Gig Harbor Sand Volleyball: 2012

The WA State Senior Games champion Harbor Heuvels traveled to St. George, Utah for the annual World Senior Games indoor 6-man tournament with the intent of improving upon their bronze medal finish in 2010. Well, the field was much stronger this year, and the team is 2 years older, so it could manage only a 9th place finish (3rd place in silver division). Some (like George) may argue that his absence was the prime reason for the large drop in finish placement, but we all know better. This year the team added setter Bob Hanson who last played with Gregg back in their prime years (which we figured was 22 years ago) and strong-side hitter Larry Lawler, who last played with Loren, JohnV and George around about the same time before moving to Colorado in 1990. Both were excellent additions to seasoned Huntsman veterans Blake, Gregg, Jeff, Jerry, John, and Loren.

Entering the tournament as 6th seeds, the team drew a tough pool schedule playing the 2nd and 3rd seeds in their first 2 matches before they had a chance to gel, but it eventually recovered and slammed the pool's 3rd place team 2-0 in a hard-fought battle. A 9-5 pool record put the Heuvels as 1st seed in the silver bracket, missing the gold bracket by only a couple crucial points against eventual bronze division finishers (and Larry's buddies) Colorado.

In the silver bracket, the team fell 2 sets to 1 twice to the Minnesota Masters, both times in games marred by questionable referee decisions, but that's what happens sometimes when you play down to the level of your opponent. Final record for the tournament was 17-9.

Thanks to Gregg's dad, who joined us for 2 days in the St. George sunshine, some pictures follow for your viewing pleasure. Here the team waits between sets trying to ignore a Minnesota Master.

Jeff's solid middle blocking shut down other teams' best blockers and enabled back-row defenders to dig up those hits that found their way around him. The new protocol for USAV (and now Huntsman) tournaments is a pre-game wave to a non-existent crowd. Jeff was the only one choosing to bask in the contrived glory.

Jerry played some of his best ball with consistently good passing and defense and an occasional kill when we needed it most

Here Larry prepares for a weakside launch and slam after a nice pass from Loren.

Loren passing to Bob almost always resulted in an excellent set for the waiting front-row hitters.

Sometimes the ball was a blur after Blake hit it. Sometimes it was his arm and sometimes his whole body.

Gregg enjoyed the 6-2 offense this year, as he shared setting duties with Bob, which allowed him to contribute as a weak-side hitter.

JohnV's middle hits were too quick for Chuck's camera, but his blocking shut down several of the stronger hitting teams. If you can find the ball in this photo, then you'll see John could do nothing to save Gregg from being tooled over the top, so that did not change.

During the team's first loss to the Minnesota Masters, their setter was way too effective with his jump-dumps into the middle, so Blake and JohnV were dispatched to remedy the matter. That's a grimace, not a smile.

Another great showing by Gig Harbor players at the largest sand volleyball tournament in the world. Lissa, Slade/Michael "Gritty" Miller, George/Ben, Chris/JohnV, Gregg/Dave, and some-timers Cy, Wes, Martin, Curtis/daughter)and Kim all played doubles on Fri/Sat. Good finishes known at the time of this posting included Lissa/Becca placing 3rd in women's B and Dave/Gregg also finishing 3rd in men's 45+.

Here's Dave showing BC Mike what a Gig Harbor block looks like. Mike and Alex were a couple nice guys and excellent players from Vancouver who won the 50+ sand doubles tournament last year at the Huntsman World Senior Games.

On Sunday Ben/Gregg/JohnV/Geo/Dave and Mark "M-Rod" Roddy won the men's 4's.