Almost a year after the last World Tour event was held on American soil in July 2014 and won by the local team Dalhausser-Rosenthal, Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson grabbed their second title together at the inaugural St. Petersburg Grand Slam. With two more competitions approaching this year in the USA, home participants surely feel more focused and prepared, and obviously know how to take advantage of the tournament’s location.
Often referred to by locals as St. Pete, the city should not be mistaken for its Russian namesake. St. Petersburg is a city in Florida, United States. The neighboring St. Pete Beach, the venue of the second Grand Slam in 2015, formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. The location is famous for its climate and stunning surroundings, thus providing perfect conditions for beach volleyball. The Grand Slam was also the last chance for players to tune their game as the 2015 World Championship in four Dutch cities will start on Friday this week.
Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson have been one of the high seeded teams on the Tour ever since they established their partnership back in 2013. They won the gold medals at the Shanghai Grand Slam in 2013 in only their second tournament together. Their display this past week reminded a lot of their best performances in 2013. Gibb-Patterson completed a great run of seven consecutive victories to top the podium on Saturday and bring USA the first World Tour gold since Dalhausser-Rosenthal’s triumph in Long Beach, California.
The Americans had massive problems coming back from a set behind in the final against Holland’s Nummerdor-Varenhorst (16-21, 23-21, 15-13). Two back-to-back blocks by Gibb helped the yankees to win the second set. A two-point margin in the second part of the tie-break was all Gibb and Patterson had to maintain in order to send the crowd into frenzy.
Casey Patterson commented after the last point, “It was dark this morning when we were warming up for our first match (quarterfinals were played in the morning). We’re two old guys that are too stubborn to give up. My partner (Gibb) played out of his mind. After that first set, where we played terrible, I mean we couldn’t do anything right. My partner stepped up, sided out every ball, stuffed like eight balls, I was just break dancing in the background. Jake played amazingly, so I’m still just along for the ride.”
It was also the first set of medals for Nummerdor-Varenhorst in 2015. Problems with an Achilles tendon of Reinder Nummerdor during the season opener in Fuzhou left the Dutchmen out of compeititon for a while. They missed the medals at the Porec Major by a whisker, but have now finally demonstrated a solid display and appeared in the battle for gold.
Just like in 2014 at the Long Beach Grand Slam, USA had two teams on the podium. And again it was the former indoor middle blocker Theodore Brunner getting a bronze medal. His second-ever World Tour medal he won with Nicholas Lucena. The Americans prevailed over the 7th-seeded Austrians Doppler-Horst (21-19, 21-16) for the second time during the week, following another 2-0 win in the preliminary Pool G. The 30-year-old Brunner and the 35-year-old veteran Lucena were misfortunate to not appear in the gold medal encounter as they lost the semifinal to countrymen and eventual winners Gibb-Patterson in three dramatic sets (20-22, 21-19, 14-16). Equally entertaining was the other all-European semifinal in which Nummerdor-Varenhorst overcame Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst after a 19-17 tie-break (21-15, 16-21, 19-17).
The beach volleyball season will now continue with the 2015 World Championship in the Netherlands. Teams will fly back to Europe and as of Friday, actions will resume on courts in four different cities, marking the most unusual event organized under the giudance of FIVB. Volleycountry will provide you with a preview of the Championship, as well as predictions about the most intense groups, expectations, venue information, and other updates.
