08/03/2018
News from the camp!
Following the California training run with some of USA's best, we made way cross-country to Florida for the 1st Beach Volleyball Major Series of 2018 in Fort Lauderdale!
A cracker of a tournament, with a great atmosphere as beach volleyball fans flooded into the stands to witness the worlds best in action!
We started our campaign in the qualifier, and started strong, with a 21-18 / 21-13 victory over Austria!
Round 2 followed vs Switzerland, where we unfortunately fell 21-15 / 21-16 missing out on the later stages of the Major!
Some top play to start, which we failed to replicate vs the Swiss that played pretty solid in some tougher conditions...
BUT...moral wasn't down for long, as we had to G-up for the FIVB Qatar 4* that was fast approaching...."unto the breach..."
Landing in Qatar, jet-lag took hold pretty hard with a few natural 3am wake-ups...but that didn't hinder our preparation in the build-up to another big Quali, full of big teams!
Big they were, as we battled against Germanys own 7ft-er at the net in Round 1...we played another strong opening match taking the W in the 1st set 21-15. The second set saw a couple of set-points saved from both sides, before we managed to close out the match 25-23 in the 2nd in a tight battle!
The Bockermann/Fluggen combo of Germany was our 2nd Round match-up. They played a strong match against us and we struggled to find the same rhythm we had against their compatriots earlier in the day. They won, taking us out the tournament and back to the training court...
Having analysed both victory and defeat we continue to make strides forwards ahead of our next chapter on the road to the Commonwealth Games!
Next up, FIVB Oman starting Thursday next week. Looking forward to some Main Draw action and good performances for England!
Thanks for all the support, and thanks to our headline sponsor Webgains UK for all the noise from head office back in London Town and Bristol!
Stay Tuned!
C&J
