This past weekend, the gentlemen of UC Slam Diego participated in the first annual SCCVL preseason tournament at Wave Volleyball Club in sunny San Diego. For this tournament your esteemed men’s volleyball players were split up into two evenly matched (and equally handsome) teams. Both A and B teams finished top two in their pools despite some early setbacks. Ryan Schickling fell victim to a bout of back pain which left Carlos “human torch” Rivera, and Sean “sleeping beauty” Auten to carry the load at outside for the A team. Connor “Cam Kavoosi version 2” Otto tipped some home at middle and the A team scraped out a 1st place finish in their pool with every match going to 3 games.

The B team defeated their first two opponents in their pool with Chris “Lake” Shaffer and Jackson “rocking the undershirt” Mcdonough at outside. Luke “libero” Byrnes made some great saves and Anders “just a quick detour” Johnson and Blake “definitely not playing middle this year” Cornell blocked balls, but the Tritons fell to U of A in their last match. This meant that the B team finished 2nd and would play against their brothers in arms UCSD A in the first round of playoffs!

Before a rowdy crowd consisting of the women of UCSD club volleyball and assorted parents/other players, the gentlemen of UC Slam Diego battled back in forth in an epic match. Nic “mutton chops” Maroun battled against his brother Jon “shows up in a suit” Maroun who came in to set, letting Max “Kappa Kappa Gamma“ Luck hit for a bit. UCSD A took the match in 3 thanks to some bounces from Tim “the only one who lifts” Green. UCSD A went on to beat UVU in 3 in the semis, but eventually fell to U of A in the finals.

Needless to say a 2nd place finish is a respectable outcome for the gentlemen of UC Slam Diego and the season can only get better once we combine our squads. Here’s to a great year!