Beach volleyball hits sands of Rehoboth
The Mid-Atlantic Volleyball organization hosted another successful beach tournament Sept. 16-17 in Rehoboth Beach.
In the top women’s level of AAA doubles, Jessica Wang and Susan Schwartz claimed the title. In playoffs for women’s doubles A division, the team of Sandy Chou and Krista Hiller defeated Alayna Shrodes and Zoe Valen in the finals.
In men’s AAA doubles, the finals comprised two teams from the same pool, with Lucas Frassrand and Devin Decker defeating Ryan Love and James Moyer. To get to the finals, Frassrand and Decker needed to defeat the formidable duo of Cam Rodrigues and Dalton Bunde. For that semifinal match, the games were close, but Frassrand and Decker prevailed and moved on to the finals. In the finals of men’s AAA doubles, Frassrand and Decker prevailed due to the elite blocking of Frassrand and the versatility of Decker.
In the highly competitive men’s doubles A division, the local team of Shaun Quigley and Kim Christman lived up to their “nothing drops” reputation by adeptly tracking down and skillfully handling the variety of shots that came at them. While the team of Matthew Shetler and Joseph VanNoy was undefeated in pool play, the second-place men’s A team of Matthew Duty and Mark Williams avenged their only loss to Shetler and VanNoy by defeating them in the finals.
In other Saturday action, Rehoboth lifeguards Patrick Williamson and Sam Donnelly won their division during doubles competition. They defeated Mike and Calen Rosen in the finals.
In Sunday coed competitions, Elaina Millaway continued her beach dominance with a win in AAA coed doubles along with partner and coach Cam Rodriguez. In the finals, they faced Christine Schlegermilch and Dalton Bunde, whose only loss in pool play was against Millaway and Rodriguez. The first two games of the best-of-three finals were split, but Millaway and Rodriguez prevailed in the final decisive game to take the title. Millaway praised her partner and coach, crediting him for her continued growth in the sport over the years.
In the popular Sunday coed doubles A division, the level of play was exceptional. First-place teams from each pool were Derek Goode and Sandy Chou from Pool 1, Katie VanNoy and Joseph VanNoy from Pool 2 and Sean Goodard and Kate Ferster from Pool 3. However, none of these teams prevailed in the playoffs. That honor went to the dark-horse team of Matthew Shetler and Madeline Taylor. As second-place finishers in Pool 1, Shetler and Taylor faced Pool 2’s top finishers Katie and Joseph VanNoy, and squeaked out an overtime victory. In the semifinals, they faced Goddard and Ferster, and prevailed 25-22, then went on to win convincingly in the finals against Jim Riekse and Danielle Rie.
More results can be found at mavolleyball.bracketpal.com.
