Vegas Baby!

I just returned from 4 days in Las Vegas for the Gods and Goddesses of the Beach event. I was the alternate for day 1 of competition in case there were any injuries. Brooke and I finished the year tied for the ranking of 13th place. The top 12 go to the tournament, while number 13 is brought in to be the alternate. Misty May-Treanor pulled out of the tournament, leaving an extra spot in the main event. A similar situation occurred on the men's side. To determine which player would be in the main event and which would be the alternate, it came down to a coin flip. Brooke and Fred Souza won the coin flip, putting them in the main draw. Anthony Medel and I were the alternates. Being the alternate means that you must be at all the matches ready to play in the case that any player needs to pull out.

The tournament is a lot of fun. Players are put into pools where they play one match with each of the other players in their pool. At the end of the first day, the top 2 players from each pool advance into another pool. They play another round of matches with each player and from that, the top player advances to the Final.

Brooke did really well in her pool, winning 2 of her matches. However, she did not advance because her loss was in 2 games as opposed to the other girls' losses coming in 3 games. But, she was the top player to not advance (meaning she had the best record) so she became the alternate for day 2 of competition.

Kerri Walsh and Elaine Youngs came out of their respective pools advancing to the Finals. Kerri chose to play with April Ross, while EY chose Jenny Jordan. It was an exciting 3 game match which EY and Jenny won. EY has won many tournaments, but this was her first Goddess of the Beach title.

John Hyden and Phil Dalhauser advanced from the men's side. Phil chose Sean Rosenthal while John chose Mike Lambert for another really exciting 3 game match. John and Mike won making it John's 2nd ever beach victory and first time God of the Beach title.

The crowds were great for the competition. The energy at the Finals was really exciting. Geeter was amazing on the mic, as always. It was a really great event marking the near end of another fantastic year.

We leave on Thursday for San Francisco for the last event. Then it is officially the off season.

More later. Thanks for reading.

Angie