Welcome back y’all 🤠

I found this article about pros and cons of sand vs. grass Spikeball, and it made me think it’d be awesome to have a sand tournament if we could figure out the lines. Building on my celebrity tournament idea, might have to have it on sand… just a thought.

In today’s issue:

🐍 AZ Challenger
📰 The biggest stories in roundnet right now

Here we go.

🌄 AZR Southwest Showcase STS Challenger (say that ten times fast)

Connor Nelson and his partner Alex Dluzynski (Providence) topped the podium at the AZ Challenger this past weekend. 9-1 record, 14-2 in sets, won 54.6% of points played–just a solid and steady performance. This is already Connor’s third victory of 2024, adding this Challenger title to wins at both the USA Roundnet East and West Regional. We spoke to Connor following the victory, and he was a man of few words. 

“AZ was an unreal experience.” 

… Oh yeah and he won mixed with Elle Lowe.

Rounding out the Men’s Premier podium was Blessed (Cade Larson and Luke Mowry) in 2nd, and Tyler Fernandez/Christian Bennett in 3rd. 

MoJo (Maddy Morehouse and Joelle Nguyen) took home the Women’s Division title. Even though MoJo lost two games in pool play, they found another level when the bracket stage got underway. Morehouse and Nyugen didn’t drop a single set in bracket play, beating the two teams they lost to in pool play in the process. Shachi Patel and Elle Lowe of cool took home the silver medal, and Perrin York and Sebtastiani Kim (Outside Voices) locked up the bronze medal position. 

We were also lucky enough to chat with Joelle following MoJo’s victory, and she gave us a great breakdown of the tournament. Here’s what she had to say:

“Outside Voices came back after playing the season together last year, going 6-2 in pool play. Shachi and Elle were THE team to beat, known for their serving prowess. They went undefeated in Pool with a point differential of +64 which is wildin. 

Maddy and I went 6-2 in pool, losing to Shachi and Elle and Outside Voices, so we got the three seed (head to head as a tiebreaker). 

The Women’s Finals was HEAVY on the serve and hold game, with not a ton of rallies going on. But it really had a lot of pressure. It really came down to who got broken and who made errors in the end.”

Great to see the level of respect the top women’s teams have for each other. 

(side note: make sure to check out Joelle’s YouTube channel if you’re interested in checking out the condensed games from the event!)

But the best part about this Challenger event had to be the participation. 176 players, more than 100 teams–file that away as things you love to see. 

Roundnet participation 🚀 🌕️ 

🗣️ Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Here are the biggest headlines from the sport this week:

🎙️ Spikeball Chris Interview

That Roundnet Podcast interviews Spikeball Chris about Brookline among other things to kick off Season 3. Here is what Chris had to say:

1. Brookline claims that Spikeball was legally obligated to take inventory back. Chris stated that was in a termination clause and because the contract was ongoing, they were in no way obligated. 

2. Spikeball tried to be good partners. From Chris’ perspective Spikeball attempted to find a way to buy back the inventory Brookline had left over even though they weren’t obligated, but couldn’t make it work. 

3. There was massive miscommunication on the take back clause. 

4. The contract was terminated because stores were empty, Brookline stopped making payments, were unreliable on demand forecasts, and ultimately lost the confidence of Spikeball. 

5. Getting better margins wasn’t a part of the decision whatsoever. 

6. Irwin’s role in everything was massively overplayed by Brookline and there wasn’t anything shady going on. 

I’m not sure how or if this story will keep developing, but we’ll keep you updated. 

Full podcast here.

🥇 We’ve been tooting the horn or Connor Nelson, but the guy just keeps winning

Scottie Scheffler WISHES he was on the run that Connor is on right now.

After the early success seen in USAR events, Connor wins his first STS event of the season, with another new partner. Although the competition was better in Chatt, Connor proves he’s a winner. A guy that wasn’t on anyone’s power ranking to start the year is the guy to beat right now, regardless of his partner. He’s beat good competition in the past, but we’re curious to see him against an entire Major field.

📹️ Media in Roundnet is getting there

More and more individuals and groups of people are starting to create great content. Some are even formalizing into companies and agencies. This is good for a few reasons:

1. More content = more eyes

2. More competition = better quality

3. More people are trying to monetize. This is important because it has the potential to bring bigger sponsors into the sport. It only takes a few large organizations to see a positive return from sponsoring a team or tournament for others to begin to look into it.

From apps, coaching platforms, podcasts, newsletters (😉), photography, videos, jersey design and everything in between, media has the opportunity to turn this sport into what it deserves to be and we’re excited for it.