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From the Editor
As the month of August now approaches, we continue to push forward through the heat and humidity of Summer knowing that cooler days of Fall are not too far away. In fact, the first of our season-ending championships will occur in August with the Triangle Beach Jr Championships. For more info about this and other August events, check out the August Events preview.
Additionally, here's this month's other highlights. Click on any of the links to read more:
How can I set my partner's lousy pass? Learn a few tricks that can turn a difficult situation into a point-winning opportunity for you and your partner. Remember! USAV membership is required for all events. More details await in the Ask V column ATTENTION JUNIORS: The following articles are just for you!
vh1vball hopes everyone can make it out to one of the August events! In next month's issue we should hopefully be able to provide some status on budgeting requests for volleyball facility improvements in fiscal year 2007.
Mark Nalevanko - mark@vh1vball.com
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Before highlighting the August events, just a quick reminder that the July Jamboree Beach Open (Sign-up Now!) will be held on Sat, July 29th at Green Hope and North Cary Park. All formats will be offered (Men's, Women's and Co-ed Open, A, and B divisions) based on interest. Yes, Co-ed teams and Juniors are welcome to play! Men's, Women's, and Co-ed Open will be held at Green Hope with the remaining divisions at North Cary Park. Due to limited court space, we are tentatively capping the number of teams for each division as follows: 10 Men's Open, 5 Women's Open, 5 Co-ed Open, 10 Men's A, 5 Women's A, 5 Men's B or Co-ed A/B. This event will be followed by a Reverse-Coed Grass Tourney at Baileywick Park (Sign-up Now!) on Sun, July 30th.
August's events kick off with the Triangle Beach Jr Championships (Sign-up Now!) on Sat, August 5th at Green Hope. (Note: N. Cary Park will be an overflow site if needed.) The player in each division with the most total points accumulated across the previous two tournaments and this championship tourney will receive special 'Player of the Year' awards. In order for a division to offer these awards, it must be represented at a minimum of 2 out of the 3 juniors tournaments this year. With that said, the following divisions will offer 'Player of the Year' awards: U18 Girls, U16 Girls, U14 Girls, U14 Boys. The championships are an extra important tournament because we are offering double points to participants. For anyone interested in seeing the current point totals, check out the Juniors Point Standings. The points earned from the July tourney will be updated very shortly.
August will also feature a mix of all the other vh1vball events including another King and Queen Coed Grass Tourney (Sign-up Now!) on Aug 19th, Diggin' the Dog Days of Summer Beach Open (Sign-up Now!) on Aug 26th, and a Reverse Coed Grass Tourney (Sign-up Now!) on Aug 27th.
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 Area Teams to Compete in AAU Junior Olympics
North Carolina will for the first time have teams from multiple age groups competing at a national junior beach volleyball competition when 4 area teams travel to the AAU Junior Olympics Beach Volleyball Competition on July 31st-August 2nd at Virginia Beach. The following teams qualified for this tournament by placing first or second at select competitions on the East coast.
U18 Girls: Kaylie Gibson/Vanessa Dorismond
U16 Girls: Lindsay Lang/Adria Fecteau and Rachel Devon/Meagan Tatum
U14 Girls: Kristi Marks/Gillian McBrayer
vh1vball would like to congratulate these teams and wishes them the best of luck at the AAU JO! For more info about each of the players, check out the Junior Players' Profiles page.
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How can I set my partner's lousy passes?
In an ideal world we'd all have playing partners who always make a perfect pass...directly in front of them about 5 feet off the net with little spin on the ball. In that case all you'd have to do is go to the same spot at the net and set the ball directly up. Simple, right? OK, back to reality! For starters, a perfect pass for one person might not seem like the perfect pass for another. And if a perfect pass is agreed upon between you and your partner, how often does your partner actually do it? Rarely at best! So how do we deal with this constant problem of retrieving poor passes and turn it into an opportunity to actually win some points? Here are a few suggestions:
The Too Deep Pass
For whatever reason, maybe it was a deep serve that forced your partner back towards the endline or a serve in the middle that caused some confusion on who was going to receive, you find yourself nowhere near the net and not in an ideal setting position. In this case think of the letter "L" and push the pass towards the net and a few feet to one side. If your partner is thinking the same thing, then he/she will be ready to attack the set. The Sideline Pass
In this case, your partner has passed the ball towards their sideline forcing you to chase down the ball. In this case, the key is running through the ball parallel to the net so you can bump set the ball directly behind you.
The Spinning Pass
Many times you have to set a ball with lots of spin which is very difficult to do with the hands. So, when bump setting a ball at the net with lots of topspin angle your body in towards your side of the court more so to prevent the set ball from drifting too close to the net or even over. Conversely, for a ball with lots of underspin, push the ball towards the net. As the ball contacts your forearms, it will naturally want to roll away from the net.
For further explanation and pictures, check out Set the Bad Pass by Liz Masakayan.
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Q & A with Holly McPeak
vh1vball: What are some ways a team with a defensive specialist and a hitting specialist can maximize their strengths?
Holly: If both players are right handed, the shorter player needs to pass well but should play right if possible. The taller player can take more middle and pinch the other player over, in order to get more serves. Attacking on two is a great option and something that can frustrate the other team if you do it well. If the bigger girl is a lefty then the smaller girl can play on the left side but the truth is that you want the girl who is getting all the serves in the most comfortable position for her to side out. The big girl must also work on her setting. The better setter she is, the more options she will have for partners and everything else. Pro players Kerri Walsh and Elaine Youngs are both good big girls who can set and that is super important!
vh1vball: What do you think of the 'I' formation where the players line up one behind the other on serve receive?
Holly: The 'I' formation is not ideal. If someone is injured it works sometimes, but I don't really recommend it for lower level players. Sometimes girls who are struggling with their sideout will switch sides just to change things up and give their offense a new look. The truth is ball control is the name of the game and passing and setting well means everything!
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