Sunday’s California Beach Volleyball Association 50+ Masters tournament at East Beach brought back old memories and reignited rivalries from the prime playing days of former high-level players. The tournament was brought back to the CBVA schedule for the first time in many years by the request of tournament director Eric Arneson. In its first year back, the tournament fielded five teams, including three from Santa Barbara.
Dave DeGroot, the starting setter on UCSB’s 1974 team that lost in the NCAA Finals, participated with partner and former Gaucho basketball player Jeff Lipscomb finishing third after pool play. Santa Barbaran Greg Soulages played with Eric Anderson of Santa Cruz and finished in third place.
Representing his “Nooner” compatriots, Duke Howard received a call at 8:30am Saturday morning from his soon-to-be partner John Reno St. James of Santa Cruz requesting his services. Without any practice and having never played with each other, the duo finished in fifth place.
Brant Lee, most known for his officiating on the AVP Tour, proved that he could play as he and partner Dan Salyer of San Luis Obispo made it to the finals after finishing second in their pool. They played Don Hudson of Phoenix, AZ and Greg Runcie of Hermosa Beach in the final match played by the “Old School” rules: one game to 15 with sideout scoring. The match finished nearly an hour after the first serve with a 15-8 win for Hudson-Runcie.
The CBVA will continue to host youth tournaments for the remainder of the summer starting July 21st.
