AVP in VA Beach

The AVP held a tournament in VA Beach this past weekend, June 18-20. Being the avid sports fanatic that I am (and amazing volleyball player, at that) I jumped at the chance to go when suggested by a friend.

Gina even drove down from Baltimore for a mini-reunion! We concocted this crazy scheme to leave our respective locations around 4 a.m. in an effort to make it to VAB by 8:30 a.m. to watch the qualifying matches. Boy were we ambitious! I knew that this feat would be easily accomplished, but I also knew that I would be egg sauce ted come Sunday eve when I had to drive back home. But we accomplished our mission! We had a slight issue with check-in being so late in the afternoon, but we definitely found plenty to do to fill the time. We rode our bikes about 20 blocks away to watch some matches, rode back to lounge by the pool, rode back to watch more matches and nap in the players tent, and again rode back to the hotel to check in. Let me just tell you - a shower has never felt so amazing!

By the time we checked in and freshened up, the rest of my crew from Wilmington had made it into town. We met them at Murphy's Irish Pub where we indulged in some delish food and adult beverages. I'm not sure if it was because we hadn't really eaten all day or if the food was genuinely good, but we couldn't eat fast enough! Most of us had fish and chips while the other few had steak sammiches. The music was a little loud on the outside deck where we were sitting, and we had to ask twice to turn it down, but other than that the ambiance was great!

After dinner, Rachael and I decided to meet up with some of her friends from the DC Metro area. We met them at the bar inside of Mahi Mah's for a couple of cervesas (seriously.... they were Coronas). My friend Chris from Raleigh and his friend Matt (also our roommates for the weekend) met up with us there a little later to retrieve the room key and bask in our awesomeness. It was then that I discovered that Matt recently graduated from Duke Law School. Needless to say, the conversation turned to my hatred for that university... and his equal hatred for Maryland. I love making new friends!

Gina and I were in bed around 1:30 a.m. in anticipation of waking up early for Saturday's matches. While wandering around the sponsors tents that Saturday, we were upgraded to the Malibu Rum VIP Suite for the rest of the weekend!! Not only did we obtain a pretty sweet neon yellow wristband, but we got free Malibu swag and our own bartender! Between her friends and mine, we pretty much took over the suite. We had an awesome view of the main court and court 1, as well as a full view of the other 20 courts, the ocean, and the rest of the boardwalk. Luckily, the VIP area was also shaded and full of chairs and couches. The temps got into the mid-90's with pretty high humidity. There was a slight breeze for most of the weekend, which was only felt up in that area. The volleyball gods were on our side this weekend!

Here's our view of the other courts from our VIP seating area:

Saturday night was pretty uneventful. We waited for over an hour to get a table at Waterman's and still didn't get seated, so we walked across the street to a pizza place where we sat outside immediately. After dinner, I of course fell asleep. Needless to say, it was an early night. We caught plenty of hell from Chris and Matt about how lame we were being. I'm sorry, but being awesome takes a lot out of a girl!

Sunday games included the semi's and final matches. The women's final match between May-Treanor/Branagh and Kessy/Ross was at 1 p.m. The men's final match between Hyden/Scott and Fuerbringer/Lucena was at 4 p.m. Since we were in the Malibu tent, we were supposed to be rooting for Kessy/Ross and Fuerbringer/Lucena, all who are sponsored by Malibu, butttt how can you cheer against Olympians?!?! We were all pulling for Misty and Nicole but in the end, they fell to Kessy/Ross in 3 games. Fuerbringer/Lucena also pulled out a victory, and Nick's family was actually seated in the VIP area with us (even though they aren't sponsored by Malibu... I guess Sean Scott had given them VIP bracelets) so it was a great win to experience with them.

Here are Misty and Nicole warming up:

And these are the guys during the final match:

Gina and I headed out fairly quickly after the games were over on Sunday. Not only did we have to bike back to the hotel, but we also had to fill up our gas tanks, grab some grub, and get back on the highways. I got home around 10:30, and she got home around 10 after getting stuck in some traffic.

I'm still trying to figure out how I had the energy to bring the necessary bags up to my room without falling down the stairs from exhaustion. I'm also still trying to figure out why I was so tired all weekend because I did nothing. I didn't really sit in the sun, and I certainly didn't work out.

It was so neat to be walking next to Olympians and other professional athletes. Everyone was so nice and laid back; not at all what I was expecting. I guess I'm just used to going to NBA and MLB games where security is mandatory.

Alas, the fabulous weekend is over and I am now back to the daily grind that is life. Sigh.