Huntington Beach 2018 - Brouwer/Meeuwsen vs. Andre/Evandro

Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen won the gold medal match at Huntington Beach 2:0 (21:16, 21:15) against Andre Loyola Stein and Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior.

Even match until 10:10 in the first set

Evandro started the match with his only ace of the match. Both teams were able to hold their sideouts until 4:4. Meeuwsen jump served down the line against Andre who couldn’t get behind the ball for a proper reception. The first break of the match was for the Netherlands and led to a 5:4 lead. Meeuwsen served against Evandro, who returned the ball directly and Meeuwsen coming all the way from the back finished it.

As it got more windy both teams were having trouble keeping their service and reception stable. We saw a few service errors during this time. At 10:8 Robert Meeuwsen neither found the hands of the block nor the field and hit his attack out of bounds. The Brazilian team got their first break and came closer to the Netherlands 10:9. Another attack error by Meeuwsen led to a 10:10 score. His third attack was successful and the Netherlands took the lead 11:10 for the technical timeout.

After the technical timeout Andre hit the ball down the line but it was just outside, 12:10 for Brouwer/Meeuwsen. Meeuwsen got his first block against Evandro to increase their lead to 14:11. Brouwer didn’t want Meeuwsen to take all the glory and delivered an ace right after to 15:11. Brazil took their first timeout. With the wind behind him Meeuwsen started serving jump floats and got an ace against Andre to 17:12. Evandro got a nice block against Brouwer to a score of 19:15 for the Netherlands. After the second technical timeout the Netherlands only needed two more points to win the first set. Andre did a jump serve against Brouwer and got his first ace. After having trouble receiving Meeuwsen’s jump serve Andre ended the first set with an unforced attack error.

Weak service / reception by Brazil in the second set

The second set started off with four service errors in a row by the brazilian team. The team from the Netherlands on the other hand served well and put a lof of pressure onto the opponent’s reception. As you can see in the history Andre/Evandro had a hard time receiving and getting their sideout through. After some time Evandro even started serving jump floats instead his strong jump serve.

Just before swapping sides for the second time Brazil again had trouble finishing the ball after a poor reception from Andre. Brouwer was able to dig the ball and return it directly to the other side. That gave brazil a second chance for their sideout. Evandro took matters into his own hands and smashed the ball into the sand so fast you hardly see it in the video in real time. You must have a look at the slow motion.

Unfortunately Brazil couldn’t keep the momentum and again did a service error right after this incredible point. Andre had a hard time getting his sideout through. He first hit it hard at the middle of the field which Brouwer returned directly. In the following attempt he tried a short cut behind the net. Brouwer was there again and was able to finish the ball for the Netherlands. Brazil called a timeout as they were now four points behind. Brouwer was not impressed by the timeout and again delivered a hard jump serve. This time brazil was able to kill the ball in their first attempt.

At 11:7 for the Netherlands neither Andre nor Brouwer couldn’t get their attacks through and we saw a couple of shorts balls across the net. Meeuwsen was forced to attack with his left arm and did an attack error. After the technical timeout at 12:9 Evandro was able to get his first block against Brouwer and secured the break for the Brazilian team to 12:10. As before Brazil couldn’t keep the momentum and increase the Netherland’s frustration after such a great block as Andre did an unforced service error.

At 14:11 Evandro hit a short attack cross court which Brouwer was able to defend. Meeuwsen took his chance and killed the ball on the second touch with a great attack. Another break for the Netherlands. Being on fire after this great defense Brouwer hit a straight ace. 16:11 for the Netherlands. Evandro showed one of his great jump serves at 18:13. Although Brouwer had trouble getting a proper reception he was able to hold his sideout with a short ball cross court. Meeuwsen then showed his massive blocking skills against Andre and secured another point for his team. 20:13 meant match ball for the Netherlands.

Brazil was able to get the last break of the match as Brouwer hit into the net. Andre finished the match with a service error.

Reception and setting made the difference

Both teams had 9 service errors. The Netherlands put more pressure into their service. They got one more ace made it hard for Brazil to receive (3 direct errors and 7 poor ones). A weak reception made it hard for the partner to deliver a good set. As you can see Robert/Meeuwsen did a better job here.