December 8th Tourney @ Charlie's Sandbox

Looks like this one will definitely be inside, unless some freak weather pattern as a result of global warming comes through. 8:00 AM check-in; 8:30 start, we'll go $15/ player and expect a solid turnout. Since we'll be inside, on 2 courts, we must finish by 4 and must get started on time, no foolin'. Drop me a line if you are interested in playing, pool play followed by double elim.
Results:
1) Adam Rubel/ Loric Box; 2) Matt Valencia/ Matt Jensen; 3) Bryan Klein/ Ricardo Sanchez; 4) Jorge Alarcon/ Krista Farris; 5) Jeff/ Cameron; 5) Olli Tavarian/ Ruskin Blankenship; WC) Jeff Poole

11/10 Tourney @ Charlie's Sandbox

8:00AM Check in; 8:30 start, finish by 4:00. $10 entry. Send me an email if you are interested in signing up. Let me know if you need a partner, we can help match you up!
UPDATE: We had the good fortune of an Indian Summer, with temps warming up quickly enough to get us outside after pool play, around 10:30 or so. Small turnout, hopefully folks will get back into the swing after a few months of summer officially ending. Good time, folks played lots of games. Here's the end results:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel; 2) Larry Cornwell/ Bryan Klein; 3) Jeff Poole; 5) Harris Zaeyee/ Kameron Cheney; 5) Sonny Marquez/ Rick Daraska; 6) Terry Daniels/ Rachel Petroff

CANCELLED!-10/13 Charlie's Sandbox Tourney

Unfortunately, a low turnout means we've had to cancel this weekend's tourney. There is, however, a co-ed event at Sneakerz. Hopefully we'll have better luck getting the November event off the ground.

9/22 Charlie's Sandbox Tourney

You all know the drill, final outdoor tourney of 2007. You can see the indoor sand schedule posted up in the left. 8:30 check-in, 9:00 AM start - SHARP! PLEASE DON'T SHOW UP LATE, IT DELAYS EVERYBODY AND MAKES EVERYBODY SAD BECAUSE THEY HAD TO GET THERE SO EARLY! We'll have 3-4 courts, so expect lots of playing throughout the day. Pool play followed by double elim.
UPDATE - Results:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel; 2) Chris Roosild/ Brian Post; 3) Jeff Poole/ Matt Jensen; 4)Larry Cornwell/ Desi Vigil; 5) Adam Cabbage/ Ricardo Sanchez; 5) Jeff Hart/ Cameron; 7) Bryan Klein/ Maria Marion;7) Harris Zayee/ Kevin; 7) Ed Lucero/ Dave Lujan; 7)Aaron/ Le

Aspen, Aspen, Aspen :-(

PART I

PART II

Well, it was a disappointing finish in Aspen this year. It was our worst finish playing together up there. We had a tough draw and played a couple of very strong teams, and did some things well, and some, not so well. All 3 of the games we lost were by 2 points. The most frustrating part of the tournament was my inability to finish in the end, being up 14-12 in the third game of our second match and not closing it out. Just as bad as a couple years ago being up 14-11 in the third to get to 5th place in the tourney and not closing it out. That proved to be a real motivator the next off season and led to the great season we had last year. Good news is I have most of the events on tape, so something to study. I've posted our final match, which was actually pretty well played on both sides, but we came up short 23-25 on a few critical late game errors. Overall we won two and lost two. There is room for improvement, the question is how much of a commitment do we want to make to getting to the next level. As I see it, to push ahead, those two matches we lost would not have to be close, considering they are very good teams, we'd have to make a substantial improvement, which will take a lot of effort. Something to think about going into the off season, especially in thinking about how hard to train. Time to go back and build the mental toughness for sure, which felt as though it was lacking for most of the season, probably attributable to busy schedules and less focus on the sport more than anything else. Anyhow, check out the vids above and let me know your thoughts if you have any ideas on where to go from here!

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

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.