Collegiate Nationals Gives Sneak Preview of Next-Generation Female Pros

By Lara Boyko

"If you build it, he will come."

- The "Voice" in Field of Dreams

This quote was immortalized in the baseball book and 1989 movie that starred Kevin Costner, but on Sunday, April 22, during the 2007 Powerade Collegiate Volleyball Nationals, College Sports Television (CSTV) successfully changed this statement to “If you build it, she will come” and applied it to the world of women’s college beach volleyball.

CSTV, a subsidiary of CBS Sports, transformed San Diego's Crown Point Park, a favorite local park and beach with a fabulous view of the downtown skyline into a beach volleyball ‘field of dreams’ for college-level players with professional beach volleyball aspirations.

“I was ecstatic when I heard about the event,” said Jaimarie Sutherland, a sophomore from the University of San Diego who earned her AAA beach volleyball rating last year. “It was the highlight of my day and started preparing for it right away. I didn’t care that I would miss an indoor tournament for this because beach volleyball is my passion.”

This year’s inclusion of women’s beach volleyball is a follow up to the successful debut of the event at the 2006 Collegiate Nationals in Reno, Nev. Along with the change in location from Reno to San Diego, there was also a new format for the competition.

Unlike last year’s participants, who were all graduating student-athletes and part of a reality TV show that followed the players through a training camp, this year’s eight teams consisted of current undergraduate teammates who were selected from the top women’s volleyball schools. The teams and players included: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Kylie Atherstone and Chelsea Hayes); Florida (Marcie Hampton and Angie McGinnis); Minnesota (Jessy Jones and Rachel Hartmann; Nebraska (Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan); Penn State (Nicole Fawcett and Roberta Holehouse); University of San Diego (Andrea Csaszi and Jaimarie Sutherland); Stanford (Cynthia Barboza and Bryn Kehoe); and Texas (Ashley Engle and Alyson Jennings).

Assisting CSTV in the player selection was new partner the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

“It’s just the next step in the natural evolution of this thing,” said Tim Perenetti, executive vice president of content for CSTV. “We were looking raise the level of competition by bringing in student-athletes who compete with each other all year long and have the relationship coming in instead of trying to establish relationships in 24 hours and then compete together. I think there is some value of having two players from the same team come in together, wear their school colors and representing their schools that would draw some more interest in it from the casual college sports fan.”

Along with the change in how the teams were paired up, unlike last year where the winner of the Collegiate Nationals event advanced with an automatic bid to the Hermosa Beach Open on the AVP tour, the members of this year’s championship team were presented with trophies and bragging rights for a year.

No matter what the format for this year, the student-athletes selected to participate in this year’s event were excited about the opportunity to come to San Diego for the event.

“I found out about the event when there was snow on the ground so the thought of going to the beach sounded pretty good no matter what we were doing,” said Roberta Holehouse, a sophomore from Penn State who led her team with 3.86 digs per game in 2006.

While the teams in this year’s Collegiate Nationals represented all of the different regions of the country, there was also a diverse background of beach playing experience among the players.

"My beach volleyball playing experience is right here,” explained Marcie Hampton a junior from Florida who was a 2006 AVCA All-South region honorable mention who had never played beach volleyball until this event. “I’ve never really played, but we practiced maybe four times before playing out here.”

With many of the players lacking beach volleyball experience, a huge learning curve was experienced during the pool play schedule in the morning that was followed by an afternoon schedule of a single-elimination semifinal and final match.

“We can both jump and the sand only decreases your vertical jump by a little bit, but the biggest challenge was passing,” said Jessy Jones, a junior from Minnesota who is a two time All-Big 10 honorable mention. “Reading shots was also different because there is so much court to cover.”

No matter what challenge was the toughest for each player to overcome, the beach volleyball portion - which was officiated by AVP referees, used AVP nets and was set up like a miniature AVP event - provided a unique opportunity for players to get a taste of a possible future.

“Oh yeah, I want to play on the AVP tour,” quickly answered Ashley Engle, a freshman from Texas who was a 2006 AVCA second team All-American. “It’s so hard to get in there, but I feel if I train hard enough and want it bad enough, I can make it.”

This day-long event started out on a whimper as teams played game after game under overcast skies and no wind. Yet after a few hours, the sun broke through, the wind picked up and it ended up being one of the non-California teams that took this year’s title. Juniors Sarah Pavan and Jordan Larson from the 2006 NCAA National Championship team Nebraska ended the day with a bang as they proved for the second time this school year that they were National Champions both on an indoor and outdoor court over Stanford.

“Playing five matches in a day in the sun with the heat is very tough, said Pavan, who was the 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year. “The more you play on the beach, the better you became so as the day wore on we started to feel more comfortable out here.”

The Powerade College Beach Volleyball can be found on television this month. Visit the web site for details, dates and times.

Lara is a freelance volleyball writer based out of Palos Verdes.

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