The first tournament of the season began in Sussex, Wisconsin. I know what you are thinking — beach volleyball in the midwest, in February?? Yes! My partner Kat and I decided to start our season a little early with our first tournament at an indoor sand volleyball facility in Wisconsin. This would be our first test after a long and hard winter of training.

We arrived in the snow to a facility in a small town, and immediately had a rush of adrenaline when we were told our first match was to start in 20 minutes. We took our first opponents in one game to 25 with a final score of 25-17. After rolling over four other competitive teams, we were in the semi finals. At this point we were becoming acclimated to our surroundings and whizzed by the semi-final match with the scores 25-14 and 25-15. We were in our first final match!!

We dominated our opponents in the finals and won our first tournament of the season. We absolutely believe that our hard work and dedication will bring us much success this summer. We will continue to work for and focus on our next international qualifier on March 6th in Long Beach, CA.

Just going to show that those who work hard and believe in their dreams can really make it a reality!

ERIN GRAY is a professional beach volleyball player who started playing indoor volleyball at the age of twelve and, by the age of seventeen, was an All-American indoor volleyball player. She went on to First Team All American in collegiate volleyball, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year…. {more}

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