Seaside Grill Weekend starts tonight

Just a day following the completion of the 6th Annual Coors Light Four-Person Beach Volleyball League season, the Pacific Islands Club is ready for the start of this weekend’s sand-stravaganza that is the Seaside Grille Beach Volleyball Tournament.

According to tournament director Jon Cramer, the PIC is planning to host over 60 players from over 30 teams through both the two- and four-player formats.

“We’re expecting about 10 teams for the four person tournament and more than double that in the two person with 15 men’s and eight women’s teams.”

The action gets underway tonight when the Co-ed Four-Person division opens up with full house package of bumps, sets, and spikes and continues through to the finals tomorrow evening.

Last year the four-person format was held towards the end of the tournament, but Cramer said that he made the change after the recent surge in the popularity of the team game.

“We changed the format to having the four person tournament on the first two days to put some more focus on it. The interest has risen and we think there will be a lot of four person teams,” he said.

After the foursomes earn their laurels, the two-on-two Men’s and Women’s Doubles divisions will battle it out on the sand with volleyballs in hand on Sunday, June 19.

Cramer said that last year’s champ and longtime player is returning for the weekend, as Tomo “Tomo-matic” Obata will once again make the trip from Sendai, Japan for the competition.

Tomo-matic will be without his teammate from 2004 two-person unit as Kitinan Intharaluk is off-island, but he will be in good company with teammate Russ Quinn.

Quinn missed out on last year’s tournament but finished second two years ago.

Obata has also opted for a different squad in the four-person games in pursuit of his third straight title after fighting a winning battle for World Peace last time out.

Obata has been serving up the Mikasa on Saipan in the tournament for over 10 years now, and has always finished at or near the top of the standings when the dust finally settled—perhaps that why Cramer has recruited him for his four-person squad this weekend.

As a reminder, the co-eds may have a maximum of five players on their team, and a female must be on the court at all times.

Registration for the tournament must be completed for the doubles by tomorrow evening at 5pm. The cost for doubles teams is $25 per player, while the fee for the four-person co-eds is $15 per player—with members of the Northern Marianas Islands Volleyball Association receiving a $5 discount.

Aside from all of the bragging rights given to the top team in the tournament, there will be an assortment of cash and prizes from the PIC, Miller Lite, Verizon, and Shell Marianas—including PIC gift certificates for Seaside Grill, Magellan, and the waterpark, fuel vouchers from Shell, and a numerous Verizon goodies.

If you are interested in signing up for the tournament, contact Jon, Evan, Nan or Dennis by calling 235-6231 using extensions 5147 and 5148, via email at jon@picsaipan.com, or just stop by the SEA Office at the Pacific Islands Club.