La Liga Kutxabank competition began on October 29, 2016 at Bizkaia Fronton, Bilbo(Bilbao) (1)(2). This short court tournament includes the entire InnPala roster, divided into 5 teams, which will participate in a double round robin league competition, followed by a semi-final between the 2nd and 3rd place teams. The winner will face the league winner in a final on January 7th, 2017. Most of the matches will be at Bizkaia. There will also be matches at Sopela and Gallarta. For more on the tournament see the tournament page at InnPala .
October 29, 2016:
Necol-Ibargari defeated Landeta-Imanol 3-1 (10-9, 9-10, 10-2, 10-1).
Basic statistics: (Source: EITB).
Scoring: Necol +11 -9, Ibargari +3 -7: Landeta +2 -12 , Imanol +4 -13
Balls in play: 428
Gaubeka-Ibai Perez defeated Zubiri-Brefel 3-2 (10-4, 6-10, 10-1, 4-10, 10-7)
Scoring: Gaubeka +15 -8, Ibai-Perez +9 -12: Zubiri +8 -9 Brefel +4 -7
Balls in play: 765
Full match videos for both matches: the two matches begin at 0:00 and 45:13 on the video. Note: the 5th joko (set) of the second match begins at 1:57:37 on the recording. (Source: EITB)
The new season got underway at Bizkaia with two Liga matches that showed that some rust had developed on players who had seen little action for the past two months. At the same time there was some sparkling play that showed a) just how difficult it is to play this game and b) how good these players are. The first match showed the rust, as the two teams didn't seem to find any rhythm at all until about the 15th point of the match. It was a match dominated by errors (41 of the 61 points), one in which only Necol had more winners than errors. Still, the first two jokos had dramatic finishes before N-I completely took over the match, Necol hitting some beautiful two wall shots, and L-I both struggling to keep the ball on the court. The second match began to reveal the potential of Eric Zubiri. He was discussed in the blog coverage of last summer's Kirol Txartela Masters Tournament.
In the final of that tournament he had trouble staying on his feet, but still had the best ratio of winners to errors and tied for the most winners in the match. In this match he had no trouble staying on his feet, except when he was sliding all over the court and apron to save seemingly innumerable winners. He is young and raw and makes mistakes. In this match there were occasional communication problems with his partner about who covered what area, but he is very quick, very enthusiastic, and makes amazing plays. His statistics did not really show his value in this match. Gaubeka and Ibai-Perez looked very steady most of the time and made plays in crucial situations.
League Table:
Key: Team, Match record, Joko (set) record, League points
Necol-Ibargari:...............1-0.....(3-1)....3
Gaubeka--Ibai-Perez......1-0.....(3-2)....3
Brefel-Zubiri..................0-1....(2-3).....2
Landeta-Imanol...............0-1....(1-3)....1
Fusto-Gordon..................0-0................0
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Table of wins and losses for the 2016-2017
As the season begins, and most professional Pala competitions use joko (set) results as the method for calculation of competition tables, it might be interesting to track these players cumulatively throughout the season in terms of wins and losses. Players will be grouped by position (front or back). The table will begin here but will be kept up to date under the InnPala Player win-loss table page on the right side of the blog.
Key: Player, Position (d=delantero (front court), z=zaguero (back court)) match wins-losses, joko (set) wins-losses, winning-losing streak, championships won. Matches that are single partidos will be noted. Table will be according to match winning percentage. 1st tie breaker will be number of wins. 2nd tie breaker will be joko win-loss differential.
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Oct. 29, 2016
Necol(d).........1-0.....3-1...+1
Gaubeka(d)....1-0.....3-2...+1
Fusto(d).........0-0.....0-0
Zubiri(d).......0-1.....2-3....-1
Landeta(d).....0-1.....1-3...-.1
Ibargari(z).....1-0.....3-1...+1
Ibai-Perez(z).1-0.....3-2...+1
Gordon(z).....0-0.....0-0
Brefel(z).......0-1.....2-3....-1
Imanol(z)......0-1.....1-3....-1
For cumulative accounting of this player table see the InnPala Player win-loss table under the Pala page on the right side of the blog.
