Jason Lochhead serves on centre court against Austrians Gosch-Horst
It was a hot day, the stadium was full and Florian Gosch was working the crowd up into a frenzy as he pumped himself up and celebrated every point with them.
Kirk and Jason are no strangers to this situation, having beaten the same team on the same court in the 1st round after pool play last year on the way to their first ever semi final, but today they were not up to the task.
Jason Lochhead looks to go over a block from Florian Gosch
9th seeds Gosch-Horst played a tight match, siding out well and giving nothing away for free. They served on Jason, and applied constant pressure with a high, strong block, with Horst chasing every ball in the back court. Jason wasn’t quite up to the task. He later commented that the heat played a factor, and energy levels were not as high as they usually are. From our seats behind the court it was hard to tell, but I also think that Kirk’s setting might have been drifting a little too tight sometimes.
Lochhead-Pitman also lost their second match against 8th seeded Nummerdor-Schuil NED, which leaves them with a must win situation against Franco-Nalbert BRA, who have also lost both their other pool matches.
The match is at 1 PM, but after a slight cool change last night, the heat may not be quite so brutal which will help Kiwis.