenging. In the end, we looked just above flat, while Florida was jacked and won both sets, taking 1st in the pool and getting the #2 seed overall and a bye.

Eckerd College won their pool unblemished and got the #1 seed in the elimination bracket. We got the 4th seed and were to meet Auburn (the #5 seed and 2nd place from the 3rd pool) in one quarterfinal match. The #3 seed was Delray Volleyball Academy (DVBA), which consisted of the ex Darkside Florida alumni and some other ex Florida alums along with a few pick ups. They had won their pool, but had 1 loss. DVBA started their match against Valdosta and lost the 1st set. We were still waiting around for Auburn to show up. DVBA won the 2nd set and we had not even seen the Auburn team yet. The tournament director said to give them until 6:00pm and then they would forfeit. Eckerd (waiting to play the winner of our match) began warming up. 6:00pm came and the referee declared a forfeit. He called the Eckerd captain over and we flipped to start our semifinal match. We lost the flip and Eckerd chose to receive and we took side. Then Auburn showed up. After a whine-fest they got the tournament director (none other than our U. of Florida player - Bill Kane) to allow them to play. Eckerd's coach, A.J. recommended we play our best-of-3 match, but with Auburn having already forfeited the 1st set. Bill agreed to that, as did we (reluctantly). In warm-ups, Auburn finally understood that the playoff was a best-of-3 match and that they were already down 1-0, launched another whine-fest, getting Bill to agree to a 1 set to 25 playoff, winner advances. I guess we are not as good at whining as everyone else, but we just wanted to do something after sitting around for 2 hours waiting. We agreed to the single set to 25 and proceeded to uneventfully dispatch Auburn 25-20.

In the other half of the bracket, DVBA won the 3rd set against Valdosta and advanced to play U. of Florida. Florida won the 1st set and DVBA made several substitutions. They came back and won the 2nd set and then the 3rd, advancing to the final. Meanwhile, we started our match with Eckerd and fell behind early. They had improved since the last time we saw them 1 month ago. We trailed by 4 throughout the game and started closing the gap at the end. We trailed 24-21 and sided out to get to 24-22. We blocked a middle attack for 24-23 and then Raik served out to give them set point, 25-23. We made a sub, bringing Jason into middle block for Wade and started the 2nd set off much as the 1st. We trailed by 3 or 4 all the way until the late teens, when we made our run. We caught them and then took the lead 23-21. They sided out for 23-22 and then tied us at 23-23. At this, point we were serve receiving and got a good swing for a sideout. An Eckerd player deflected the hit on a dig and a 2nd player then slapped at it, popping the ball up. On their 3rd contact, they played a free ball over to us. We had been anticipating a "lift" or "throw" call on their 2nd contact, but the bafoon on the stand had no clue. We passed the free ball low, I got down to set it and set a 31 to Kurt, who dumped it down for an apparent sideout/point and a 24-23 lead. NOW the bafoon on the stand calls a lift/throw on Kurt. He had about as much clue as his calls had consistency - none. We (enraged) called a timeout and then proceeded to pass the next serve receive so badly that our middle blocker (Kurt) wound up having to set the ball from 15 feet off the net and in the middle of the court to Raik on the strong side. They had their biggest blockers camped out there and Raik's line hit/tool was blocked back straight down for set and match point: 25-23. Safe to say, we didn't shake the referee's hand for fear of sucker punching him, but kept wondering what the 3rd set would have looked like and who would have won.

Eckerd went on to dispose of DVBA in 2 quick sets and won the tournament. We went out into the parking lot and started the player's party right there. We did the team dinner at the Gainesville Ale House and went to the unofficial players' party at "the SWAMP" - a college restaurant/bar. We stayed over Saturday night and drove home Sunday.