Sneakerz Series #2

Time again to hit the sands at Sneakerz. Chris will be running this 2 on 2 men's format. I'll take the registrations and post them up here, as well as the results after.

Also, our sponsor, 18 Panel Athletic, has worked out a fundraising deal to help us with our travels. We will have hats and shirts for sale at the event and future events. Proceeds will go to our travel fund to help us get out and represent NM at different tournies. It will also help to launch this startup volleyball company out of Phoenix.

Update:
It was a cooker on Saturday. Temps got into the upper 90's and the slightest breeze didn't arrive until late in the afternoon. A long day too, with the finals wrapping up around 8:00PM. We had a solid 12 team turnout. Here are the finishers, as I recall them: 1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel 2) Matt Valencia/ Chris Roosild 3) Thierry Thelliez/ Nathan Beck 4)Rob Pierce/ Jorge Alarcon 5) Bryan Klein/ Larry Cornwell 5) Desi Vigil/ Jeff Poole

Gettin' in the groove...

Well, this weekend we finally started playing some decent volleyball and had a strong showing at the King of the Mountain tournament up in Vail, CO. Loric and I had a first tough match against Lucas and Tony. We were up for most of the first game, but somehow lost it at the end, something like 22-24. I shanked game point, and wasn't happy. Fortunately we picked it up and cruised through the next two games to win a fun match against a real athletic team. Next we faced Ryan and Paige, a real solid team that we last played in the finals up in Denver last year. I got about every serve and was lousy at siding out, and not picking up many balls. We dropped the match and were sent to the loser's bracket with something to think about through the night. I calmed my frustration and went back to fundamentals and found my shooting range on Sunday. We played a number of solid teams, but were in control, winning our first three games fairly handidly. We then faced Paige and Ryan again in the semifinals. We were off to a sow start in the first game, but steadied out by the end of it. We went on to play solid volleyball, scooping balls and siding out well. We won the second game by a good margin, and battled through the third to win the match. The long day on hard backed sand at high elevation and warm weather took its toll, we were both twinging by the third game of that match and were sucking down beers and pickles trying to dig deep for the finals. We faced Neil and Jamey, last year's winners. We gutted it out and I made a serving mistake, going to Jamey at 19-20 in the first game. He sided out and took the game. We were a little too gassed and they had fresh legs, playing only their second match of the day, and they took us out in two. They are a solid team and we needed to be at the top of our game to have a chance of victory. We both felt that our best ball of the season remains ahead of us, an upcoming trip to CA should help to boost us along. My body feels kind'a wrecked from getting all the serves and playing on such fine, hard packed sand, but an off week should be plenty of recovery. This was our best finish at one of the major mountain tournaments, and we go a little write up in the Vail Daily News. I think we're both looking forward to picking up our game the rest of this season and creating some big finishes. I'll be heading to NJ in a couple of weeks and may pick up a partner for the AVP quali or local tournament depending on if a suitable one turns up. Loric may be able to get up to Steamboat to play another mountain tourney if he can connect with the right partner. We'll re-unite in Manhattan Beach, CA to play a GAV tourney and get some practice in with the big guns, hopefully. Of course, first there is the Sneakerz tourney next week...

Back in Action

OK, back from a great trip to northern California and a tourney up in Denver. It's really hard for me to be living far from the ocean, little trips here and there help out. I'm gonna rant a bit about my lousy level of play this year. Not sure what is going on, mentally feeling focused, physically feeling healthier and stronger with each tournament, but my skills seem off, at least one important skill - siding out. Last year it was such a focus of mine to be able to side out consistently against just about anyone after being served a lot the year before, and I felt like I achieved that goal. This year, I've been giving up runs of 4-5 points in a row and had a few total meltdowns up in Denver of not being able to do anything right. Well, we did play a couple of very good teams that were playing well, hopefully it will be enough to motivate me to get my game up to par. We've got a good long stretch ahead of us, and strangely, I feel we are improving in some way every time we step on the court. Loric and I should have our rhythm down by the time we hit Vail for the King of the Mountain in a couple of weeks.

OK, sorry for boring you with that tirade. I heard the Sneakerz tourney from a couple of weeks ago went real well. Loric picked up Desi to win a double final over Chris and Matt V. Kudos to Desi who has been playing great ball all year for finally getting his name etched on the plaque at Sneakerz (ok, there really isn't a plaque, but there should be!). This weekend we return to Charlie's Sandbox, sans Charlie, to play it up again. I'm late in getting notices out, but hopefully we will see a strong turnout based on the crowd that showed up to the Sandia Mountain Classic. I almost forgot that Beach Volleyball Magazine ran an article that I rushed together before leaving town on the event. The Taos Solar Spike in late July is sounding like it is going to be a great tournament. Kameron has been doing a great job getting sponsors and building some high quality sand courts. Many guys from Denver were interested in coming down for the event; hopefully a few women's teams will turn out as well. UPDATE:
Men
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel; 2) Chris Roosilid/ Matt Valencia; 3) Ricardo Sanchez/ Matt Jensen; 4)Fred Ader/ Larry Cornwell; 5) Bryan Klein/ Mike; 5) Shayne Murdie/ Dave Bruhner; 7) Ed/ Dave; 7) Rich/ Adam; 9) Paul/ Nate; 9) Patrick/ Partner; 9) Harris/ Daniel


Women
1) Patty Ader/ KC Raver; 2) Chandra Weaver/ Stephanie Valencia; 3) Davina Romero/ Lveryn Aodaca 4) Sarah/ Rachelle