NMI duo wins CBVA men’s open title

Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson gave notice to the field for next year’s Pacific Mini Games in Palau by winning the championship of the California Beach Volleyball Association Men’s Open last Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California.

The two CNMI national beach volleyball players and silver medalists in the 2022 Mini Games held in the Northern Marianas beat Jacob Landel and Kylen Winterbotha in a nip-and-tuck finals, 28-25.

Mister and Johnson reached the championship round after turning back Brigg Busenhart and Tennessee Fulks in a similar 28-25 score. Prior to that the duo easily topped Ben Airola and Jake Shapiro, 28-19, in the quarterfinals. In the Round of 16, they disposed of Rob deAurora and John Humphrey also with a score of 28-19.

In a social media interview with Saipan Tribune, the 23-year-old Mister said winning the CBVA Men’s Open was payoff for all their hard work in the summer.

“For me it was a relief. I’ve been playing in lots of tournaments all summer all over, battling and training to try and win. After the tournament win, I felt overjoyed and motivated.”

He and the 27-year-old Johnson then dedicated their victory to everyone back home in the CNMI.

Mister said bringing home the bacon in the CBVA Men’s Open is a nice start as they ramp up their training for the aforementioned Mini Games in 2025.

“No other tournaments unfortunately. It was the last one for me this summer. We are both training hard for the upcoming Mini Games in Palau. We want to bring home a gold medal,” he said.

Mister and Johnson started their campaign in the CBVA Men’s Open by defeating Duni Valenzuela and Timmy Blanc, 21-14.

They then succumbed to John Graybill and Greg Moyer, 17-21, before bouncing back from their only loss of the tournament by taking down Clayton Dahlman and Christian Rosander-Kolb, 21-11. They then capped their elimination round assignments by besting Christopher Mcdonough and Adam Vagner, 21-17.

Mister said they trained with former professional beach volleyball player Casey Jennings during the week to prepare for the tournament.

“He ran us through a great warmup that helped us feel energized for the games but also prepared us mentally to get into the zone,” he said.

The CBVA is California’s premier beach volleyball tour. Founded in 1962, the CBVA was created to bring together all levels of beach volleyball players to compete in high-quality tournaments along the California coast.