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Holly's 2005 Tour Journal
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(Photo courtesy of Matt Hill)
As time permits during the season, Holly will share her thoughts on the 2005 beach volleyball season on this page. Journal Entry #1 Date: February 15, 2005 Subject: Exhibition in Brazil, February 13, 2005 The Desafio de Rainhas in Rio de Janeiro this past weekend turned out to be a great event for our team. We were able to train down in Brazil for three days, and we were able to compete in one match against a good team six weeks before our own AVP season starts. We played against Juliana and Larissa who are a strong young Brazilian team that finished second on the FIVB tour last year. We won 21-16 in the first game, and trailed 13-16 in the second game, but came back and scored 8 unanswered points to win 21-16. Jen's dropping defense, blocking and setting were all great. We still have a lot to work on, but serving was the one thing that stood out as a weak spot for us. We will focus on that along with a lot of other skills between now and April 1st. It was definitely a good to start to our partnership! Thanks for reading – Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #2 Date: April 4, 2005 Subject: AVP Season Opener in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Ft. Lauderdale started out great. Jen and I played well and put a lot of pressure on our opponents with our serve and defense. We did a lot of the things we set out to do and I was proud of that. Unfortunately, I woke up early Sunday morning with a bad stomach virus. I felt really bad all morning, but was able to get through my first match without getting sick. By the time we started warming up for our second match, I knew that I had something serious. I could hardly get the energy to warm up. Midway through the first game I had to call a medical timeout, and I got sick in the players box. I felt a little bit better immediately following that, but then my body didn't. I was weak and my energy was low. We rallied back to a third set and actually led in the third set 13-12, but I didn't have enough power to put the ball away and we lost 13-15. I have never had to take a medical timeout for anything in 15 seasons, so I am a little disappointed in the timing, but it was only the first tournament and we have a lot more to go. I am working on getting healthy again, and coming back strong in Tempe. May and Walsh looked strong, as well as EY and Rachel. I was also impressed by the improvements in the off season by the team of Tyra Turner/Makare Wilson. Thanks for reading – Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #3
Date: April 26, 2005 Subject: AVP Tempe Open The AVP Tempe event did not go well for us. We struggled from our first match on and never found our rhythm. We thought we were ready to play, but we were not aggressive and made way too many unforced errors. We are going to watch video this week of our last tournament's matches and try and learn from our mistakes, then focus on being more aggressive. This is a short week of training since we will be in Austin, Texas this weekend. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach in Austin! -- Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #4 Date: May 3, 2005 Subject: AVP Austin Open The AVP Austin open started a little slow for us with very cold weather and windy conditions on Saturday morning, but we managed to go undefeated on Saturday and matched up against EY / Rachel Sunday morning. This was a key match for us and we came ready to play. I liked our game plan and think we executed pretty well. We were able to beat them 2-0 and enter the final four undefeated along with Misty/Kerri. This set us up for a match with the Chinese girls, You / Ji. They have great ball control and run a fast offense that has been getting teams in trouble. We managed to beat them in Arizona, but lost two close games to them this week in Austin. We were obviously very disappointed to not reach the final after beating EY and Rachel. We have some serious things to work and improve on in the next couple of weeks leading up to Santa Barbara. We hope to improve and get in the final, so we can get a chance at our ultimate goal of winning an AVP event. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach in Santa Barbara! -- Holly
____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #5 Date: May 23, 2005 Subject: AVP Santa Barbara Open Well, we took a baby step in the right direction this weekend by making it to the final match. On Sunday we beat Rachel and EY 2-1, and then DeNecochea and Mason 2-0. We showed some strong runs but haven't found total consistency on any level. We still need to improve our serving and I think that will improve our game. As for the final, against Kerri and Misty, it was very disappointing. The surface was easy to jump out of and they were hammering away against our defense. We played awful and made too many errors. I am disappointed, but know that it can't get much worse than that. We have lots of things to work on and we have three weeks to prepare for San Diego. Hopefully, you will see an improvement there! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach in San Diego -- Holly ____________________________________________________
Journal Entry #6 Date: June 13, 2005 Subject: AVP San Diego Open After a breakthrough into the final in Santa Barbara, Jen and I were hoping for another big breakthrough, but it definitely didn't happen this weekend in San Diego. After winning our first match easily, we preceded to struggle with our consistency and played poorly. We eventually lost to Busch / Masakayan in the quarterfinals, and then beat a new young team Akers / Branagh in three. Sunday morning we continued our struggles on our own side of the net, playing unaggressive and making too many unforced errors. We ended up 7th and frustrated. It wasn't so much our opponents as our own game. We have three weeks to get our consistency back, and believe me we will work at it. I need to be much more aggressive and help set the pace for our team. Looking forward to a higher level of play in Cincinnati!!!! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach in Santa Barbara! -- Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #7 Date: July 4, 2005 Subject: AVP Cincinnati Open Cincinnati was a major improvement for us after seriously struggling with our game rhythm in San Diego and Berlin. We had two very strong matches against EY/Rachel and May/Walsh that could have gone either way in the third set. We are hoping to build on that momentum for Belmar and Portugal. We still need to terminate better and transition better for points. Our service game also needs to improve. We only have two practice days at home so we will try to build on this weekend's performance and improve our finish this upcoming weekend in Belmar. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! -- Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #8 Date: July 12, 2005Subject: AVP Belmar, NJ Open
After a pretty strong weekend in Cincinatti, we suffered from too many unforced errors in Belmar. We made some good defensive plays at times, but our hitting errors hurt us. We finished third and hope to work on eliminating the errors while we compete in Portugal. After that, Hermosa is a big event and I would like to play great there! Thanks for reading. See you on the beach in Hermosa! -- Holly____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #9 Date: July 25, 2005 Subject: AVP Hermosa Beach Open Well, we were focused on a breakthrough this weekend in Hermosa, but still could not convert when we had an opportunity. We lost one very close game to EY and Rachel after being up 19-16 to force a game three. We also played Kerri and Misty close to the end, but came up short.Although we have made some progress, we are still searching for the consistency and aggressive play that we need to beat either team. We are now off to Paris to gain some more international experience in an FIVB tournament there and then Klagenfurt , Austria, before returning to California for Huntington and Manhattan Beach. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! – Holly ____________________________________________________
Journal Entry #10 Date: August 5, 2005 Subject: FIVB Grand Slam, Klagenfurt, Austria From Klagenfurt -- Because of lack of experience, and as a team internationally, we are seeded poorly in the FIVB tournaments and had to play two very tough teams in the qualifier to get into the main draw -- Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson from Australia first, and then a very good young Chinese team of Hu-Zhang. Once we qualified, we were seeded last and got to play Kerri and Misty who are seeded number one in the world. They have been working on playing better it showed. We lost two straight. This is the best that I have seen them play and I think they will win the tourney in Austria. Once we were in the losers bracket, we were able to win a bunch of matches -- one against a very athletic Cuban team, the second against a hot Austrian team who upset the number two seed, next the Bulgarians, then a very good Greek team who placed 2nd in Portugal, and then lost to Adriana and Shaylyn from Brazil in the third set. They are a tough serving team and I struggled passing the ball. Passing is one of my strengths, but it wasn’t at the end of the match. Jen and I gained a lot of confidence and we know that our seed will be better at the next event, although we will be in the qualifier for the rest of the season due to our lack of participation compared to the other international teams. We are looking forward to going home, getting in the gym, and improving our game some more for Huntington beach and Manhattan Beach. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! – Holly ____________________________________________________
Journal Entry #11 Date: August 14, 2005 Subject: AVP Huntington Beach Open We played pretty well this weekend and once again were close to pulling off a big win. We had match point in the third game against EY and Rachel, but ended up losing a heartbreaker 15-17. We also played Kerri and Misty tough the first game and led it till the end, losing 19-21, and then struggled the second game. We played better overall and know that we are so close to winning some big matches. We have some work to do this week and hope to focus on finishing games better and siding out better. Manhattan beach, my hometown event, is coming up and I'd love to start our peak there. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! -- Holly
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Journal Entry #12
Date: August 23, 2005
Subject: AVP Manhattan Beach Open
The Manhattan Beach open started out the way we wanted it to. We dominated our first three matches, and didn't struggle at all. Our serving was better and we hoped that we could peak and win the best tournament of the year. We played better, but made too many errors in game 3 against EY and Rachel and eventually lost that match. We played Niles and Straton tough, and set up a rematch with Walsh and May. We played pretty well against them, but were not able to convert some big plays. We ended up losing 13-15 in the third game. Very disappointing! We were again so close!!!! Our focus this week is transition hitting and setting, as well as more tough serving. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! -- Holly
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Journal Entry #13
Date: August 28, 2005
Subject: AVP Boulder (Colorado) Open
After training for two days in Boulder and adjusting to the altitude, Jen and I were ready to go. During the first play of the first match, I jump served the ball, made a good dig, and put it away for a point. When I landed I came down on one foot and my entire back went into spasms. I tried to walk it off, but had to call a medical timeout and laying down aggravated everything. I was in tons of pain, but I figured if I got up and tried to play, at least I would know that I tried. I served underhand and stayed on the ground to hit. We were able to play smart and win our first match. It really was a miracle considering how much pain I was in. Jen did a good job of hitting on two and passing most of the court. I got my back worked on by some great people in the medical tent, but the spasms remained. We had one close game with Busch and McSorley, but it was tough for us to transition with my back so limited. Then, after a lightning delay we played Mason and Meredith in windy conditions and were able to serve and play smart. Again, we were able to win 2-0.
Hoping for a miracle and a new back Sunday morning, I did everything I could to improve, but still woke up with spasms. Our match against Di and Tammy did not go as planned. We made too many unforced errors and, of course, I couldn’t do what I normally can. Boulder turned out to be a disappointing and painful 7th for us. I felt bad for letting Jen down, but we were able to salvage a 7th with me at about 40%. I am now closer to 75% and hope to be close to perfect by Monday. Chicago is this coming weekend and we need to have a good showing! It is fun to see EY and Rachel playing so well and that Kerri and Misty are truly beatable! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on the beach! -- Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #14 Date: September 5, 2005 Subject: AVP Chicago Open We started out Chicago a little slow... We were not able to train the day before because Jen didn't feel well. I made lots of unforced errors, but we pulled it out and turned things around. The second match Jen struggled with hitting errors while we played the scrappy Lindquist sisters. By the third match we were playing better and beat the Brazilians in three games on an outside and windy court. We played our fourth round against EY and Rachel after the men's final, and came out really strong. We focused on Rachel and got lots of points of her. The second game they played better and we lost. Third game, we actually got down 3-8 and came back and won. This was a huge step for us and I was very excited about it. I thought that this could be our tournament... Sunday morning, we struggled as the Brazilians served very well. We came back after losing the first game and buried them 21-11 in the second. The third game was close but they out dug us and we got no blocks at the net for points the whole match. I am very disappointed and still frustrated! We have one more event this season in Hawaii so we will try to fix what we need to in order to win in Hawaii! Vegas is this weekend and we will play with a new partner every match so it will be very good practice and a nice break for Jen and I. Thanks for reading and hope to see you on the beach! -- Holly ____________________________________________________ Journal Entry #15 Date: September 11, 2005 Subject: AVP Shootout
Hard Rock Café, Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is a fun Best of the Beach format and tests your skills playing with different partners. I was excited to get to play with Misty again, my Olympic partner from 2000. I also had my current partner Jen Kessy and Dianne DeNecochea in my pool. Misty and I beat Jen and Dianne in very windy conditions on Friday and then Dianne and I lost a close three set match to Misty and Jen later that night. We had lots of opportunities to win and made too many unforced errors losing 13-15 in the third. I was in a good position to win my pool if I could just win with my current partner Jen Kessy against Dianne and Misty. We stayed close till about 14, and Misty and Di were able to make the big plays in both games and we lost 0-2. It was very disappointing. Considering we train together all the time, we should have been able to dominate the match.
Needless to say I was disappointed and especially in my own play. Under windy conditions, I was getting under the ball offensively and unable to attack very successfully. I believe I finished up tied with EY for third, but she won more money because she was selected to play in the finals. A few weeks off and then we have Hawaii, which will be my last tournament of 2005. I will not be competing in any more FIVB events this season. Thanks for reading and hope to see you on the beach! -- Holly
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Journal Entry #16
Date: October 5, 2005
Subject: AVP Best of the Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii was the last event of the season and Jen and I went a few days early to get some training in. We trained at Outrigger Canoe Club with the Brazilians for three days and felt good to go for our last AVP event of the season. Our first match we struggled in every aspect against Tammy Liebl and Dianne Denecochea. We could not score points and I was not siding out well. We played well enough to win the second game, but lost some bad calls and lost the match 0-2. In the consolation bracket, we beat Busch/McSorley 2-0 and Turner/ Wilson 2-0 before having the opportunity to seek some revenge on Di and Tammy for our earlier loss to the them. They upset EY and Rachel Saturday afternoon and qualified for the final four. We played much better with some stronger serving and better siding out by me. We won 2-0 and reached the final. I don't think we ever played great this tournament and it showed once we got to the final. Kerri and Misty played well, but we were really weak! So the good news is that we got to the final, and the bad news is that we never played well the whole tournament.
It has been a frustrating season and I know I have a lot of work to do on my game. Hopefully, I will be able to find a full time coach so I can just worry about playing and improving my own game so I can get in the winner's circle again. Thanks for reading and hope to see you on the beach next year! -- Holly ____________________________________________________
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