Schmidt Erik

After Jaakko's good performance with interim-partner Pekka Seppänen at the Hietsu Open in Helsinki, Erik was able to return to play in Lahti. Seeded as number one we only suffered one defeat and eventually took the bronze medal!

Here are the final rankings: Men and Women.

Have a look at our website, too: www.keskitalo-schmidt.net

Images from the BMW Pro Tour - Hietsu Open: Jaakko Keskitalo and Pekka Seppänen taking fifth place. Click here!

Blue sky, sunshine, blue water, smiling people, hot air, Beach Volleyball courts, soft sand, cold beer…
Yes, you guessed right, it is South Beach, Miami.
Jaakko was having a supply chain management training in Chicago during the previous week and on the way back home he made a short stop in sunny Miami.
Click here to read the whole story.

So here are the results from the three events that took place this weekend:

U21 - Men: Results

U21 - Women: Results

3. Avoin osakilpailu: Results (Tietokanta), Tournament homepage

HBV-Championships: HBV-Homepage, but unfortunately no info. However, Leikas/Ovaska won 2:1 against Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen in the final.

The second tournament of the "Avoin" series took place in Hyvinkää, featuring a women's and men's Main Draw. There are eight courts in total at the nice HyKis-area, which provided for a swift progress of the tournament. The favorites of the men's tournament battled it out in the semi-finals: Säisä/Säisä beat Palonen/Tommola in three sets (16:14 in the third) and Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen overcome Seppälä/Seppälä (15:13 in the third).

Eventually Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen won the tournament, taking the lead over Säisä/Säisä from the start in both sets.

Check the links for the Gallery, a short Video clip and the results.

In 21 days the World Championships will take place in Stavanger in Norway. A traditional event on the World Tour calendar, it has been a Grand Slam for several years and will this year host the most prestigious Beach Volleyball event.

Here is the event's homepage www.vmstavanger.com and tickets can be bought here.

Unfortunately all Finnish teams are now eliminated from the tournament. 

First, Jaakko and Pade had to succumb to the tall Dutch team Oude Elferink/Stiekema (who then lost to the Olympic Silver medallists: Marcio Araujo-Fabio Luiz (BRA)), then Esa and Jussi lost to Klimek/Szternel from Poland.


The weather conditions were not great with rain and temperatures around 15 degrees. Just like here in Helsinki... ;-)

Neoprene Sandsocks made by Vincere are now available. These are essential when playing in cold or rocky sand, enhancing your performance and protecting your feet. Different colors are available while supply lasts: black, white, pink, beige and "blue lightning".

Check this link for images and details.

Here are some images and videos from a rainy day on Helsinki's beach: Link

Game over! A shaky start into our match against Bulgaria was only followed by many missed point chances. The whole first set we were trailing behind and couldn't find the confidence to close the gap.

The second set continued in a similar fashion: Bulgaria taking the lead and even though we had some good rallies we hardly scored any points. Only when facing matchball we showed determination and scored four points in a row. But this sprint came far too late and couldn't avoid our defeat.

On Sunday night we arrived safely in Rome in the middle of the night. After some extended waiting for the bag delivery at the airport we reached our hotels and had a good night's sleep.



After two training sessions at the beautiful venue in perfect conditions (26 degrees, white sand, no clouds...) we now wait for the Technical Meeting, starting at 20.30. Then we will know who we are going to face in tomorrow's Qualification Tournament at the Swatch FIVB World Tour Rome Open 2009.

We beat Poliisi-Biitsi in the semi-final 2:0 and now wait to face Pade and Esa or Mika and Marko. They are currently battling it out in three sets...

Jaakko and Erik won the first match and will now face Anttilla/Tommola in the quarterfinals. 
One surprise happened though: Top-Seed Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen lost their first match...

Who would have believed it? Finally Jaakko and Erik were able to play a tournament together!! With both having won an event with different partners it was interesting to see how they would perform together. With the summer approaching more and more teams start preparing and the event featured a full 16-team Main Draw. Seeded as number one had them play the first match, against some pro's from Loimaa.
Click here for more.

Jaakko and Erik are getting used to training together and not playing together: Again Erik teamed up with Harri Kuusisto as Jaakko was travelling in Finland. The last time around Erik and Harri proved to be a winning combination, taking the victory at the third event of the Indoor Pro Tour, but what would be the result this time?

Thanks to the ranking points earned from last time the team "Mestarisuosikit" was placed on the second spot and had a "bye" in the first round. Then Tuomas and Seppo did not pose a big challenge and a 2:0 victory was secured.

But the next round brought on some more serious opponents, Jussi Tommola and Tuomas Anttila. However, we had good performance in the first set and took it without difficulties. But in the second set we couldn't really keep our level, missed several serves and blocks and had to succumb. The third set started out very much like the previous one, with Erik and Harri trailing and struggling to keep up. But a series of good serves and blocks leveled the score at 13:13, with both teams in real contention for the victory. As both teams kept siding out the set went into overtime and only at 17:18 Erik missed an apparently easy reception and gave away the match...

Off to the loser's bracket where Jyrki and Heikki were waiting. This VERY experienced team fought their way through the loser's bracket, eliminating Knutar/Lassila and Lehti/Lehtinen. And they showed that they can play very solid Beach Volleyball with very little mistakes and putting the ball just in the places where Erik and Harri would not be... Plus Harri suffered a little form having to sideout all the time and just didn't find his regular shots... We tried hard but couldn't find a way to force the two Oldies to commit a string of errors so we eventually lost the match and had to accept fifth place.

In the third event of the biitsi.fi Indoor Pro Tour 2008/2009 we couldn't play together, again. This time Jaakko was on a business trip, so Erik followed the call of Harri Kuusisto, who was looking for a partner.

Entering the race as number four out of eleven teams, Harri and Erik beat tournament favorites Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen in round two. This feat put them already into the semi-final where the rematch against Heimala/Yli-Hietanen was again won. Now two tall guys waited in the final: Tuomas Anttila and Teppo Pulkkinen.

After a few mistakes Harri just went back to "(near-)perfect sideout mode" and with the help of some blocks the first set was won. Unfortunately the second set was seized by Tuomas and Teppo, despite a late rally to close the gap. Everything was open again in the third set, but a continued strong performance brought Harri and Erik two matchballs, the second was eventually converted!

Wow, two victories with different partners, let's speculate what happens when Jaakko and Erik play together again...

After having recently agreed to continue playing next season, Jaakko and Erik entered the first competition for the 2009 season. Ambitions weren't too high as only few trainings together were possible in autumn.
Despite frosty temperatures outside the heat was on in the biitsi.fi-areena. The first event of the Indoor Pro Tour 2009 kicked-off with 14 teams in total. Being seeded on the number one spot was nice, since we had the advantage of directly entering the second round.

Without difficulties we disposed of the Russian pair Noland/Tarakanov but then had difficulties to handle the solid performance of Knutar/Lassila. They gave us a small headache by simply not committing errors but eventually we took the match in the third set.

That meant we were in the semi-final were we met the Russian team again. They fought their way bravely through the loser's bracket and now challenged us again.After leading throughout the first set we somehow managed to commit several unforced errors in the end, giving the set away. The second set then was almost too easy to win, with a lead of six points. The third and deciding set then saw us fight and struggle but Erik's sideout just wasn't good enough.

Still, we took home third place and look forward to more intense training and the upcoming competitions.

In our second match in the Qualification Tournament we faced the Dutch team Spijker/Van De Sande. They are a rather young team but have already played several FIVB and CEV events this year.

We played okay but could never really build pressure to force them
into errors. And they had a quite consistent sideout combined with
strong serves. Whereas we missed some sideouts and serves and that
made the difference in the end (18:21, 17:21).

In scorching heat we played our longest match this season. In 75
minutes we defeated Gooding/Miedzibrowsky from Great Britain! It was a tight match but we were awake and never lost focus.

We had a good start in the first set and despite some mistakes we were
able to pull through in the end. And even in the second set we had
chances to gain a lead but unfortunately did not use many of them. The third set was tight all the way but in the end an ace from Erik and a block from Jaakko sealed it!

We arrived on the Spanish island on Sunday, leaving us some time to
adjust to the nice conditions (28 degrees, sunshine), check the
location and get back into Beach Volleyball.

The FIVB Open starts tomorrow, albeit with a delay because the courts were not ready in time. The country quota matches couldn't be played on Tuesday and will be played on Wednesday morning. This results in a more convenient starting time for us, the first match is at 12.30.
We'll play a team from Great Britain.

Our expectations got ripped apart today. We booked no victory just suffered two agonizing defeats and ended up in the very unrewarding fourth place...

Hakala/Seppänen took the semi-final in two clear sets despite an injury to Pekka's ankle. And Hakala/Sivonen outlived us in a long and tight match where we couldn't convert a matchball...

Let's see who'll be Finnish Champion now, Haavisto/Vahela or Hakala/Seppänen... The match is LIVE ON MTY3 at 16.45!

We won the match and will now play the semi-final tomorrow at 12.00.

We had an almost flawless first set against Nieminen/Uusitalo. In the second set they found their rhythm and even led at 9:12. Then Jaakko went into overdrive: two aces and at least three great defenses put us ahead and we took the match.

The most important event of the season features the top eight teams,
we enter as number four. The final is not played in a standard
double-elimination format but the top two teams are already placed in
the semi-finals while the other six teams have to fight for the
remaining two places in single-elimination matches... So we have our
first match on Friday at 16.00 on the center-court in front of Kamppi
Kauppakeskus in Helsinki. Should we win this match then play continues on Saturday at 12.00.

Unfortunately there was no game for the third place. Our opponents Hakala/Seppänen forfeited and we took third place!

It was comfortable to have the first match only at 13.00. The weather didn't change, we use sunscreen and are happy about it.

Iisakkala/Ikäheimonen won their morning match before facing us on the centercourt. We know each other well, we train with them.

We really wanted to win and go to the semi-final and with determination and power we pulled ahead in the first set (21:18). After that it was a very one sided game and we made a lot of points by defending well (21:12).

Our first match started at 15.00 in perfect conditions: sunshine and no clouds. We warmed up thoroughly because Linnikko/Salonoja should not be underestimated. Last time we met was in Tuuri and it was not an easy victory.

In the first set everything on our side went incredibly well (21:10). The second set looked similar, we were ahead (18:13), when Jyri served 3 aces on Erik who additionally made two mistakes. The set went into overtime, we had to defend a setball before we finally won (27:25).

The weather at the BMW Pro Tour - Lahti Open will not be an issue, the forecast promises sunshine and more than 25 degrees the whole weekend.
In these great conditions we were waiting for our first round opponents. We even trained with Juha Pelkonen and Gabriel Westman on Thursday but this time they were unlucky, arrived to late and were disqualified.

What a game! In sunny but windy weather we first were trailing behind the strong Latvian team but were able to close the gap with some good serves and blocks. Our steady sideout even put us ahead and we had two setballs. We unfortunately couldn't convert them and lost the set (23:25).
In the second set we couldn't keep them from pulling away in the middle of the set and had to accept defeat (15:21).

The Technical Meeting at the FIVB Challenger is over and the draw has been made.
Jaakko and Erik are seed number nine and will play against the Estonian team Jarvala/Palberg at 10.00.
The two other Finnish teams starting in this competition both play at 10:50.
Palonen/Tommola - Lipe /Pitta (BRA)
Haavisto/Vahela - Tallone/Vestita (ITA)

Unfortunately we had to cancel our participation at the national tour event in Estonia. Erik caught a flu and Jaakko had to rest his leg.
But after a few days off we started practising again and look forward to participate in the FIVB Challenger in Pärnu on Thursday.

We couldn't win our second match today. Against Haavisto/Vahela we only had breath for one set and were able to partly follow their pace (16:21). Then they just steamrolled over us in a demonstration of their abilities (10:21). 
Well, we still have a second chance tomorrow to make it to the semi-finals... It won't be easy, though, we'll face Hakala/Sivonen...

We started our game with determination and won the first set convincingly (21:13). But somewhere along the middle of the second set we gave away a series of points and were unlucky at the end of the set (19:21).
The lead switched many times between the two teams in the third set, but we were -luckily- ahead at the end (16:14).
Our next match is tomorrow at 14.00 against Team Poliisi-Biitsi Linnikko/Salonoja, who beat Hakala/Sivonen (2:1).

With sunny and warm weather returning to Helsinki we resumed our training. The cut on Erik's hand is healing fine but hitting and blocking is not yet back at 100%. 
Still we look forward to the Grand Slam in Tuuri.

Our first match of the Helsinki Open against Marko Ovaska and Tero Leikas (who replaced injured Juha Kaija) was unfortunately lost 2:1. We had a weak start and slept through the first set. Despite a powerful second set (21:7) we couldn't close the lid on this case in the third set (12:15). 
Off to the Loser's Bracket...

Next match on Saturday at 11.00.

The Hietsu Open will start tomorrow. Jaakko and I have been training well and we look forward to our 'home event'.
The weather forecast is unfortunately not too promising, but we'll do our best in any weather.