2012 Nationals

Here's a breakdown of what went down on the weekend of August 17-19.
Friday August 17 - Day 1
We had only 1 game on the first day of the tournament. We were matched up against Mel and Taylor, a team we have seen quite a bit of this summer. They beat us in the finals at the Vancouver Open, and we beat them in the finals at Centre of Gravity in Kelowna. Needless to say, it was a bit of a grudge match to settle our 1-1 standing with them. Jamie and I started playing aggressively, attacking whenever we could and really going after our serves. We're proud of the way we played, and it won us the match, 21-14, 21-16.
Saturday August 18 - Day 2
Next we faced last year's national champs, Kacie and Julie, our good friends and a team that also competes on the World Tour. We fought hard but couldn't manage to beat them. They took us in 3 sets, 18-21, 25-23, 12-15. This put Jamie and I in the loser's bracket of the Double Elimination set up. We played another game, essentially our second chance at a quarter final, and our ticket to the Semis on Sunday. We played the scrappy team of Jackie and Tori. I think we unleashed some of our pent-up frustration from the previous match, and we took this match 21-12, 21-9.

Cold morning game. (photo: Blair Shier)

Sunday August 19 - Day 3
We faced the top ranked team of the tournament in our semi. Heather and Liz won nationals in 2010 and have been working their way up the rankings on the World Tour ever since. Jamie and I are disappointed with our performance against them. It was definitely not our best game, and it's a shame we had to play so poorly at that point in the tournament. We lost 21-12, 21-13... which meant we were out of the running for claiming the National Championship title for this year. That was a tough realization, but we had to move on from it and focus on the bronze medal game coming up. As it turned out, Mel and Taylor worked their way through the loser's bracket and earned their way into the semis, taking on Kacie and Julie. They played great and won in 2 sets (28-26, 21-17). This meant we would play Kacie and Julie for bronze. It was such a battle!! It was clear that both teams wanted a spot on the podium. We won the first set 21-19, then they came back to win the second set 21-17. The third set was intense. At one point Jamie and I were down 3-8 but we fought hard and managed to come back for the win, 17-15!! We were thrilled, and exhausted, and glad the tournament had finally come to an end.

Bronze!

I sincerely want to thank everyone who has supported us this year, and especially those who came out to cheer us on. In particular, my parents, Austin, Julie, Blair, Amy, Mike, Nadia, Kat, Karlee and Sam. It means so much to see you in the crowds and hear you guys losing your voices for us. THANKS!!
I also want to mention that this was Julie's last tournament as a National Team athlete. She has made the decision to take her life in a new direction. She will be seriously missed in the beach volleyball community. It was such a pleasure to get to know her over the past three years. There are few athletes who have such a great positive and competitive attitude. I totally admire her as an athlete and I'm honoured to call her a friend! Best of luck Julie, may you be successful in whatever you choose to do!

We had the loudest fans. You guys are the best!

 Thanks for the pictures Wayne!!