Scoreboard pre-match |
We knew the match would be tough and were prepared, following our routine of the previous days; eating, relaxing, getting a quick workout and meal in before leaving for the club. My hip was feeling a little sore but I knew it would go away once I got into the match. Unfortunately it did affect me early on and our team got off to a slow start once again. We battled back and took much of the momentum near the end of the game but they were able to hold us off and take game 1: 15-14.
The second game saw us keep much of the momentum we had taken near the end of the first and propelled us to a large lead right out of the gate. Kris was playing lights out racquetball, very fired up by our tight loss of the opening game and leaving it all out there. It was inspiring. I didn't play nearly as well but I was able to provide solid support by covering balls in the front and finishing the odd set up that came my way. They fought back a little near the end but we simply outplayed them, beating them soundly 15-3 to take the second game and level the match.
In the tiebreaker they made some adjustments, the most crucial was switching sides which rendered the jam serve Kris had hit the majority of the second game much less effective. We switched serve order though so that Kris could serve first and still scored a couple of points to start before being relieved of our first serve possession. They served well to start the tiebreaker and even though we were getting into the rallies they came out on the winning end of the first few and took a small lead.
We got the serve back though and Kris made an adjustment to his serve that brought it back to it's former luster and began scoring points more easily with it. They fought back but we were returning serve well and scoring on ours, which allowed us to retake the lead. At 9-5 we tightened up though, both missing shots we had made earlier on in the tiebreaker and they began to play better, realizing that they had to put it all out there now if they were to have any chance of coming back. They only scored 2 points and we got the serve back at 9-7 but were sided out quickly.
Even the Telcel mascots wanted a seat! |
Final Score :( |
So I've been pretty down for the last couple of days.
When you lose a match like that you can't help but replay things in your mind, the way they went down, the numerous things you could have changed to have made the outcome different. Inevitably I get to a place where I tell myself "If someone told you that you would come out of this tournament a Pan Am Games bronze medallist, you would have been happy, so just try to enjoy the fact that you got a medal and not think too harshly about what colour it is." And while this thought process is about as comforting as a t shirt in a Saskatchewan winter, it did take a bit of the sting out. Venezuela would go on to lose in the final to the host nations team and finish with a silver medal.
Mexico would almost sweep the gold medals for racquetball, the only one eluding them being men's singles, where American Rocky Carson would beat Gil Mejia (the Canadian killer as some of you may recall from previous posts) in the final. The only other medal for the Canadian Racquetball Team was also in men's singles as Vincent Gagnon lost in the semi the previous day.
Walking in to receive our medals |
With our bronze medals |
Tim
Tim
ReplyDeleteSounds like you and Kris gave it your all, if you left everything on the court, you should be proud of yourself.
It is late Sunday night, just thought I would take a look at the blog.
Your are awesome at writing. Love that you have posted the photos as well