Mon, 20 Apr 2009
WOMEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL: USC Storms the BeachPosted at 10:00:00 AMBy Roy M. Wallack
On Saturday, April 18, in downtown Riverside, Calif., a very tall young girl stood next to a very tall older man in line at the entrance of an event. “You must be father and daughter,” said an onlooker.
“No—don’t know each other,” replied the man. “Remember—there’s gonna be a lot of tall people here today.”
True. The Alt Games Fourth Annual College Beach Volleyball Championships, held in conjunction with an AVP Tour stop, was swarming with tall women. Eight college teams composed of four 2-person teams (Flights A, B, C, and D) had each come to battle it out for individual and overall team titles.
Nebraska and Texas, rated #3 and #4 in the six-man indoor game rankings, had a score to settle. “We tied for first at the Big 12 Conference Championships, so this IS the Championship,” said Nebraska assistant coach Lizzy Stemke. Unfortunately, she momentarily forgot about three letters that would come back to haunt her: USC.
Texas won this event in 2008, beating Nebraska in the semis and USC in the finals, and its 2009 Flight A team was formidable. Six-foot-3 junior Ashley Engle and six-foot-5 senior Lauren Paolini, a national team member, won all its three early round-robin games, setting up a semifinal clash in the championship bracket with its Cornhusker rivals. It didn’t disappoint.
In a classic back-and-forth that had the crowd roaring, six-footer Sydney Anderson, a junior, and Tara Moeller, a sophomore, took the Texas towers to the limit, 15-13, 20-22, and 15-13. Exhausted, they celebrated just long enough to catch their breath and face what some AVP insiders were calling “the hands-on favorite,” the USC Trojans.
That’s because of Alex Jupiter, a 6-foot-3 freshman phenom who played in the AVP at age 16, and Jessica Gysin, a spectacular 6-foot-1 senior. The game is literally in their genes, as both are daughters of professional volleyball players. Gysin, the USC team captain, was named second team All-American by Volleyball magazine. The celebrated Jupiter was one named to the Pac-10 all-freshman team.
After a low-key, semi-final sweep of the University of San Diego’s Andrea Csaszi and Colleen Carlson, 15-6, 15-11, USC met a Nebraska team that had been pushed to the edge by Texas. The result was close: 15-13, 15-13.
That win, combined with the Flight B finals victory of teammates Zoe Garrett and Geena Urango over Texas' Kiley Hall and Heather Kisner (12-15, 15-12, 15-10), gave USC the overall team title. Nebraska came in second overall and won the Flight C and D championships behind the teams of Kayla Banwarth and Brooke Delano, and Brigette Root and Megan Pendergast, respectively. Texas was third and San Diego fourth, followed by Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah, and UC-Riverside.
The Alt Games Fourth Annual College Beach Volleyball Championships
Riverside, Calif.
April 18, 2009
TWO-PERSON TEAMS
Flight A
USC: Jessica Gysin & Alex Jupiter
Nebraska: Sydney Anderson & Tara Mueller (Nebraska),
Flight B
USC: Zoe Garrett & Geena Urango
Texas: Kiley Hall & Heather Kisner
Flight C
Nebraska: Brooke Delano & Kayla Banwarth (Nebraska)
USC: Kimmee Roleder & Alli Hillgren & Kati Cattaneo
Flight D
Nebraska: Megan Pendergast & Brigette Root
Texas: Michelle Kocher & Sydney Yogi & Jen Doris
OVERALL TEAM:
1. Southern Cal, 37
2. Nebraska, 34
3. Texas, 32
4. San Diego, 23
5. Hawaii, 23
6. North Carolina, 14
7. Utah, 10
8. UC-Riverside, 7 |
