Good morning! We just found out ASL does not stand for American Sign Language. From now on we’ll use ASL to refer to American Spikers League.

The playoffs are happening this weekend and we should talk about a few things:

1. What is it?

2. What is the match format?

3. What does ASL mean for roundnet?

4. Event Preview

Let’s get into it 🎯 

What is “The American Spikers League Playoffs”?

The American Spikers League Playoffs is a squad format tournament that is described by the founders as the “Program Playoffs.”  

Each team brings 7-8 players from their region, club, or program to be a part of their squad (each member must live within 200-500 miles from each other depending on division).

Day 1 will include pool play which is divided into four 6-team conferences. The top teams will be put into the playoff bracket where they will compete for a large prize pool on day 2.

There are four divisions:

• Premier: Each squad must have at least two players who have been Premier players at some point in their career. The prize pool is $12,000 and the winning team takes home $7,000 ($6,000 cash, $1,000 in ASL sponsorship package including jersey, and entry into any 2024 Major or Challenger event).

• Contender: All players on the winning squad earn Premier spots. The total prize for a first place finish is $3,000 ($2,000 cash and $1,000 ASL sponsorship package). No Premier players are allowed. 

• Women’s: Total prize for 1st is $3,000 ($2,000 cash and $1,000 ASL sponsorship package). Teammates must live within 500 miles of each other. 

• Masters: Players must be 34 or older and live 500 within miles of their partner. Winning team takes home $500 in cold hard cash.

Match Format

During the match there will be three nets, where each squad puts out three combinations of players to play at the same time. 

There’s 4 quarters and 2 halves. This matters because in the 1st quarter, Squad A will assign their teams first, and then Squad B chooses which one of their teams they ant matching up with their opponents—which has huge strategic implications. Then in the 2nd quarter, Squad B will choose what teams are playing first and Squad A will match. This will continue to alternate in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

A win is worth one match point, and there is three points up for grabs every quarter. The only exception is that the last match is worth two points (how the “last match” is decided is still to be determined).

And like most sports, the team with the most points after the 4th quarter wins.

But there are a few rules to keep the tournament interesting: 

• Every team ranks their players from 1-7 (8). This is incredibly important for two reasons: 

  • Pair Score: The sum of the rankings of each player. For example, if you have your 2nd and 7th ranked player playing together on one net, the pair score is 9.

  • The opponent can only match that net with players that have a pair score within three of the opponents pair score, which is called the net variance. So, if the pair score of the opponents is 9, the net variance is 6-12. 

• Next, no players are allowed to play with each other for two games in a row during a match. 

• Finally, no player can sub out twice until all players have subbed out at least once. This is called the sub rotation rule.

What do the ASL Playoffs mean for roundnet?

This event is awesome. Not only because of the prize money, but also because of the format. Squad formats are gaining popularity from the World Championship because it adds a new complexity to the game while simultaneously creating a strong community aspect.

Making the best programs across North America compete is a fantastic concept, and we can’t help think this is a great step towards getting the sport in the Olympics one day. 

The co-founder of the event told a story on That Roundnet Podcast about a participant acknowledging how strong the community appeared at last year's event. That’s what these tournaments do. It shows off the incredible breadth of our sport. 

As this tournament grows, and with the backing of superstars like Buddy Hammon, it could really turn into an alternative Major, much like the Ryder Cup in golf. 

The American Spikers League and Youth League are great for growing the sport, across North America, but the Playoffs is such an amazing event for growing this sport to new heights.

Event Breakdown

Rookie Conference

Standouts: Well first, Livonia is just ridiculously stacked with Ryan Hamilton and Thomas Marino from Rogue and Grant Klap. The serving is going to be extremely difficult for other teams to figure out. Although, Long Island’s squad that includes Max Model from Hilltop, and both Ryan Fitzgerald and Tyler Cisek—all players who specialize in serve receive—prompt for an interesting matchup to watch. How these teams choose their match-ups is going to be incredible to watch (EXACTLY WHY WE LOVE THIS FORMAT INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS).

Trippy Lizard Conference

Colorado’s team is very balanced and also pretty stacked, headed by Clark Marshall, Matthew Cole, and Grant Laughlin (apparently they nearly had Ryder Rivadeneyra too which would’ve been borderline unfair lol).

Double Clutch conference

Quebec is bringing the heat with the Insystem pair and the Prince brothers, go get ‘em, Canadian boys. Gabe Finnochi’s squad from New Jersey is gonna give them a run for sure, but we like the Canadian’s chances in this conference #NoBias 🍁 

Handsome Beavers Conference

In the same division of Buddy Hammon, we also see the 2022 Double Clutch team back together, (who came 2nd to Buddy and Clark in The Championship that year). Their team has a notable #7 as well in Luke Marshall from Team Lazy, a strong Premier player.

We’re missing so many teams and dark horses, but those are the ones that stand out. This tournament is riddled with Pro players and I’m getting excited just writing about the thing.

Here is a picture of the full teams:

👊 Quick Hits

Super quick shoutout to Forest City Roundnet looking to stir up the contender division. Go get Premier!

🎙️That Roundnet Podcast interviews the founders of ASL and Buddy Hammon

🥲 Tops Roundnet is done streaming commentary… we’re going to miss “aaaaaand straight into the lobstertrap!“

🥇Spikeball sends a cryptic message… Olympics?