It’s just a game Faulker!

Braving torrential rains and fierce competition, Faulker bumped, set and spiked their way to winning the single elimination tournament Tuesday night, to complete the 5th Annual Coors Light Co-ed Beach Volleyball League season on the sand court behind the Pacific Islands Club.

In the final round of tournament play, Faulker downed the only team to finish the regular season with a better record than them, the unrivaled Team 9. In a showdown of the first and second place teams, it was the second place Faulker that outplayed the regular season champs by crushing them 15-8.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way for Team 9, a squad that had gone a perfect 7-0 since losing their first game of the season against the Rusty Slinkys. A serious bunch of competitors, the 9 were uncharacteristically loose during the game, often joking and laughing.

All of the action got underway when the two teams tied for the final playoff spot engaged in a one-set battle to determine the final seed in the tournament. The Rusty Slinkys fought a close game that went into extra points against That’s Not Yogurt to edge them by a 16-14 score. By virtue of their victory, they earned the chance to face Team 9 in the first round. The only team able to beat the 9 this year was the Slinkys. It stood to reason that they might have been able to knock them off in the tournament as well.

The Slinkys were in the midst of making real their visions of an upset victory. Up by a 5-0 score, one third of the way to victory, they fell apart and Nine-time was able to escape a 15-13 scare to advance to the next round, just moments ahead of the foul weather.

In the next game, one of the powerhouses of the league, and a favorite to win the season, the fourth place Cyphers were perhaps caught off guard by the effects of Gansha, as the fifth place team pulled out the narrow 17-15 win. Playing under skies that released more water than a crying Tammy Faye Baker certainly had an effect on both of the teams, but the entire season schedule was played through weather in which a postman might venture.

In another upset of the tourney, Givity dropped Cleveland Steamers by a surprising 10-point margin. If you ask him, PIC Clubmate Nan Intharaluk will tell you that rain is his kryptonite, but one player a team does not make. Unless your team is Faulker, and your name is Eddie Kim.

After his team vanquished Government Cheese 15-6 in the opening round, Kim served all 15 of Faulker’s points to dominate Givity in the second round, 15-1.

Team 9 smoked Gansha in the second round (15-8) to face Faulker in the finals, but apparently Gansha had lingering effects, and they lost for only the second time all season.