Mike Nelson and Jared Starling compete in Huntington Beach AVP Qualifier

Mike Nelson (pictured at right at the Qualifier) has enjoyed great success so far this year at Wasatch Beach, winning all of the Men's Open events held to date. Last week, Mike partnered with Jared Starling to compete in the AVP Qualifier in Huntington Beach. I asked Mike to share his thoughts about their experience.

My interest in playing in an AVP Qualifier increased during the last couple of years as I observed the success that other Utah players were having on the AVP Tour. After solving some logistical challenges, Jared Starling (pictured below at the Qualifier) and I decided to play in the Huntington Beach Qualifier on Thursday, May 21, 2009.

We traveled to Southern California on Tuesday to make sure that we were able to play a few games before the qualifier. We played at Huntington Beach on Tuesday evening against a team that was also competing in the qualifier. The wind was ridiculously strong, so we all received a crash course in wind volleyball. Although the conditions were rough, it was fun to get out, hit a few balls, and hang out with our families on the beach. It was also fun because Jake Gibb, who was at the beach watching his wife play, came down and gave us a few pointers.

On the day of the qualifier, we arrived at the beach at 7:00 am to register and warm up for our match, which started promptly at 8:00 am. Our court was located right next to the tournament bracket and registration booth, so we quickly had a large crowd surrounding the court, including a number of Utah fans and players.

We were matched against Esteban Escobar and Sean Mackin. We got out to a quick lead in game 1 with some ace serves and defensive plays. We won game one 21-9. Game two was more of a battle. Esteban and Sean came out strong and made some great defensive plays, which proved to be the difference. We lost game two 18-21. In game 3 they made some great defensive plays once again and we were not able to get enough “real” points to make up the difference. We lost game three 12-15. Although we didn’t do as well as we had hoped, Jared and I had a lot of fun playing in the qualifier and competing against players who we had not played against before.

The remainder of the qualifier and main draw was also a lot of fun to experience. We watched a number of matches in which former Utah open players competed, including Jake Gibb, Casey Patterson, Ed Lunnon, Daniel Dalanhese, and Brian Stewart. We saw several of Jake Gibb’s matches over the course of the weekend and watched Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers play against Ty Loomis and Casey Patterson (former Utah open player) on center court in the winner’s semifinal match.

The environment around the entire event was electric. Even some of my family members who were there commented on how they had never experienced such an engaging atmosphere.

Overall, I'm really glad we decided to go down to Huntington Beach and I look forward to playing in many more AVP events.

Congrats to Jared and Mike on their play in the Qualifier - nicely done guys. Thanks to Mike, Men's Player Representative at Wasatch Beach, for the post, including the update on other Utah AVP players.