A Shifting in the Sand? 4-Man Comes to Fore
A lot of things could have gone wrong at the four-man beach volleyball league’s opening day.
Bad weather, small crowds, confused players, confused but enthused spectators, two-man fans who don’t appreciate seeing two extra players on each team, or worst of all, a lot of boring, lopsided matches.
Fortunately for the American Beach Volleyball League, none of the above transpired. In fact, Saturday’s debut of the ABVL at Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach came off with barely a hitch.
Mother Nature cooperated--the sun was out and temperatures were in the upper 60s. Close to 2,000 people came out for curiosity’s sake, sun and scenery.
Players seemed to adapt to the new concept quickly, which made most of the matches competitive--five of the seven games were decided by four points or less.
And most of the fans, many who had never seen four-man played, were receptive to the new format.
“I like the two-man and the four-man,” said Kierstin Stafford of San Diego. “There seems to be more hustle in two-man, but the points are longer with the four-man. And there’s just as many good players out here.”
But there were also some skeptics. San Diego’s Kristin Harkins doubted whether the talent level will ever be equal to two-man.
“You’re not going to get the top people, because they are always going to be playing two-man,” she said. “Why would the two-man players go to something that’s not as big?”
But Steve Rottman, who plays for Team Laguna and is the ABVL’s chairman, has higher expectations--especially after Saturday.
“This has been a three-year dream of mine,” he said. “We’re really excited. The reason we came down (to San Diego) first is because we were guaranteed a big crowd. They know volleyball here. I really think we’ve got something here.”
Rottman could say the same for his team, Team Laguna, which appears to have established itself as the early favorite. Team Laguna finished the day 3-0 and nearly clinched a spot in today’s finals.
“We have the two ingredients that you need,” he said. “Two good passers (Rottman and Jim Nichols) and two good solid blockers (Craig Buck and Troy Tanner).”
Every team had the first day kinks to be ironed out. There problems in communicating, passing and blocking assignments. Many teams did not even have time to practice a game they had barely played. Some players were competing in the Italian pro league and did not arrive in the United States until three days ago.
Maybe that’s why Team Laguna had the early edge. They practiced together Wednesday and were easily the most cohesive team out of the five.
“Physically, all the teams are pretty equal,” Tanner said. “But some teams are going to play better together. By the time of the third week, I think all the teams are going to feel a lot more comfortable.”
Although Tanner is just three weeks removed from the Italian indoor league, you couldn’t tell it by his play. He looked as if he was playing on a trampoline instead of sand. During Team Luguna’s 15-6 victory over Team Spikeline, Tanner treated Bob Ctvrtlik, the 1985 NCAA player of the year, as if he wasn’t even there.
“I’ve been trying to get ready for this,” said Tanner, a member of 1988 U.S. Olympic team. “Bob just got back from Italy. I don’t think he has his legs yet. He’ll get better. The transition from wood to the sand is huge.”
Doug Partie, captain of Team Speedo, said his team is still getting acquainted.
“This is the first time we’ve even seen each other in more than year,” said Partie, whose team went 1-2. “The key out here is to know what the other player is doing. After a while, it becomes intuitive, but we’re a long way from being there.”
Yet most teams were closer to being there than Partie expected.
“The quality of play is pretty good, considering,” he said. “I guess we’ve all played the game long enough that we’ve been able to adjust fairly well.”
Volleyball Notes
Three round-robin games will be played this morning. The top team will get a bye into the finals, which begin at approximately 2 p.m. The second and third-place teams will meet in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Team Club, coached by Jeff Stork, is in second place at 2-1. Speedo is 1-2, I-Dig is 1-1 and Spike-Line is 0-3.