Zabal becomes the sixth head coach in program history, dating back to the team's inaugural season in 1994.
Loyola University New Orleans Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Brett Simpson announced today that Jesse Zabal has been named the head coach for the Wolf Pack volleyball program. Zabal becomes the sixth head coach in program history, dating back to the team's inaugural season in 1994.
"We're excited to have Coach Zabal join the Loyola community. She has a proven record of success as a student athlete and coach in both the collegiate and club ranks. Jesse impressed us with her commitment to student development both from an athletic and academic standpoint. She will be a great addition to our University," said Simpson
Zabal comes to New Orleans after spending the last four years as a head coach in the Alliance Volleyball Club in Franklin, Tennessee. Zabal led Alliance to a 31-7 overall record over the past two years, including two tournament titles. Since 2012, Zabal had 67 student-athletes commit to __play college volleyball and secured 22 more commitments through 2019.
Before taking the reins at Alliance, Zabal was an assistant coach at her alma mater Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. In her three seasons at Maryville, she helped the Fighting Scots to two Great South Athletic Conference Titles (2009, 2011) and two appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Zabal's teams featured two GSAC Player of the Year recipients, 12 All-Conference selections, and an impressive 22 All-Academic Team members. Acting as both a second assistant and a top assistant throughout her time at Maryville, Zabal helped lead the Fighting Scots to a 76-26 overall record, highlighted by a 29-win season in 2009-10.
Maryville head coach Kandis Schram both worked with and coached Zabal at Maryville and credited Jesse as being an integral part of the Fighting Scots success over the years.
"Jesse is a remarkable young woman," Schram commented. "She was always a student of the game who strived to not only do her best but to elevate the __play of those she played with. Regardless if it was running an offense, breaking down the defensive scheme or working on team building activities, Jesse was an integral part of our success."
As a player, Zabal was a standout for the Fighting Scots, helping lead the team to a 104-38 overall record throughout her four seasons. Maryville won four GSAC Tournament Championships during her tenure and qualified for the NCAA DIII National Tournament twice. Zabal was a two-time GSAC All-Academic Team selection at Maryville and she finished her career with 424 total kills in 326 sets played.
Zabal graduated from Maryville with a B.A. in Child Development and Learning in 2008 before receiving a master's degree in Human Development and Counseling from Vanderbilt University in May 2015.
Hawai'i's Kupono Fey celebrates a point in his team's win over BYU on Thursday/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Three of the four Saturday men’s NCAA Division I-II volleyball showdowns are set.
Top-ranked Long Beach State will __play No. 4 Hawai’i, which not only beat No. 3 BYU but swept the Cougars, in Saturday’s MPSF championship match. Long Beach swept No. 5 UC Irvine.
The EIVA final has No. 13 Penn State playing Saint Francis. Both won Thursday.
The MIVA title tilt was already set, with No. 2 Ohio State readying for No. 14 Grand Canyon.
And Friday in the Conference Carolinas, which also gets an automatic bid into the NCAA field of six, King plays host to Mount Olive in one semifinal and Barton entertains Limestone in the other. The CC final is also Saturday.
In NCAA beach volleyball, top-ranked USC won twice Thursday and the CCSA (Coastal Collegiate Sports Association) and West Coast Conference begins their postseason tournaments Friday.
There’s also an FIVB beach event in China, where three USA teams are in the rounds of 16.
TJ DeFalco of Long Beach State buries an overpass as UCI’s Michael Saeta gets out of the way/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
MPSF: Hawai’i to face Long Beach State
The Rainbow Warriors opened __play at the Pyramid by taking it to BYU 25-22, 25-23, 25-22.
It left Hawai’i 26-4 overall and BYU 24-4. Nothing is guaranteed, but it’s hard to imagine BYU not getting one of the two NCAA at-large bids.
“I’m super proud of my guys to stay focused on the process,” said Hawai’i coach Charlie Wade, whose team was swept in both regular-season meetings with BYU.
Both teams were extremely sharp offensively. Hawai’i hit .506, while BYU hit .512.
Kupono Fey led Hawai’i with 16 kills on 28 swings, hit .464, and had one of his team’s four aces, seven digs and four blocks.
“Today was great teamwork. We’re all passing well, and want to stay aggressive, Fey said.
“That’s what we want. That’s what we play for, tight sets. That’s what the coaches prepare us for, that’s what we’re practicing for.”
Fey had three late kills and his ace as the Warriors closed out on the match on a 10-4 run.
Teammate Stijn van Tilburg had 12 kills and hit .333 to go with three blocks. Hendrik Mol added eight kills with no errors and hit .615. He had three of his team’s nine service errors, but five blocks.
“We’ve evolved as a team, certainly,” Wade said. “We have the ability to change speed, change depth, or target a guy. Tonight the mindset was more ‘We’re just going to bomb it’, not matter who plays it, we’re just going to keep pressure on them.
“They are remarkable out of system attacking team, they’re even better in system. It’s a calculated risk, as the match wore on, not only did we serve well, but we’re productive serving, really efficient. Not too many guys missed. You have guys coming back and trying to score, our serving subs, especially Rado (Parapunov), impacted the match. We got a real point every game when he served, in a match this tight, that’s a big advantage.”
BYU’s Ben Patch gets way up there on a back-row attack against Hawai’i/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Jake Langlois led BYU with 15 kills as he hit .426. Ben Patch had 14 kills and hit .385 and Brenden Sander had 11 kills, hit .319, and had all three of his team’s aces. He also had five digs.
“Congrats to Hawai’i for advancing,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “They put a bunch of pressure on us from the service line. We just couldn’t get our team in system. Our hitters had to battle through that. They made good touches defensively and were in good spots. I think it started from the pressure of them serving. Hawai’i deserves to advance and get another chance to play.”
Long Beach State blasted UC Irvine 25-10, 25-22, 25-19, leaving the winners 26-3 and into the title match and the Anteaters 20-7 and likely on the outside looking in at the NCAA final six.
“I don’t know how it will play out,” said UCI coach David Kniffin, noting his team’s tough schedule that included a victory at Ohio State. The Anteaters lost all three of their matches to Long Beach.
“I can appreciate where the question is coming from. We set the season up in September to play the toughest schedule that we could.”
If the UCI season is over, it marks the end of a tremendous career for Tamir Hershko, who led the Anteaters with nine kills on a night when his team hit just .112. The only time UCI hit worse this season was the last time it played at Long Beach State, hitting .105.
What’s more, UCI had just three total blocks, including a solo by Thomas Hodges. He had seven kills but hit .000.
Conversely, Long Beach State had 10 total blocks, led by seven assists and a solo by Amir Lugo-Rodriguez.
“They play steady. They do really well with their blocking, they’ve got pretty soft hands,” Kniffin said. “When they’re not blocking the ball at you hard, if it hits their block at all, it seems to slow down and doesn’t take an aggressive direction change into the stands, like some of the more ridge it blocks you see out there.
“So the hope is to out physical them and get above them sometimes. We’ve got guys capable of doing that. So, we expected a transition game tonight. I honestly thought we would be a better transition team than that. So, we were prepared for that. I would say that’s their block.”
Kyle Ensing and TJ DeFalco led Long Beach with 10 kills each. Ensing hit .529 and had eight digs and block. DeFalco hit .240, had three digs and four blocks, one solo.
“It was a very typical MPSF match against a great opponent,” said Long Beach coach Alan Knipe, whose team hit .284. “They’re a great serving team, there’s a lot of physical guys on that team, incredibly well coached, we’re certainly happy to get the win tonight. I thought our guys were certain ready to play, excited to play, I thought it was a high-level game.”
Long Beach, 15-0 at home this season, got six kills from Andrew Whitt.
Neither Long Beach State — all but a lock for an at-large bid — nor Hawaii — which likely put itself in the at-large driver’s seat — have ever won the MPSF title. Both teams move to the Big West Conference next season.
In their two regular-season matches this season, in Long Beach on January 18 and 20, Long Beach won 3-2 and 3-0.
“When you prepare for a tournament like this you have to prepare for the team you’re going to play first, but, with the quick turnaround, you have to also be able to put some things in place and you have to have a chance to watch them,” Knipe said.
“Whether it was Hawaii or BYU, it was going to be a really good team. They’re certainly playing with a lot of energy and they blocked balls tonight and served tough. It’s going to be a really great match. We expect Hawaii to come in and play great — and they should, it’s the conference final.”
EIVA: Penn State to play Saint Francis
Saint Francis won the first semifinal by ousting Sacred Heart 25-16, 21-25, 25-16, 25-20. SFU improved to 16-4, while Sacred Heart’s season ended 15-11.
Saint Francis got 14 kills from Michael Fisher, who hit .440, had seven digs and one of his team’s four aces. He also had four of its 17 errors. Stephen Braswell had 12 kills and hit .370. He had an ace, three errors, three digs and two blocks. And Jeff Hogan had 10 kills, six digs and two blocks.
Their team hit .323 and held Sacred Heart to a a .121 percentage. That included seven block assists by Tony Nicotra and six by Daniel Ford as their team had a season high 13 total blocks.
Saint Francis, which beat Penn State in the 2016 semifinals, lost to George Mason in last year’s EIVA title match.
Sacred Heart’s Christopher DeLucie led the Pioneers with 10 kills but hit .067. He had two of his team’s four aces, but five of its 17 errors.
Penn State beat Princeton 25-23, 25-19, 25-23 and improved to 20-10. Princeton’s season ended 12-14.
Chris Nugent led Penn State with 15 kills and hit .560. He had three of his team’s four aces and three of its 11 service errors, five digs and a block. Calvin Mende added nine kills and five blocks, two solo. And Aidan Albrecht had eight kills and hit .400 to go with four digs and three blocks.
“The game plan was carried out to a T offensively and defensively we threw together a great plan,” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. “I think we left a couple of points out there early but we were just feeling things out.
“Our outsides got some good swings in tough situations and our passing allowed us to run that offense. All in all a good first semifinal and we’ll see what we have to do against Saint Francis on Saturday.”
This season, Saint Francis lost at Penn State in three and then beat the Nittany Lions in Loretto, Pa., 3-2 on February 11.
Princeton, whose only senior starter was setter Jonah May, got 12 kills apiece from Parker Dixon and George Huhmann.
“Congratulations to Princeton for the year that they had,” Pavlik said. “With the youth that they have they’re going to be a pain in my side over the next two to three years.”
NCAA beach
USC notches takes two: The Trojans are 28-0 after beating No. 5 Long Beach State 4-1 and Cal Bakersfield 5-0 to win for the 58th time in a row.
The No. 5 pair was the only match in which Long Beach won a set when Jenelle Hudson and Megan Kruidhof beat Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer 14-21, 21-19, 15-10.
At No. 1, Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes were pushed past the limit in the first set but beat Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto 23-21, 21-13.
Bakersfield, which dropped to 1-15, managed to get to 18 points in one of the sets.
CCSA: The gathering in Cartersville, Ga., includes No. 4 Florida State and No. 12 South Carolina in one pool and No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Georgia State and No. 15 Florida Atlantic in the other. play continues Saturday with the semifinals and final on Sunday. Click here for the CCSA tournament website.
West Coast: The tournament at Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica includes No. 2 Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and Santa Clara. The Waves have a bye into the second round and await the winner of Pacific and Portland in the double-elimination format. The final is Saturday. Click here for the WCC tournament website.
Pro beach volleyball
FIVB Xiamen Three Star: Brittany Hochevar and Emily Day are in the 16-team elimination bracket in China after beating Germans Sandra Ittlinger and Teresa Mersmann 21-17, 22-20. They play the Finnish pair of Riikka Lehtonen and Anniina Parkkinen, a team that has to lead the tournament in names with consecutive vowels.
Two other USA women’s pairs were eliminated Thursday, Kim DiCello and Emily Stockman and Caitlin Ledoux and Kendra VanZwieten.
Two USA men’s teams are in the round of 16. Trevor Crabb and Sean Rosenthal advanced by beating Belgians Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle and will play Júlio César Do Nascimento Júnior, a Brazilian, and Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan.
Ryan Doherty and Avery Drost advanced by taking out Jian Bao and Likejiang Ha of China 21-19, 21-15 and face Australians Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann.
Long Beach celebrates beating Hawai'i to win the MPSF tournament/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Since this story was posted, BYU and Hawai’i got the NCAA’s two at-large bids. Read the story here.
All four NCAA Division I-II men’s No. 1 seeds are moving on.
Later Sunday, they’ll find who they __play and when in the National Collegiate Championship May 4-6 in Columbus, Ohio.
Long Beach State, Ohio State, Penn State and Barton — all playing a home — claimed spots in the final six. Two at-large teams will be added.
In Division III, Saturday’s four play-in winners are in the quarterfinals that begin Thursday at Springfield, Mass.
In the NAIA, Park won the men’s national title for the fifth time.
In NCAA beach, Pepperdine won the Big West again, two Florida schools will __play for the CCSA title on Sunday, and Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast are in strong positions heading in the last day of the ASUN tournament.
And in China, Brazil’s Barbara Seixas De Freitas and Fernanda Alves and Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen won their respective FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open titles.
Hawai’i’s Kupono Fey snapped the overpass straight down but lost the point when he hit the net on the follow-through/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
MPSF: Long Beach State, ranked No. 1 in the nation and winner of the regular-season title, held true to form with its 17-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-23 victory over Hawai’i in the Pyramid on the LBSU campus.
It marked Long Beach’s first MPSF title and will be its fourth NCAA tournament trip under coach Alan Knipe and ninth overall. The Beach is back in the NCAA for back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1990-91.
“I’m incredibly proud of our guys and happy for them for all the hard work they’ve put in to accomplish a goal that we set for ourselves,” Knipe said. “We wanted to host and we also wanted to win the MPSF championship. We’ve been working hard for that, as every team has, but we sit here and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys at this moment.
“I think they are pretty excited right now, which they should be. But I also want to give a huge compliment to Hawai’i and the way they played tonight. They absolutely jumped right out of the gates and put all sorts of pressure on us. They are a good team. They’ve had a great season and they gave a wonderful crowd at the Pyramid, which doesn’t surprise me whatsoever. So proud of the volleyball community around here to come out like they did, but it gave them something special to watch. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys tonight and I’m real happy for them.”
Long Beach State is 27-3. Hawai’i (26-5), has to wait until later Sunday to learn if it gets one of the two NCAA at-large bids.
Hawai’i coach Charlie Wade likes his team’s chances of getting an NCAA bid.
“I think they’re good. We’ve only lost to two teams and we make to the final of our conference championship match, the toughest league in the country. And the teams we lost to, there’s no bad losses. BYU is No. 1 in the RPI and we have a win against them and Long Beach is pretty good too,” Wade said.
“Three of our five losses to them, on the road, all of our losses are the on road. I think we have a compelling argument to get into the field.”
Kyle Ensing led with 15 kills. He hit .367, had six digs and a block. Ensing also had two of his team’s five aces and an error.
Teammate TJ DeFalco, the MPSF regular-season MVP, was named MVP of the tournament. He had 12 kills and hit .429, although no aces and four of Long Beach’s 18 errors. DeFalco had nine digs and a block.
Setter Josh Tuaniga not only had four kills, but three aces to go with three errors, five digs and two blocks.
“It shows on the stat sheet and it also to everyone watching. Josh is a phenomenal setter,” DeFalco said. “I give credit to Kyle, too, in dominating his side of the net because if he didn’t take the blockers that way then I wouldn’t have nearly the success I as I do.
“The teamwork we put together and how we’re running the bic and the middle of the court and Josh distributes all of that I wouldn’t be winning any of these awards without these two or my whole team.”
Hawai’i’s Kupono Fey led the Rainbow Warriors with 14 kills but hit .194. He had one of his team’s three aces and two of its 15 errors. Fey also had four digs and a block. Stijn van Tilburg had 12 kills, two errors and four digs. Their team hit .184, while Long Beach hit .361.
Hendrik Mol, Hawai’i’s top middle in kills and hitting percentage, sprained his ankle early in the second set Saturday and did not return/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Hawai’i was dealt a tough blow when senior middle Hendrik Mol left the match in the second set with ankle sprain and did not return and it forced Wade to make lineup changes. Mol had three kills in six swings, an ace, a block and a dig.
MIVA: Second-ranked and top-seeded crushed No. 14 and third-seed Grand Canyon in the first and third sets 25-16, 25-22, 25-11 in 1 hour, 11 minutes. Ohio State won its 16th MIVA tourney title.
“(In the first set) you saw us taking advantage of the home court, being in a familiar facility, our ability to serve in and stay in system and run our offense,” said coach Pete Hanson, whose team improved to 30-2.
“And I thought you saw a little bit of nerves with the Grand Canyon kids. It was the first time they’re in a championship match, they’re on the road, things like that. Halfway decent crowd (1,020), the energy, and obviously that was an advantage for us.”
Ohio State, which hit .464, was led by Miles Johnson, who had 11 kills, including the match winner, and hit .348. He had three of his team’s six aces and three of its 12 errors, three digs and five blocks.
Nicolas Szerszen, who hit .471, and Maxime Hervoir, who hit .538, added nine kills each.
“Winning that match in three might have been the highlight of the year so far,” Johnson said. “When we played at their place, I don’t even know how to discuss it without cussing. It was kind of a horrible time.”
Ohio State won at Grand Canyon in four on February 24 and in five on February 26 in their regular-season meetings.
Grand Canyon, which ended its best season ever at 19-11, got seven kills from Cody Williams, who hit .400. Drake Silbernagel, who hit .455 had six kills, and so did Matthew Kinnebrew.
“This was the service pressure we knew that they were capable of,” GCU coach Matt Werle said. “Ohio State played every facet of the game really well and they deserve a lot of credit. You could tell that we were fatigued from the long week.”
His team more than exceeded outsiders’ expectations this season.
“I could not be more proud of this group of young men,” Werle said. “Coming into this season, we were voted sixth the MIVA. It took until the second to last week of the regular season before (AVCA poll) coaches started respecting this team.
“I know the numbers don’t show a lot tonight, but this team has accomplished so much this season. This program is moving in a direction it can be proud of. I am extremely thankful for this group.”
EIVA: After a rare year out of the loop, Penn State is back in the NCAA tournament.
The 13th-ranked Nittany Lions made short work of Saint Francis, also of Pennsylvania, 25-19, 25-14, 25-20 and move on for the 28th time in program history.
Penn State captured its 18th EIVA tournament title in the past 19 years on a kill from Chris Nugent, who had nine kills on 16 swings. He hit .438 and his team .418. Nugent had three of his team’s seven errors — the Nittany Lions had no aces — to go with five digs and a block.
Aidan Albrecht also had nine kills, hit .333, three errors, five digs and four blocks, one solo as a crowd of about 1,300 filled Rec Hall. Calvin Mende and Matt Callaway had six kills each.
“One of the problems we were having earlier in the season was getting off to good starts. This whole tournament we had some of our best starts to sets,” Mende said. “I think it shows, especially in this game, coming out hot and coming out focused and ready to go.”
Saint Francis, which also lost in last year’s EIVA title match to George Mason, ended its season 16-15. It got 12 kills from Michael Fisher, who hit .097. His team hit .075. Jeff Hogan added seven kills but hit .000.
Conference Carolinas: Barton beat Mount Olive 25-18, 25-15, 25-17, taking advantage of playing at home in Wilson, N.C.
Barton, which improved to 23-5, hit .403 and held Mount Olive (18-10) to an .049 hitting percentage.
Barton, in the NCAA tournament for the first time in its six-year men’s volleyball history, used just seven players. Vasilis Mandilaris, a sophomore outside from Greece, led with 13 kills in 17 swings and hit .647. He also had five digs. His brother, freshman Angelo Mandilaris, had 11 kills, four digs and three blocks. Aleksa Brkovic, a sophomore from Serbia, had nine kills, hit .462, had four digs and two blocks.
Mount Olive got nine kills from Robert Poole and six from Bret Rutledge.
Division III: The four winners were Hunter, which swept Penn State-Altoona; Stevens Institute, which beat Endicott in four; defending-champion State University of New York New Paltz, which beat Kean in five; and Juniata, which ousted New York University.
Thursday’s quarterfinals at Springfield have seven teams from the Northeast and one from the Midwest.
Top-ranked Springfield, the home team, plays Hunter of New York, Dominican of Illinois faces Stevens of New Jersey, Vassar of New York plays SUNY New Paltz, and Wentworth of Massachusetts takes on Juniata of Pennsylvania.
Click here for the NCAA DIII bracket.
NAIA: The Park Pirates defeated No. 1 Grand View 36-34, 25-21, 25-16 in St. Louis. Park won national titles in 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Park, from Parkville, Mo., finished 26-5, while Grand View of Des Moine, Iowa, was 25-4.
Park coach Mike Talamantes has three national titles as the head men’s coach at Park and also won the 2014 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship. Tournament MVP Daniel Arteaga led Park with 29 kills and hit .558.
USC’s Jo Kremer exults as her teammates provide support/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Beach
NCAA
CCSA: Seventh-ranked LSU beat Charleston and No. 9 Georgia, but then got knocked off by Florida International on Saturday in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association tournament. Meanwhile, No. 4 Florida State beat No. 12 South Carolina, FIU, and No. 15 Florida Atlantic to move to the Sunday title match against FIU, which it has beaten three times this year, twice by 3-2 and 4-1 on Saturday.
Big West: Third-ranked and top-seeded Pepperdine improved to 24-3 as it beat third-seeded Loyola Marymount twice by 4-1 scores in Santa Monica on Saturday to win the league title for the second straight year.
ASUN: The winner will be decided Sunday. In the winner’s bracket, top-seeded Stetson faces third-seeded Florida Gulf Coast and second-seeded Mercer faces North Florida.
USC beats UCLA: The streak is now at 60 as the top-ranked Trojans head into the postseason 30-0 after sweeping Cal Poly and then beat No. 2 UCLA4-1.
At No. 1, Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes of USC) beat the McNamara twins, Megan and Nicole, 21-15, 22-20.
UCLA’s win came at No. 4 when Jordan Anderson and Izzy Carey beat Abril Bustamante and Joy Dennis 21-13, 21-19.
UCLA is 26-3.
Both teams head to the Pac-12 Championship that begins on Thursday at the University of Arizona.
Arizona State wins: The Sun Devils improved to 16-14 with their first sweep of a Pac-12 school in program history, beating Stanford 5-0.
The No. 1 pair of Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette beat Kathryn Plummer and Jenna Gray 29-27, 21-15. Stanford is 21-8.
FIVB
Brazil’s Barbara Seixas De Freitas and Fernanda Alves beat China’s Fan Wang and Yue Yuan 21-12, 19-21, 16-14 in a packed stadium where the wind was strong.
“China started a little bit down and we started strong but then they recovered during the game and Yue Yuan has a really hard serve and in this wind, it was really difficult,” Alves said. “You just need to have patience to do one ball after one ball.”
“I’m really happy to get silver. We never played in such a fierce match before, so this match has great significance for us,” Yuan said.
Click here for the full women’s elimination bracket, courtesy of bvbinfo.com.
The men’s championship went to Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, who beat Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai of Italy in the final 21-14, 21-17 in a match that took just 29 minutes.
Click here for the full men’s elimination bracket, courtesy of bvbinfo.com.
Ohio State libero Gabriel Domecus gets the pancake against Ball State/Ohio State Athletics, Walt Middleton
The MIVA semifinals provided more drama Wednesday night than anyone could have imagined.
Second-ranked and top-seed Ohio State escaped No. 11 and fourth-seed Ball State 25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13 in Columbus after trailing 7-2 in the fifth.
And No. 14 and third-seed Grand Canyon stunned No. 7 and second-seed Lewis on its home court 25-27, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19, 16-14.
It sets up a Saturday-night final in Columbus with the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament field of six on the line.
Two other NCAA men’s Division I-II leagues have semifinals on Thursday.
In the EIVA, top seed and 11th-ranked Penn State (19-10) plays host to fourth-seeded Princeton (12-13) and second-seeded Saint Francis (15-14) is home for Sacred Heart (15-10).
In the regular season, Penn State beat Princeton in five sets in both their matches. SFU beat Sacred Heart in four in both their matches.
In the MPSF, Long Beach State (25-3), No. 1 in the nation and the top seed, is home in its Pyramid to No. 5 UC Irvine (20-6), the fourth seed. Earlier on the same court, third-ranked and second-seeded BYU (24-3) plays the third seed, fourth-ranked Hawai’i (25-4).
Long Beach swept UCI in Irvine and then beat the Anteaters in four in Long Beach. BYU swept Hawai’i in both their meetings.
Nicolas Szerszen of Ohio State University blows the ball through the Ball State block of Parker Swartz, left, and Connor Gross/Ohio State Athletics, Walt Middleton
Buckeyes move on: Ohio State swept Ball State in both their regular-season meetings, but this one was one for the ages as the home team improved to 29-2 and Ball State’s season ended 19-10.
In the fifth set, blocking was the key for the Buckeyes as setter Christy Blough had two, including a solo that brought his team into an 8-8 tie. Blake Leeson, who had won earlier in the set, had a solo of his own that gave Ohio State a 12-11 lead. Blough and Driss Guessous ended it with another block.
Coach Pete Hanson, whose Buckeyes won it all last year, credited Ball State’s serving in the third and fourth sets for forcing a fifth set.
“And they’re a good defensive team and that created momentum for them,” Hanson said. “And it kind of frustrated our guys a little bit. You just have to keep playing through that and you have to have the mindset that if, ‘You’re going to dig mine I’m going to have to dig yours.’ And we didn’t have that mindset for a while. If we didn’t kill it we got frustrated and stopped playing a bit and they gained some momentum.
“It was a tough match.”
He laughed.
“It took us to the distance to figure it out.”
Miles Johnson led Ohio State with 15 kills and hit .204. He had one of his team’s five aces and four of its 19 errors. He had six digs and three blocks. Nicolas Szerszen, named the MIVA player of the year earlier this week, had 14 kills but hit .163. He added two aces, four errors, seven digs and three blocks. Maxime Hervoir had 11 kills, hit .269, to go with an ace, two errors, 11 digs and four blocks, one solo. Guessous had eight kills and hit .538 for a team that hit .252 and had four blocks. Leeson had four kills and hit .417, he had five errors and seven blocks, one solo.
“I thought Nick was good early and Miles was good late,” Hanson said.
Ball State got 14 kills from Blake Reardon, who hit .100 and had five of his team’s 20 service errors. Matt Walsh had 12 kills and hit .579, had one of his team’s five aces and four of its errors. He had six blocks, including Ball State’s only solo. Ball State, which hit .176, got nine kills from Matt Szews, who hit .065. He had two aces and five errors, 11 digs and six blocks. Mike Scannell had seven kills.
Big victory for GCU: The Lopes are in a new place. After losing to Lewis the in the MIVA Tournament each of the past four years, Grand Canyon finally broke through, moving on to the title tilt at Ohio State.
Grand Canyon, playing for the MIVA title for the first time, improved to 19-10, while Lewis ended it season 23-7.
In the fifth set, Lewis scored four points in a row to pull ahead 14-13. But Shalev Saada tied it with a kill, GCU took the lead on a kill by Matthew Kinnebrew and Saada ended it with another kill.
Grand Canyon, which hit .320, got 14 kills from Kinnebrew, who hit .206. He had five of his team’s 10 aces and nine of its 27 errors. He added seven digs and three blocks. Saada had 13 kills and hit .333. He had three errors, four blocks and seven digs. Cody Williams, who hit .304, and Drake Silbernagel, who hit .500, had 12 kills each for the Lopes. Williams had an ace and five errors, three blocks — one solo — and seven digs. Silbernagel had two aces, four errors, three blocks and four digs.
Lewis was led by Trevor Weiskircher, who had 15 kills, hit .321, had one of his team’s three aces and one of its 21 errors, three blocks and six digs. Mitch Perinar had 14 kills and hit .205. He had two errors, three blocks and three digs. Ryan Coenen had 12 kills, hit .125, an ace, three errors, three blocks and six digs.
USC home on the beach: The top-ranked and unbeaten Trojans (26-0) __play host Thursday to No. 5 Long Beach State (23-5) and CSU Bakersfield (1-13). LBSU also plays Bakersfield.
USC ends its regular season Saturday when it entertains Cal Poly and No. 2 UCLA. Defending-NCAA-champion USC has won 56 matches in a row.
N. Korean nuclear volleyball: The New York Times has a story about satellite images showing volleyball games being played by a nuclear test site.
“It suggests that the facility might be going into a standby mode,” Joseph Bermudez told reporters on a conference call organized by 38 North, a research institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. “It also suggests that these volleyball games are being conducted with the North Koreans knowing that we’ll be looking and reporting on it.”
Deahna Kraft and Anika Wilson __play a ball for Pepperdine as Pacific's Gillian Howard looks on/Sarah Otteman photo
Saturday is Earth Day and there’s volleyball all over the planet.
On the immediate home front, four of the six NCAA tournament spots will be filled as the MPSF, MIVA, EIVA and Conference Carolinas compete in their respective league championship matches.
Two of the five NCAA beach leagues continue their tournaments, the CCSA and the West Coast Conference.
And in China, at the FIVB Xiamen Three Star, the women’s and men’s semifinals are set and they don’t include any Americans.
MPSF: Top-ranked Long Beach State (26-3), the No. 1 seed, facesfourth-ranked Hawai’i (26-4), the fourth seed. Long Beach, which has won 19 of its last 20 matches, advanced by sweeping UC Irvine, while Hawai’i knocked out BYU in three. In their regular-season meetings, on back-to-back matches in Long Beach in January, Long Beach swept Hawai’i both times.
MIVA: Second-ranked and top-seeded Ohio State (29-2) plays the third seed, 14th-ranked Grand Canyon (19-10). Ohio State got into the final by getting past Ball State in five, 15-13 in the fifth, while Grand Canyon scored a five-set upset over Lewis, 16-14 in the fifth. Ohio State, the defending national champion, beat GCU twice in Phoenix in late February in back-to-back matches, the first night in four and the second in five.
EIVA: Penn State is back in the title tilt after a rare year away. The 13th-ranked and top-seeded Nittany Lions (20-10) face Saint Francis (16-14). Penn State advanced with a sweep of Princeton, while Saint Francis beat Sacred Heart in four. In the regular season, both teams won at home, with Penn State sweeping the Red Flash on February third and SFU winning in five on February 14.
Conference Carolinas: There was an upset of sorts on Friday in the semifinals, as third-seeded Mount Olive knocked out second-seeded King 25-19, 25-17, 18-25, 25-22.
In the other semifinal, top-seeded Barton swept Limestone 25-22, 25-21, 25-22.
They meet Saturday at Barton. During the regular season, Barton won twice, in four in February and in a sweep on April 11 at Barton.
Mount Olive improved to 18-9, while King’s season ended 28-4. Nonetheless it was a record season for King, which set school bests for most wins overall and the most in the conference (16) and at one time had a 15-match winning streak.
Mount Olive’s Robert Poole led with 18 kills and hit .410. He added nine digs. Bret Rutledge had 13 kills and six digs to go with one of his team’s three aces and four of its 18 errors. Brad Monaghan had 12 kills, hit .348 and had four errors and two blocks. And Andrew Sydow had 10 kills, hit .625, had two aces and three errors and 10 digs.
Jeff Sprayberry led King with 19 kills but hit .192.
Barton (22-5) hit .360 as a team, led by Aleksa Brkovic, who had 12 kills and hit. 400. He had six digs, three blocks, and three of his team’s 17 service errors. Vasilis Mandilaris added 10 kills, hit .364, and had six digs but also six errors.
Fourth-seeded Limestone ended its season 13-11. Kevin Rocklein led with 10 kills.
Beach
In case you missed the news Friday, the NVL has joined with Leonard Armato and World Series of Beach Volleyball and will launch its 2017 tour at that event in Long Beach in July. At the same time, AVP players are trying to get that tour to change its player contract. Click here to read the VBM story.
NCAA: Top-seeded and fourth-ranked Florida State lost only one set in 10 matches as it swept both UNCW and Tulane on the first day of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Championship in Emerson, Ga. The Seminoles (23-7) continue pool play Saturday against No. 12 South Carolina and No. 10 Florida International.
In the other pool, No. 7 LSU won its 22nd in a row to improve to 24-5 by beating UAB 4-1 and sweeping No. 15 Florida Atlantic. One of LSU’s losses was earlier this season to FAU.
“That loss at the beginning of the season was one that we really felt like we let slip away,” LSU coach Russell Brock said. “It’s not often that you get an opportunity to play a team you lost to early on. I’m really proud of the team for getting a statement win.”
The Tigers play Charleston and No. 9 Georgia State on Saturday.
Georgia State is in a tough position, since the NCAA field takes just eight teams. The Panthers beat Charleston on Friday but lost to FAU 3-2 to drop to 20-13.
The semifinals are Sunday morning and the final at 1 p.m. Eastern.
In the WCC, third-ranked and top-seeded Pepperdine swept Pacific and will play Loyola Marymount on Saturday. The winner advances to the championship match. Pepperdine (22-3) is the only team in the league that would be in the hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship,
The Pac-12 tournament is April 27 in Tucson, but in a likely preview of the championship match, top-ranked USC (28-0) plays host to No. 2 UCLA (25-2) on Saturday. USC has won all six matches between the school, including a 3-2 victory in Malibu on March 4. Both teams also play Cal Poly (12-19).
FIVB: In Xiamen, the women’s semifinals pit Fan Wang and Yuan Yue of China against Victoria Bieneck and Isabel Schneider of Germany on one side of the bracket and Fernanda Alves and Barbara Seixas of Brazil against countrywomen Maria Antonelli and Carolina Máximo.
Alves and Seixas eliminated the USA’s Brittany Hochevar and Emily Day in the quarterfinals 13-21, 21-16, 15-12. Earlier, Hochevar and Day ousted Rikka Lehtonen and Annina Parkkinen of Finland in two quick sets.
On the men’s side, both USA teams lost in the quarterfinals.
Ryan Doherty and Avery Drost lost to Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai 21-17, 21-12. Lupo and Nicolai will play Germans Armin Dollinger and Jonathan Erdmann.
Trevor Crabb and Sean Rosenthal lost to Brouwer and Meeuwsen of the Netherlands 21-16, 17-21, 15-9. Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen will play Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz in the other semifinal.
They played last week and both teams got at-large bids. In Hawai'i's win over BYU, Jake Langlois of BYU hit this as Hawai'i's Jennings Franciskovic hopes for the best/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Just as there were few surprises during the four Division I-II men’s tournaments, as expected, Ohio State and Long Beach State got byes into the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship semifinals.
The tournament begins Tuesday, May 2, in Columbus, Ohio.
Defending-champion Ohio State (30-2), which won the MIVA, is the top seed, while Long Beach (27-3), which won the MPSF is No. 2.
Penn State (21-10), which won the EIVA, and Conference Carolinas champion Barton (23-5) had the other two bids. The remaining two at-large berths went to MPSF teams, Hawai’i (26-5) and BYU (24-4).
And it was during the NCAA selection show that the format was announced. The NCAA waited until the field was set to not only decide where matches would be played, but when.
Long Beach’s Kyle Ensing, MVP of the MPSF, plays defense in the title match against Hawai’i on Saturday/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
The NCAA again will have its Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday format, all at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. BYU faces Barton at 6 p.m. Eastern with the winner getting Long Beach State, followed by Hawai’i facing Penn State and the winner playing Ohio State.
The way the NCAA seeded and formatted the tournament meant that no team had to go to Hawai’i, nor that it would have on-campus matchups, as early as Friday or Saturday of next week, all of which was considered.
The postseason has been remarkably predictable. In the four men’s leagues, there were just three matches in which lower-seeded teams, all in semifinals, won. No. 3 Grand Canyon beat No. 2 Lewis in the MIVA, No. 3 Hawai’i beat No. 2 BYU in the MPSF and third-seeded Mount Olive beat second-seeded King in the Conference Carolinas.
But in the league championship matches, all four No. 1 seeds won.
Barton sophomore Vasilis Mandilaris attacks against Erskine/Keith Tew photo
Top-seeded Barton had to go five to beat the No. 8 seed, but when Tuesday’s action was finished the Conference Carolinas followed the lead of the other four men’s Division I-II volleyball conferences.
In all four leagues, there were no quarterfinals upsets as the Nos. 1 through 4 seeds won. Now it’s on to the semifinals.
Also Tuesday, the machine that is the top-ranked USC beach volleyball team kept rolling as the Women of Troy trounced Stanford.
MIVA semifinals: The two matches are Wednesday as No. 1-seeded Ohio State (28-2,) plays host to No. 4 Ball State (19-9), while No. 2 Lewis (23-6) entertains No. 3 Grand Canyon (18-10).
Ohio State swept Ball State in both their regular-season meetings, while Lewis split in an early season, back-to-back trip to Grand Canyon. The Flyers won in five the first night and Grand Canyon won in five the next.
EIVA semifinals: No. 1 Penn State (19-10) plays host to No. 4 Princeton (12-13) on Thursday, preceded by No. 2 Saint Francis (15-14) against No. 3 Sacred Heart (15-10).
In the regular season, Penn State beat Princeton in five sets in both their matches. SFU beat Sacred Heart in four in both their matches.
MPSF semifinals: Top-seeded Long Beach State (25-3) is home in its Pyramid to No. 4 UC Irvine (20-6) after No. 2 BYU (24-3) plays No. 3 Hawai’i (25-4). In the regular season, Long Beach swept UCI in Irvine and then beat the Anteaters in four in Long Beach. BYU swept Hawai’i in both their meetings.
Conference Carolinas: Barton lived life on the edge with its season on the line, but ultimately the Bulldogs prevailed over Erskine 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 15-11.
The four remaining teams now move to Barton, in Wilson, N.C., for the semifinals on Friday. The winner of Saturday’s title match gets one of the six NCAA tournament spots.
Barton (21-5), which sent Erskine (4-12) into the offseason, will __play fourth-seeded Limestone (13-10), which ousted Belmont Abbey 25-21, 28-26, 25-20. Belmont Abbey’s season ended 9-17.
Second-seeded King (28-3) crushed North Greenville (8-19) 25-11, 25-10, 25-18 and will __play Mount Olive.
Third-seeded Mount Olive improved to 17-9 after beating Lees-McRae 25-19, 25-22, 25-17. LM ended its season 10-17.
Among the top CC performances Tuesday, Barton’s Angelo Mandilaris had 15 kills and hit .417, Vasilis Mandilaris had 15 kills and hit .440 and Aleksa Brkovic had 12 kills and hit .286. Daniel Fralix had 16 kills for Erskine and Isaac Lanier 14 … Limestone’s Bruno Kretzschmar and Anthony Savage had 12 kills each, while Julien Latard had six blocks …
King’s Jeff Sprayberry led with nine kills and was one of five players who had five or more … Mount Olive’s Robert Poole led his team with 11 kills. Four other teammates had six or more as their team hit .387.
Louisiana-Monroe senior Ana Ribeiro makes a diving save against New Orleans in ULM’s 5-0 victory Tuesday/Gregory Juan photo, www.dvbphotos.com
NCAA beach
USC sweeps Stanford: Visiting USC (26-0) beat Stanford (12-6) in the first meeting between the two schools.
It marked USC’s 11th sweep of the season and extended its winning streak to 56. USC welcomes CSU Bakersfield and Long Beach State for duals on Thursday and then will have Cal Poly and crosstown rival UCLA for two duals on Saturday. Thursday’s matches will be shown live on Pac-12 Los Angeles. Visit Pac-12.com/live to watch online with authentication.
Sophomore Abril Bustamante and freshman Joy Dennis beat Stanford’s Catherine Raquel and Shannon Richardson 21-12, 21-12 at the No. 4 position. Minutes later, the Trojans went up 2-0 as juniors Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer took down Kat Anderson and Courtney Bowen 21-17, 21-13 at No. 5.
The Trojans clinched when seniors Sophie Bukovec and Allie Wheeler put together a 21-16, 21-13 win over Payton Chang and Ivana Vanjak at No. 2. After having a 103-match winning streak snapped last weekend, seniors Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes got back on the winning track with a 21-14, 22-20 win over Jenna Gray and Kathryn Plummer at No. 1.
FIU tops FGCU: The winners improved to 21-12 with the sweep as they prepare for the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Beach Volleyball Championship that starts Friday in Emerson, Ga.
Among the FIU winners were Margherita Bianchin and Federica Frasca at No. 1 and Katie Friesen and Taija Thomas as No. 2.
Future sites: In case you missed it, the NCAA announced on Tuesday that the 2018 NCAA Women’s Division I Championship will be in Indianapolis. Pittsburgh is the site for 2019, it’s back in Omaha in 2020 back to Columbus in 2021. The 2017 NCAA gathering and associated AVCA convention is in Kansas City.
The NCAA also announced the next four National Collegiate men’s championships. In 2019 it goes to Long Beach, in 2020 it goes to Fairfax, Va., at George Mason, in 2021 the NCAA is back in Columbus, where it is next month, and in 2022 it’s at UCLA.
The 2017 World Series of Beach Volleyball is July 13-16 in Long Beach/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
The domestic professional beach volleyball world got a jolt on Friday when the National Volleyball League (NVL) announced that it is joining forces with former Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) CEO Leonard Armato and launching its tour at his World Series of Beach Volleyball tournament in Long Beach July 14-16.
The move represents a partnership that will see the NVL raise its season-long winnings purse from $300,000 to $450,000 total.
It also happens at a time when top players are trying to re-negotiate the players contract they have with the AVP.
Al-B Hanneman addresses the crowd at last year’s season-ending NVL banquet/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
“I wanted to work with Leonard to increase players benefits, opportunities, and prize money,” said NVL CEO and co-founder Albert “Al-B” Hannemann. “We have big plans this year and in 2018 and all players are welcome to __play in all of our events.”
The most recent AVP contract, which was put into effect when Donald Sun took over the tour in 2012 and lasted for four years, demands that players only compete in AVP events. A new contract is in place for 2017 and the players, who are independent contractors and don’t get benefits from the AVP, must get permission to __play in any other kind of beach volleyball event, especially the NVL. There is also a non-disclosure clause for everyone who signs it.
Last week, in a different issue, beach icon and superstar Kerri Walsh Jennings sued the AVP in Los Angeles Superior Court looking to recover $150,000 she said is owed to her as part of a three-year contract she signed with the AVP in February 2013 for the company to use her name, likeness and “other indicia” of her identity in exchange for $450,000.
The complaint stated that the AVP made two $50,000 payments to Walsh Jennings each in 2013, 2014 and 2015, but did not remit two $75,000 payments in 2016.
But when she talked to VolleyballMag.com, Walsh Jennings also alluded to the contract situation.
“With regard to the player contract, we are currently preparing to negotiate the terms,” she said. “As of now, the contract is un-signable, but I am hopeful the players can come to terms that result in a win-win for the tour, the athletes and for the future of the sport.”
When asked to comment further for this story, Walsh said, “I am not the spokesperson for the athletes and I don’t want people to make this an issue of me versus the AVP.
“That is not the case, yet it tends to get positioned that way. We (a solid group of athletes) are simply in the process of preparing to negotiate the player contract.
”I’m not at liberty to share specifics, but again, the intention is to come to the table ready to negotiate a great contract for all sides.”
Accordingly, last week there was a meeting of top pros who have asked other AVP players not to sign the contract until they meet with the AVP next week. There was another meeting scheduled Friday night at which more of the top men’s players were expected to attend.
One top women’s player said it was important to know that “It is not Kerri who is driving this train,” using the term “collective bargaining” and added that “Kerri is definitely an important piece in the matter.” It was added that counsel from outside of volleyball was brought in.
“I think it’s great that the players are coming together and figuring out how to have one voice so we can all communicate more and everyone thinks as a whole,” said one veteran men’s player, who requested anonymity. “I think the players have a certain power and deserve to have that voiced. We’re the product, but there’s a fine line and we can’t abuse it. We have to make sure we have players from both sides of the spectrum.”
Leonard Armato and the WSOBV are joining forces with the NVL for the 2017 season and beyond/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
It should be noted that Armato, who ran the AVP from 2002-09, is now representing Walsh Jennings. According to a Los Angeles Times story from when Armato left the AVP, “the tour has been mired in financial difficulties and has not turned a profit since 1998.”
“Our philosophy is not to work with one organization at the exclusion of another,” Armato said. “Our belief is that all organizations should work together towards mutual benefit. The rising tide makes all boats float higher.”
VolleyballMag.com asked the AVP and its CEO, Donald Sun, for a comment but had yet to get one as this story was posted.
The NVL 2016 event in Hermosa Beach/Ed Chan, VBshots.com.
The NVL had previously announced its schedule starting May 11-13 in Dallas, followed by a stop in San Antonio June 15-17. Hannemann said those events will still include developmental NVL Adult Rize tournaments to gain NVL pro points and that the other stops on the NVL schedule, August 10-12 in Hermosa Beach, August 25-26 in Virginia Beach and September 14-16 in Port St. Lucie are still on.
“We are working on more tournaments to extend season though the fall,” Hannemann said.
Hannemann said there is more coming to the new partnership.
“We’ll have more announcements to come soon,” he said. “This is all we can talk about right now.”
The AVP is set to open its season May 4-7 at Huntington Beach, the first eight stops of a tour that last year offered purses of $575,000 for the men and $575,000 for the women.
A major argument players have is in today’s beach-volleyball world is that there are not enough lucrative events to simply play on one tour and make a living.
“I haven’t seen the player agreement yet, in order to obtain it, I have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and once I sign that, I can’t discuss it with my fellow players, so that’s counter-productive,” said veteran beach pro Mark Burik, who earned $10,850 on the AVP and a total of $5,450 on the FIVB and Norceca combined in 2016. “What the players want is to be able to take advantage of volleyball opportunities.
“Last year there were seven AVP events. If you were, for example, the No. 10 team, you probably made around $7,000 for the season, and had to pass up numerous volleyball opportunities around the country.
“Is that worth a year of your volleyball life? I understand that having access to top players is important for the tour and sponsors, but as players, we want to be able to compete in as many tournaments as possible, and banning players like Brooke Niles and Travis Schoonover for life for playing NVL isn’t the solution.”
In their cases, Niles, married to beach star Nick Lucena and now the head coach of Florida State’s beach team, and Schoonover were banned for four years by the AVP for playing in an NVL event, Niles at the end of the 2012 season and Schoonover in 2013.
Niles is seven months pregnant with her second child and isn’t sure when she’ll play competitively again. Schoonover, who plans to play in the AVP event in Huntington Beach now that his ban is over, acknowledged that “there are a lot of players who are not happy.”
Travis Schoonover plans to compete at AVP Huntington Beach, following the expiration of his four year ban for competing in NVL events/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
“The whole purpose of the contract is so people won’t go play NVL,” said Schoonover, who played an NVL event in Las Vegas after playing the AVP in Manhattan Beach in 2013 and then was banned.
“I know the contract is an issue for the players,” said Sinjin Smith, one of the faces of the sport from the late 1970s into the 1990s. “The AVP needs some kind of players that they can sell the sport to sponsors, but to have a contract that prohibits the players doing anything outside the AVP is a mistake.”
The AVP this week announced its sponsors for 2017, and the list includes Boston Beer’s Truly, Kona Deep, Frontier Communications, Rox and Klenskin. The WSOBV has not announced its purse, but its sponsor list includes ASICS, Michelob Ultra, Otter-Pops, Barefoot wine, FIVB, iHeart radio, Dick’s Sporting Goods, TruMoo, Wescom, Frontier Communications. More are coming, the WSOBV said.
“I don’t like the idea of complete exclusivity,” Smith said. “I don’t think that’s the right thing in this day and age. With the amount of money the AVP is putting out there to the players, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Smith said when he played in the 1970s and ’80, prize money was guaranteed and “it was a completely different thing.
“There was enough money, so we didn’t want to do anything else. And there were enough events. This is a totally different situation.”
Not everyone agrees with the players, some of whom have already signed the AVP contract.
“This is just my opinion, but because this is a professional sport you are not owed a living. Why do you think Donald or anyone else owes you anything? It’s his property. If you want to be a part of it he should be able to demand some allegiance in return when there are people constantly trying to undermine what he’s doing,” said one person in the sport who asked for anonymity.
That person added, “You can make a living in this sport. You just have to be really good at it. It’s unfortunate that five people from each gender can make a living at this sport. No one’s stopping you from trying.”
That person decried the protesting players’ attitude, saying that “I’m put off by the arrogance and sense of entitlement of the beach players. I think it’s not a bad idea to consult your players, the people you employ, and do your best to make sure they’re happy, but what blows my mind is that people who are good at playing volleyball somehow equate in their minds that a) they know what’s best for the sport as a whole, and b) that they have any idea of how to run a business.”
That person was asked about the example of a player who is marginal and happens to qualify at an AVP event and then has to sign that exclusivity contract.
“That’s the only pertinent example of why a player wouldn’t want to sign that contract.”
Regardless, things are changing. Walsh Jennings and just a handful of others can make enough through earnings and endorsements to live off beach volleyball.
“It is time for all stakeholders in the sport of beach volleyball to work together to grow more opportunities for the athletes and provide more value for fans,” said former beach star Holly McPeak, not only Armato’s wife but also a TV commentator for the sport. “So any cooperative arrangement among tours or sanctioning organizations is positive.”
“There should be a new world order of looking at the sport,” said Armato, Shaquille O’Neal’s former player agent. “It should be an order based upon cooperation, collaboration, cross promotion and a collective desire to grow the sport. Put aside past differences, factions, all of that should be eliminated.”
*****
Friday the NVL and WSOBV had a new release that included the following:
“This is an exciting time for our sport,” said NVL CEO and Founder Albert “Al-B” Hannemann. “Partnering with WSOBV creates a tremendous opportunity for growth and gives us the ability to build more impactful events, develop new brand partnerships, increase prize money and create year round opportunities for players to make a living playing the sport they love.”
The NVL is a league built on a mission to create a sustainable future for pro beach volleyball in the U.S., and as part of that mission it will increase the size of prize purses for athletes in 2017, totaling $450,000. The strategic partnership with WSOBV will also help further NVL’s vision of creating additional high-profile opportunities for athletes. The two entities will work together on marketing partnerships, grassroots growth and other initiatives focused on increasing the sport’s footprint in the U.S.
“Volleyball is one of the fastest growing sports in America and its full potential has yet to be tapped,” said WSOBV CEO and Founder, Leonard Armato. “Our partnership with the NVL is based on a collective desire to create an atmosphere of cooperation, aggregation and high growth for the sport. We hope to increase collaboration among every key stakeholder in the volleyball world and create more value for those stakeholders, the fans, the volleyball community and the athletes we serve.”
Additional joint NVL and WSOBV events are currently in development and will be announced soon. For more information about NVL, click here. For more information about WSOBV, click here.
VBM’s Ed Chan and Mike Miazga did some of the interviews in this story.
