Aspen Motherlode Volleyball Tourney

Well, it was a good time as always up in Aspen. Unfortunately, we were probably as far off our game as we had been at any time this year, and we played some solid teams. We started strong on Saturday, winning our first two matches. This included defeating a pretty good Chicago team with one big hitter that has been playing on the indoor volleyball national team practice squad. On Sunday, we got to play the AVP team of Baxter/ Roberts. This match was a blast. We started out real strong, and were able to hang with them for the majority of the match. I think we only gave up three natural points the whole first game, but weren't able to break through enough points to pull out a win. Monday morning we did not play well at all, and lost our 8:30 AM game to a solid team from San Diego. So, we weren't able to improve on last year's ninth place finish, but ended up in 17th. It was a real strong tournament, with more AVP teams flying out as well as many other good teams playing. Turns out Loric got pretty sick right after the tourney and was struggling with something during the event, maybe that helped to throw off our chemistry. Oh well, the event is always good motivation to work harder in the off season. I'm sure we will bounce back for our next few tournaments. The other NM teams had a tough run, even though they all played well at times. Hopefully motivation for everybody to work harder to bring the level statewide even higher. We want to thank 18 Panel Athletic for sponsoring us for the event and Paul Sanchez for snapping some pics. I'll post some up once he gets them online.

We'll be out at the Badass Grass tourney in Albuquerque this weekend, for out annual foray into the world of grass volleyball. Should be a good time. We'll be out training and trying to keep our edge in preparation for the EVP Phoenix event in late October.

Concluding the Season

Well, the weather is starting to cool off and the days are getting shorter. All the signs are pointing to summer's drawing to an end. Doesn't mean that our season is over just yet, and we're going to squeze out every ounce of playing we can get in. This coming weekend is the big Motherlode tournament in Aspen, Colorado. It is the largest pro-am in the country, with open and masters divisions in the sand and a plethora of other divisions played in the grass. We'll be up in the sand playing the men's open division, which is guaranteing a solid turnout as always this year, with some deep competition. The Motherlode website is showing 62 teams in the men's division including some solid players that have been spending time on the AVP tour this year. It looks like our lead sponsor for the event will be Eighteen Panel Sport. Word on the street is we should have a pretty good seed going into the event and we will be looking to improve on last year's ninth place finish. There are three other teams from NM competing in the men's open as well.
Looking a bit further down the road, we're planning on playing the BadAss Grass tournament in Albuquerque again this year, celebrating the annual "wearing of the shoes and getting dirty on the grass" event. There is an outside chanve we may be able to make one more trip out to California to play in a CBVA event, especially if some sponsor support comes through. We are planning to conclude the season by competing in the Phoenix EVP event in late October. This looks like a great event with some good prize money. There should be some very good teams competing and it sounds like these are always well run tournaments. So, lots of volleyball left before winter's Hibernation sets in!

Sneakerz Championship/ Series Results

It was a great weekend for volleyball. The sixth and final event of the series saw some strong teams and some heated battles as players jockeyed for position in the Sneakerz Cup. It was also the first time that Jeff and Desi made an appearence in a final this summer. Their solid play throughout the day brought them to the winners final and then back through the contenders bracket into the tournament finals. Here are the results of the event:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel
2) Jeff Poole/ Desi Vigil
3) Matt Gordon/ Brian Luck
4) Chris Rooslid/ Rob Pierce
There was also a bonus pool payout for overall finishes during the season. Here's the New Mexico Beach Volleyball Bonus Pool results:
1) Adam Rubel
2) Loric Box
3) Matt Gordon
4) Chris Rooslid
Thanks again to Tavake and Sneakerz for another great season of New Mexico Beach Volleyball Doubles. We're looking forward to continued successful tournaments next year.

Sneakerz #6 - The Championship!

That's right, all the big $$$ and prizes are being awarded. This is the final battle in the men's sand division of the mighty Sneakerz beach volleyball series in Albuquerque, NM. An air of excitement is permeating the entire state. OK, maybe that's a bit of overhype, but this should be a good tournament as we're expecting a solid turnout. Here's the list as of now:
1) Adam Rubel/ Loric Box
2) Chris Roosalid/ Rob Pierce
3) Larry Cromwell/ Dave
4) Jeff Poole/ Desi Vigil
5) Matt Gordon/ ??

Sneakerz #5 Results

Desert beach volleyball is alive and well in New Mexico. We had a good turnout this past weekend with ten strong teams making an appearance at the next to last event of the Sneakerz summer series. Everybody's looking forward to the final event at the end of this month, with its larger payout and expected large draw. It was good to see Matt and Vince back together playing. Tony and Ricardo worked their way through the bracket to a strong finish. Chris and Matt V. round out some of the teams preparing to make an appearance at the big Motherlode event in Aspen. Here are the results as I recall:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel
2) Vince Vandermay/ Matt Gordon
3) Ricardo Sanchez/ Tony Perrera
4) Matt Valencia/ Chris Hammock

Victory in Denver!

What a weekend. Well, the good news is that Loric and I have brought the “Wilson/AVPNext Rocky Mountain Zone Championship” home to New Mexico. Although we're not entirely sure what the title of the event entails, we did manage to walk away from the Colorado Professional Volleyball Association's 4th event victorios. It was probably the biggest win for us as a team in the little more than a year that we have been playing together, and we were both excited and elated by the result. Denver has some very strong and talented teams, and we got to play a number of them. It was surprisingly hot on Saturday. After winning our first match, we faced the top seeded team of Tony and Curtis. They are both excellent players and play very well together. They beat us that match in three games. We regrouped and focused in for the rest of our games. We battled our way back through the losers bracket, improving as the day went on and widening the margin of victory in every game until we faced Tony and Curtis again in the crossover match. For most of the match, we played some of our best volleyball and were able to win in two games. This rolled us over to the finals agains Paige and Ryan T. By 7:00 when the match started, we had seen it all, heat and intense sun, wind, calm, sprinklers shooting off all over, and we were about to face the twilight. Paige and Ryan played great, and the majority of the match was very cleanly played with only a few natural points scored. After winning the first game, we dropped the second and in virtual darkness managed to pull out a 15-13 victory. The match had taken almost two hours! So, after 13 1/2 hours and 13 games we felt like we had done something awesome. It is very satisfying to see the results of all our off season training and conditioning and practice pay off. We heard this might be the first time a team from outside of CO has won one of these events, and I think we're probably the shortest team to win. Anyhow, we're kind of soaking it in for now before turning to focus on what's coming up for the rest of the season.

Sneakerz #5

Time for another battle in sole of Sneakerz. Hopefully the volleyball community is feeling much healthier, and without many other tournies in the region, we'd expect a good turnout. So, here's who's playing so far:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel
2) Matt Valencia/ Chris Hammock
3) Vince Vandermay/ Matt Gordon
4) Paul Sanchez/ Brett
5) Steve/ Steve
6) Tavake/ Steve
7) Ricardo Sanchez/ Tony Perrera
8) Jeff Poole/ ?