Kid holds his own among legends of the game

Editor’s note: Dillan Bennett, an 18-year-old AA-rated beach volleyball player, has been playing the sport at East Beach since the age of 12. A graduate of Dos Pueblos High and a student at City College, Bennett was given the opportunity to play in the Legends Exhibition game, which was part of the Henry Bergmann Court dedication at East Beach on Saturday. Bennett played with former AVP player and Santa Barbara High star John Hanley against the legendary team of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos, who together won more than 100 tournaments. This is an excerpt of his first-person account of the match.

I have just experienced the best day of my life.

The Legends game was planned to be Randy Stoklos and Sinjin Smith, the two greatest beach volleyball players of the ’80s, against Brant Lee and John Hanley, also a great player from the same era. Earlier in the week, I was told that I was the fill-in in case anybody had to drop out of the exhibition match at East Beach.

Now is when the nerves kick in. Mind you, this conversation takes place at 11am. The event doesn’t start until 4:30pm. The butterflies in my stomach are swirling faster than they have ever flown in my life. At noon, I tried to put some lunch in my stomach, but that couldn’t even slow those butterflies down. It was like the Indianapolis 500 in there!

The day couldn’t have gone any faster from lunch up to the event. Next thing I knew, the opening ceremony was beginning. The first fifteen minutes was spent commemorating Henry Bergmann and many guest speakers came up to give their input on the event and what it meant to them. My favorite part was when Larry Rundle, one of Henry’s partners back in the day came up and started delivering some priceless stories about Henry and how they met. It was awesome for somebody who appreciates the history of the game as I do.

Then it was time to introduce the Legends and the fill-in. As we began to warm up, Mark Jacobs began introducing every player by listing their accolades and what they were (and still are) most known for. I remember hearing one for Sinjin, Randy, and John, but I only remember hearing my name and then that was it: no accolades or accomplishments for me. That put into perspective how great these three players I was about to play with truly are.

Before I begin writing my perspective of how the match was from a player’s point of view, there are a few small details you must know.

First, John Hanley had just finished playing in the Masters Tournament when we were getting ready to start playing. I believe he played four games in pool and one in the playoffs. Most people are ready for a beer and the drive back home after losing a tournament, but John was a trooper and stuck around for the Legends Match.

Secondly, Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos are unbelievable players. According to several reports, the only volleyball they have played was the six-man tournament in Manhattan Beach, CA. For only playing twice in two years, these guys are in phenomenal playing shape.

Finally, to keep with the tradition of the Henry Bergmann Court, we would play sideout scoring to 15 points. For those of you who have played this way, you know how much more time and energy this takes to compete in this format.

Okay, back to the story.

John and I sided out consistently with them the first couple of plays.

Then Smith and Stoklos go on a three-point run, which is fairly significant in this scoring style. We sideout and after a couple good plays, we end up switching sides at 2-3 in their favor.

This next part is why I appreciate these players and this style of volleyball. For the better part of ten minutes, we are deadlocked at 5-5. Long rallies, hard hits, and great digs keep the crowd fired up under the gloomy skies. Next, Sinjin comes up with two really good service aces off John that would have been right on the back line had he not played them. 7-5 Smith/Stoklos.

In my head, all I was thinking was, “Please don’t embarrass yourself in front of all these people.” I knew, historically speaking, this was about the time in a match where Smith/Stoklos would shift into another gear and wipe their opponents off the winners bracket with a big scoring run.

Luckily, John and I strung some good plays together and tied the game at 7-7. With a great Kong block by John on Randy (who patented the one-handed King-Kong style of blocking), we switched sides at 8-7.

The battle continued on. Sideouts were traded back and forth. Sinjin and Randy realized that they weren’t playing in just another exhibition. They would have to work to take John and I down.

The next big run of points took place when Sinjin again put us in passing trouble and took an 11-8 lead. Again we were up against a point-scoring barrage from these two great players who know how to win.

Despite what seemed to be the final few minutes of the match, John and I found our second wind. For the next fifteen minutes, both teams fought hard for point-scoring opportunities. Finally, John and I made a key defensive conversion for the 9-11 side switch.

The very next play, John pulls out a good serve that puts Sinjin in trouble, producing a tight set from Randy that resulted in my first block of the match.

10-11. A little comeback…

So much for that little ray of hope.

This only irritated these guys and they cranked it up another notch. Three straight points brought their lead to 13-10. In today’s game, this is a tough lead to come back from with points scored on every play. But  we were playing the old school game and there was still plenty of time left.

After several more sideouts, John again came up with a couple big serves that sent us to a side switch at 12-13.

Little did we know, that was the end of our great run. The greatness of Sinjin and Randy took over as they quickly got to game point after an awesome dig and put away by Sinjin. We would battle for a few sideouts, but a hitting error by me cost us a big opportunity to get to 13 and bring the game that much closer.

From what I remember, game point was a decent rally that ended with me looping the ball right to Sinjin. He shot it back over on one and I chased, got a great set from John, and Sinjin dug it over the net again; this time for the match. Final score 15-12 in favor of Randy and Sinjin.

After the match, I was able to take several photos with the legends, including the first “Mr. Volleyball” Gene Selznick and Laszlo Kiraly, the father of volleyball great Karch Kiraly. I also got the autographs of the guys I played with, including the Fila jersey Randy wore during the game.

Wow! What a day. So much great volleyball!

For those of you who missed the ceremony and the match that followed, please visit www.youtube.com/insande to see the full ceremony and most of the Legends Game.