Game On! Volleyball Tourney Hits The Beach in the Middle of Reno

By Brain Metzler
Staff Writer

Reno, NV (April 20) –It started with 16 young women strutting their stuff on the beach during a trip to SoCal in late March.

With TV cameras rolling all around them, the bikini-clad college seniors went all out on the sand –lunging, leaping, digging, diving, spiking and sweating –with the hopes of making a strong enough impression to be one of the final eight selected for the next round.

Sounds like a script for a racy reality TV show, huh? Sure, but there's no dreamy guy waiting with a rose at the end of this made-for-TV saga. Instead, the winning duo of the CSTV Collegiate Nationals Beach Volleyball Championships on April 21-22 will earn a chance to play in the AVP beach volleyball tour this summer.

The final eight women are stoked to be here. They've all had dreams of playing against or alongside Keri Walsh and Misty May on the pro tour, so having the chance to earn a slot into an AVP tournament is probably better than going on a date with some sharp-dressed bachelor with lots of gel in his hair.

"It's so exciting," says Allie Griffin, a senior all-Big 12 Conference player from the University of Colorado. "My goal has been to play on the beach, and this is the perfect jump start into what I want to do."

More than 200,000 pounds of sand have been trucked into downtown Reno to create the manmade volleyball court in the outdoor plaza in front of Harrah's casino just off of the city's famous Virginia Street strip.

The women admit that playing on the beach is nothing like the indoor game on the hard court that they're used to. Indoors, they played with five teammates and developed the skills of a specialized player, like that of a setter, middle blocker or outside hitter. On the sand, the game is played with teams of two, and to be successful, each player has to be able to do everything – dig, set, spike and dive for errant balls. Plus, it's hard to move around in the sand and there is lots of strategy to learn.

But, c'mon, who's complaining about a situation as good as this?

At a three-day beach volleyball boot camp in Manhattan Beach in late March, California, the original 16 women trained under legendary beach players Holly McPeak and Karch Kiraly. They went through drills, scrimmaged against each other and picked up pointers from the pros. When it was over, AVP officials selected the eight best players for the chance to play in the winner-take- all CSTV Collegiate Nationals tournament.

"We all had a lot of fun and learned a lot from them when we were out there," says Lauren Brewster, a two-time All-American at Notre Dame. "It's a lot different game compared to playing indoors. We're all pretty new to the beach game, so we'll see what happens."

The eight women who survived the cut have been split into four pairs for the CSTV tournament. Each one has strong credentials: school record-setters, tournament MVPs, All-Americans and NCAA champions. But to win this tourney, they'll have to develop chemistry with their partner, shed their habits from the indoor game and flat-out hustle all over the sand.

CSTV Collegiate Nationals Volleyball Tournament pairings:

1. Lauren Brewster (Notre Dame) and Jess Veris (Washington)
2. Jen Abernathy (Arizona) and Vicki Prince (Hawaii)
3. Rachel Wagener (Maryland) and Allie Griffin (Colorado)
4. Paula Gentil (Minnesota) and Bibiana Candelas (USC)

Highlights from the volleyball tournament will be broadcast on multiple College Sports TV and CBS platforms beginning May 1 as part of CSTV The Collegiate Nationals, a collection of college championship events showcasing more than 2,000 athletes from more than 40 colleges. Seven sports are included in the inaugural Collegiate Nationals – boxing, snowboarding, beach volleyball, triathlon, paintball, wakeboarding and whitewater kayaking.

CSTV Networks Inc. is the leading digital sports media company, connecting more fans to more college sports than any other company. Its many platforms for programming distribution include CSTV: College Sports TV, televising regular season and championship events for 35 men's and women's college sports; CSTV.com and its network of nearly 250 official athletic sites; CSTV All Access, broadband subscription packages providing live audio and video of more than 7,000 events annually; as well as satellite television and radio, in-flight entertainment, wireless networks and more. In November, CBS announced plans to acquire the company in January 2006. For more information, go to www.CSTV.com.

Back To Top