New Mexico Beach Volleyball Videos

Aspen Battle, 2007 Part I Part II

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Gearing up for Motherlode & Sneakerz Championships

Well, the Motherlode volleyball event in Aspen usually signals the end to the competitive season. Though we'll play through the winter, this is really the final time to see major national competition. This year should be a good one, as Crocs is now a major sponsor and is pumping $12K into the pot. Lots of teams coming out from late qualifying and early main draw rounds in the Cincinnati AVP to play the event, the field looks deeper and stronger this year than in the past. Loric and I are getting a couple of local tourneys and some practice time in this week to help us prepare. Last year we pulled a disappointing 17th out of 64, this year we are hoping to improve on our best finish of 9th a couple of years ago. We've had the opportunity to practice with the Spalding King of the Beach ball, so the adjustment moving up to the higher elevation shouldn't be as dramatic. Hopefully we will get a decent seed and come out firing this year. I know we have the ability to push good teams, but haven't had the chance too often this year. We'll have to trust that our top game will come out under pressure.

This weekend in the Sneakerz championship event. Tavake has been one of the cooler people in promoting competitive volleyball in the region, and has done another great job this year. Hopefully they can expand their facilities and grow the number of participants in the future. Unfortunately, Chris and Matt will be taking the weekend off, cutting into the depth of the talent pool, but we should still have a decent turnout. I received word that entry will be $20/ person for the event. Everything will be paid back out and there will be prizes and t-shirts given out.
UPDATE:
Props to Desi and Larry for being the first team to take us to 3 games in a final, playing well all day and pulling out game 2.
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel;
2) Desi Vigil/ Larry Cornwell;
3) Jeff Poole/ Matt Jensen 4) Kameron Cheney; 5) Jeff/ Cameron; 5) Adam/ Aaron; 7-9) Chris Trujillo/ Bryan Sissel; Dave/ Ed; Harris Zayee/ Kevin; Eddie/ Rich; Paul Sanchez/ Fred Ader; Randy Beebe/ Frank

Friday, August 10, 2007

Back to the Sandbox!

8/18 is the next beach volleyball event at Charlie's. 8:30 check-in, 9:00 SHARP start. Abbreviated pool play followed by double elim for the men, not sure what will be run for the women. PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PLAYING! Life is so much easier when we know who to expect at a tourney.
UPDATE: It was a hot day in the sun, but everything kept moving and we had a good turnout on the men's side with 11 teams, a poor turnout on the women's side with 3 teams. I don't think we will be running women's events at Charlie's unless somebody is willing to step up and coordinate. Apparently there was also a women's event on Sunday at Sneakerz, so that probably cut into the turnout. We tried a new format, with match play to 15 in the lower bracket. Seemed like a good compromise to keep things moving and ensure everybody got enough playing in. Matt and Chris gave us a real tough run the first game of the final, making some great digs and pushing the game to extra points. Second wasn't as close, but we finished everything before 5:00! Womens had only three teams, so they got lots of playing and finished a bit earlier. Here are the results:
Men
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel; 2) Chris Roosild/ Matt Valencia; 3) Jeff Poole/ Matt Jensen; 4) Bryan Klein/ Larry Cornwell; 5) Paul Sanchez/ Kameron Cheney; 5) Shane Murdie/ Gary; 7) John Malcom/ Daniel Pimental; 7)Adam/ Aaron; 9) Sonny Marquez/ Cameron; 9) Harris / Harley; 9) Randy/ Ed

Women
1) Shannon/ Maddie; 2)Kathy Berry/ Kimber; 3) Gabriella Ramirez/ Jennifer Lechman

We are changing the date of the next tournament at Charlie's to 9/22 because the Bad Ass Grass will be the weekend of 9/15. No women's event unless somebody from the ladies side wants to step up and run it.

Winding Down the Summer

Reflecting back on our season so far, I'd have to give it a lukewarm rating. I think the biggest drawback has been the limited opportunity to play real strong competition, and to play them at a higher level. Last year, we started out season in California in March, playing some real strong players including last year's AVP rookie of the year who was on TV last weekend in the finals of the Chicago event. That helped to set the pace. This year, both Loric and I were bogged with work and other commitments, so we got off to a slow start and didn't really see strong teams come in until near the end of May at the Sandia tourney. We weren't as prepared as we would have liked to have been for that event, and had a somewhat disappointing finish. Then travel schedules and a poor showing in Denver led us to a good finish in Vail, though we couldn't finish the job after a long run through the loser's bracket, while still not playing our best ball, in my opinion. Since then, I got to play a quali in NJ and we got to train in Hermosa beach which was great, but returned to a disappointing turnout in Taos without any out of state teams, though there were certainly good players at the event. A few weeks off and here we are. In CA it felt like things were coming together, but that was a while ago now. Hopefully we can get some practice time in and play well the next two NM tourneys to have a good showing at the Motherlode tourney in Aspen. There will be a real good showing there, with many strong teams registered from around the country. Time to focus in and work hard so we can put together a respectable run and nail an exclamation point into our outdoor season for 2007!