The Sagardoaren Txapelketa IX features 8 Oriamendi2010 roster pairs (7 players from the A Group and 9 from the B Group). The tournament will be contested in two 4 team groups (A and B). Each team corresponds to a cider house sponsor. Letters following the players' names correspond to their Oriamendi2010 groups.
Group A
Bereziartua (Uterga-Labaka) (A-B)
Gaztañaga (Urriza-Zaldua) (A-B)
Larre-Gain (Juanenea-Azpiroz) (B-B)
Petritegi (Segurola-Endika) (B-A)
Group B
Altzueta (Etxarri-Ion) (A-A)
Gurutzeta (Ezkurra II-Garces) (B-B)
Oialume Zar (Goikoetxea V-Barrenetxea IV) (B-A)
Setien (Ansa II-Agirrezabala) (B-A)
Of these pairs, only Segurola-Endika have ever won the Tournament. There are five players who did not play (except as substitutes) last year. They are Ansa II, Etxarri, and Goikoetxea V in the front; Labaka and Zaldua in the back.
The tournament will consist of a League phase, a single round robin in each group. There will be a change in how the Semi-finals are contested this year. The first and second place teams in each group will advance to a Semi-final League, a single round robin. At the end of the Semi-final League the top two teams will play in the Final on May 4. This format makes the League play more important. Under the old format, all teams advanced, but were seeded so that the teams that finished lower had to play more matches to get to the Final.
Scoring for the League phase will be as follows.
Match winner (40 point matches): 4pts.
36-39: 2pts.
31-35: 1pt
26-30: 0pts.
0-25: -1pt
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NOTE: HISTORY OF THE SAGADOAREN TOURNAMENT FROM 2011-2018 HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. IT INCLUDES SCORES OF ALL FINALS, ALL FINAL MATCH ARTICLES, LINKS TO ALL MATCH SCORES AND ARTICLES, AND LINKS TO PARTIAL OR FULL MATCH VIDEOS WHEN AVAILABLE.
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Preview article (Oriamendi 2010)
Preview article (Diario Vasco)
Preview article (Kronika) (Basque)
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Round 1--Week 1: February 28-March 2, 2019 ; Round 1--Week 2: March 7, 9, 2019 ; Round 2--Week 1: March 14, 16, 2019 ; Round 2--Week 2: March 21, 23, 2019 ; Round 3--Week 1: March 28, 30, 2019 ; Round 3--Week 2: April 4, 6, 2019
Semi-final League
Round 1 ; Round 2 ; Round 3
Final
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2019 full tournament match results
Round 3--Week 1; March 28-30, 2019
March 30, 2019
Group B
Ezkurra II-Garces (B-B) (Gurutzeta) (2-1 +10) 40
Goikoetxea V-Barrenetxea IV (B-A) (Oialume Zar) (1-2 +8) 37
Selected linescore (winners always listed 1st).
9-9; 10-18; 11-21; 20-25; 30-31; 37-33; 37-36; 40-37
Scoring:
Ezkurra II +19 -5 Garces +12 (including 7 service aces) -4
Goikoetxea V +11 -5 Berentxea IV +17 (incl. 7 aces) -4* (B-B 3-2 A-B 2-3)
* Inferred from the other scores.
.
Here were the scores of the Group B matches going into today's match. For purposes of illustration of just how competitive this Group has been, I am only giving the scores.
40-37; 40-39; 40-28; 40-38
So it was not surprising that this match, with so much riding on it, was yet another close, well played, competitive, and tremendously entertaining one. The match was truly a play in two acts. The first act belonged to Oialume Zar (G-B). They broke away from equality in the first quarter with a 12-2 spurt and seemed well on their way to victory. But, according to the match article, that is when Gurutzeta (E-G) came to the party. A long comeback, led by excellent play by Ezkurra II, brought them to equality with a quarter of the match left to play. The last quarter was like the first half, only in reverse. They caught and passed O Z with a 7-2 run and seemed to have the match in hand. Perhaps the thought of holding Gurutzeta to only 1 point even crossed their mind. O Z then stormed back to within 1 point of equality (and guaranteed themselves at least 2 League points) before Gurutzeta finally put the match away. The hero of the piece was, according to the match article, Garces, who matched premier A back and arguably the best server on the roster Barrenetxea IV ace for ace (though he did come in 2nd best in scoring due to B's 10 winners in play--
a word about Barrenetxea IV here: in the last two matches his statistics have been phenomenal: +17 -4 and +15 -5, including 7 and 8 service aces respectively--).
In fact everyone played well, but Gurutzeta had just a bit more at the end. With the win they guaranteed themselves a place in the Semi-final League. As far as Oialume Zar is concerned, the 2 league points they added kept them in contention. They need an Altzueta (Etxarri-Ion (A-A)) victory over Setien (Ansa II-Agirrezabala (A-B)) by more than 4 points to advance. A closer Altzueta win would throw the race for advancement into a 3 way tie. Then factors such as head to head record and even point differential might come into play. It could become very complicated. But, after the way most Group B matches have played out, fans have come to expect that.
Group B Table
Teams-wins-losses +or- Tournament points. Tie breaker is head to head results.
Gurutzeta (Ezkurra II-Garces B-B) 2-1 +10
Oialume Zar (Goikoetxea V-Barrenetxea IV B-A) 1-2 +8
Setien (Ansa II-Agirrezabala B-A) 1-1 +6
Altzueta (Etxarri-Ion A-A) 1-1 +4
If Setien beats Altzueta next week, they advance, eliminating Oialume Zar. If Altzueta wins there could be a two way or three way tie for 2nd place, depending how many points Setien gets. If Setien score 36-39, there will be a 3 way tie. If they score less, there will be a tie between Altzueta and Oialume Zar and OZ will advance based on their 40-28 win on March 16.
Oailume Zar 40 Altzueta 28 (March 16)
Setien 40 Oailume Zar 37 (March 2)
Setien v Altzueta (April 4)
March 28, 2019
Group A
Urriza-Zaldua (A-B) (Gaztanaga) (2-1 +7) 40
Juanenea-Azpiroz (B-B) (Larre Gain) (1-2 +7) 34 (A-B 2-2 B-B 2-2)
Selected linescore: (winners always listed first)
0-4; 5-5; 28-23; 30-26; 30-29; 36-32; 40-34
Scoring:
Urriza +21 -2 Zaldua +14 (including 5 service aces) -9*
Juanenea +14 -3 Azpiroz +9 -2*
*inferred from the other scores
Match preview article (Oriamendi2010.com)
Match article (Oriamendi2010.com)
Match article (Diario Vasco) (added March 29, 2019)
Match article (Berria) (added March 29, 2019)
On March 9 (see below) Gaztenaga (Urriza-Zaldua) was shocked by Petritegi (Segurola-Endika) 40-24. The loss left them with -1 point at the foot of the table. The match article said Urriza was "overwhelmed." Gaztenaga was seemingly eliminated barely a week into the tournament.
Not quite. After a +26 -3 performance by Urriza that helped eliminate Bereziartua (Uterga-Labaka) from the Tournament, Gaztenaga faced another must win situation today. Must win and then some. Coming into the match with +3 Tournament points, against Larre Gain's +6, they had to win and hold Larre Gain to less than 36 points, which would tie the two teams for 2nd place with +7 each (31-35 points = +1; 36-39 = +2). A very tall order. But Urriza (who once again proved that he is very tough to beat "in the clutch"), with a tidy +21 -2 led the way as his team accomplished both of its goals and qualified for the Semi-final League.
It wasn't easy. At 30-29 and then 36-32, J-A were within sight of a Semi-final spot. But from 30-29, U-Z outscored them 10-5 in the most challenging of circumstances. The Diario Vasco match article said that "Urriza as key in that final stretch" (google translate) (from 36-32 on, when it was it all came down to who would score 4 points first). Zaldua also had an excellent match (in spite of a high number of errors) with +14, 5 of which were service aces. The match story said that for the match, Urriza "did not make many plays, but did a lot on the court and covered a lot" (google translate). He certainly did enough. In the last two matches, with his team's back "against the wall", he was +47 -5. That covers a lot, don't you think? The essence of a great player is how s/he plays in these clutch matches. The ones where they win or go home. He isn't going home yet. He may go home as a Txapeldun.
Larre Gain's Tournament is not yet over, but their chances are very low. Apologies for claiming Petritegi had clinched a playoff berth last week. They are still in the driver's seat, but if they lose their last match to Bereziartua by more than 14 points, they will lose a point. That will create a three way tie, with each team having 7 points. Petritegi has beaten Larre Gain and Gaztanaga and so would seem to have the berth in any case, but the match article wasn't so sure about that, and, unless my translation is totally wrong (which wouldn't be the first time :) ) seemed to leave the door open for Larre Gain under that scenario, based on "general score", which I take to mean point differential. We'll have to wait until the final match of the League phase to find out.
Group A Table:
Teams-wins-losses +or- Tournament points
Petritegi (Segurola-Endika B-A) (2-0 +8)
Gaztanaga (Urriza- Zaldua A-B) (2-1 +7)
Larre Gain (Juanenea-Apiroz B-B) (1-2 +7)
Bereziartua (Uterga-Labaka A-B) (0-2 -1)
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Also, these professional Remonte players don't play all their matches at Galarreta. They also play in an annual set of mostly short court (36-38 meters, as opposed to Galarreta's 56 meter court) tournaments sponsored by Fundacion Remonte Euskal Jai (Euskal Jai Berri). Those competitions are covered on a separate Page on the right side of the blog: Euskal Jai Berri Match results. Match scores, articles, and separate player win-loss records are available.
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Previous winners (Source: Oriamendi 2010 Emaitzak/Resultados database)
Note: for all results and match articles for all previous tournaments, I will link to the results. Finals match articles will be linked to directly. To match the results to the match articles for all other matches, I will link to all match articles for that year. Simply match the articles to the result dates. It is a bit cumbersome, but, I think, the easiest way to find non-Final Tournament match stories given the structure of the Oriamendi2010 databases. All match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, are from Oriamendi2010 or the Viva El Remonte blog via Oriamendi2010. I have yet to find any tournament history in any modality covered as well and as powerfully from the standpoint of easy retrieval of information from one place, as the Oriamendi2010 website. High Cestas to all involved. Esterrik Asko.
2011--Juaristi-Olazar 40 Endika-Urrutia I 36 (match article) (complete match results)--(individual match articles)
2012--Onatz-San Miguel 40 Juaristi-Olazar 31 (match article) (video highlights 35-31--40-31) (complete tournament match results)--(individual match articles)
2013--Matxin III-Etxeberria III 40 Jauristi-Agirrezabala 33 (match article) (video highlights 36-28--40-33) (complete tournament match results)--(individual match articles)
2014--Etxeberria IV-Ion 40 Matxin III-Etxeberria III 34 (match article)(video highlights 36-24--39-34) (full tournament match results)--(individual match articles)
2015--Zeberio II-Endika 40 Uterga-Olazar 27 (match article) (Full match video--EITB) (complete tournament match results)--(individual match articles)
2016--Segurola-Endika 40 Uterga-Aizpuru III 38 (match article) (Full match video--EITB) (complete tournament match results)--(individual match articles) (BLOG POST--scroll to the Remonte section))
2017--Otaegi-Ion 40 Urriza-Azpiroz 37 (match article) (Full match video--EITB) (complete tournament match results)--(individual match articles)
2018--Urriza-Garces 40 Uterga-Zubiri 31 (match article) (Full match video--EITB) (complete tournament match by match results)--(individual match articles)
