Over the weekend of the twelfth and thirteenth of November, the gentlemen of UC Slam Diego fielded two teams for the annual SDSU Pre-Season Tournament. The squad that travelled to UCLA along with a couple of people that couldn’t make it comprised of one team, with the remainder of players making the other. For purposes of the tournament, they were the A and the B team, however at this point those boundaries have not been officially set for our team.

The B team was comprised of 9 dashing volleyball players, 3 of which were returners, all of which were stoked to play some volleyball. Unfortunately for this fresh squad (fresh because for many of them it was their first tournament (but also because they looked fresh)), they were matched up against some veteran teams. On the first day, the gentleman faced the runner-up of the UCLA tournament, ASU as well as Long Beach and USD. The second day, the Tritons tragically lost in the first round to UNLV. Despite taking a lot of Ls, the squad kept their heads high. With each passing game, they had improved and grown as players. They knew that this was just the beginning of a long journey to greatness.

The A team consisted of 12, mostly handsome, others brutally handsome, athletes with an insatiable appetite for volleyball. Only 5 of these players were returners. On the first day, this band of merry men went up against SDSU-B, SDCC, and Arizona-B. All fell before the might of the Tritons in two sets. A perfect day for UC Slam Diego A.

The second day began with a crossover match for the A team against the Extecs. This team was comprised of some current SDSU athletes that used to play for the club team, an alumni of the university, and then some random players including a grown man that attended my high school a few years ahead of me (I am old). Unfortunately, the Tritons fell in three games, receiving a low seed for the gold bracket that was to follow. This pitted the Slam Diegans against CSU Fullerton, a very friendly team that we always enjoy playing. Despite our fondness of the Titans, we held nothing back in our match against them and won handily in two games. With this victory, the Tritons advanced to the quarterfinals as the lowest-seeded team in the bracket, matched up with the highest-seeded team, OCC. A long and grueling match ensured, resulting in the gentlemen of UC Slam Diego’s defeat in three games.

Although the overall record for the A team was 4-2, the A team was undefeated against club teams and OCC went on to win the tournament. Following similar logic that was used for the UCLA tournament, we only got knocked out of contention for first by the team that got first, so basically we got second. Thusly, UC Slam Diego went undefeated and is sitting as the number one team to beat in the club volleyball sphere.