Keep calm & cool. Believe in “everything is possible”. Confidence. This mental cocktail gave the Aussies a phenomenal 7:0 run.
The playground #beachprotourvienna: A pool play beach volleyball match. Latvia vs Australia. AUS dominates the 1st set. LAT the 2nd. We are in the 3rd and decisive set. The scoreboard 6:13 for Latvia. Perspective LAT: We are serving & need 2 more points to win this match.
AUS perspective: We have sideout. Anastasija is serving. Between us. @taliqua takes the ball. @mariafe_beach1 has a good position to pass overhead so Taliqua can finish with a lovely line shot. 7:13
AUS defender Mariafe is serving – focussing Anastasija. She is the more unstable in this match. With success. Anastasija attacks and Mariafe can defend. Finally finishing the rally with a beautiful cut shot. 8:13
Mariafe is serving again. A very short net roller forces Anastasija into the sand. She misses her run-up and her attack bounces off the Australian block. 9:13
Time out LAT.
Mariafe is serving again. This time long and in between the two LAT players. Tina defuses the ball near the baseline. Nevertheless, the ball flies towards the net and Tina has a long distance to attack. Mariafe can easily defend and attacks against her body line with a smooth line over. 10:13
Mariafe is serving – focussing Anastasija again. This time she manages to attack more aggressive. Mariafe is in place to defend. Taliqua passes long outwards. Mariafe’s attack is defended. Finally LAT makes a net fault. 11:13
Mariafe is serving long on Anastasija’s right shoulder. Tina manages to pass this ball. Anastasija’s attack is defended by Mariafe. Taliqua finishes with the second ball – surprise!!! 12:13
Side switch. Mariafe is serving strongly. LAT struggles. Only digs the ball back to AUS. Easy sideout situation although the aussies 1st fail in the LAT block they use their 2nd chance & Taliqua hammers the ball into the LAT sand. 13:13
What a rally. What a run. This is beach volleyball. Mentally this is more than high perfomance: Impressive. Convincing. Self leading.
How this set ends is another story & will be told another time.