US Nationals Preview
written by B. Dantowitz, 📸 by amazing Corentin a.k.a. Yellowballcult on Instagram, follow him!
The Excitement of US Roundnet Nationals
For the first time ever, on 11th-12th November 2023 in Tampa, Florida, a USA Roundnet National Championship is being run by the roundnet community. It’s not a history lesson we can fully explore today, but it is notable that the Spikeball Tour Series and the US National Championship are no longer coinciding events. This weekend marks an important milestone for not only growth of roundnet but also organization and collective sport building in the US, with the National Championship rounding out a year with approximately 33 total sanctioned events (source: USAR fwango).
What's at stake?
As for the competition itself, the stakes are massive. In addition to $2500 in the event purse, the Women’s and Men’s National Champions will earn spots on Team USA for Worlds in 2024. And while Twinz initially planned to defend their national title, a late injury for Olivia Jenki means we will witness a new Men’s and Women’s National Champion (Assistive Touch did not plan a title defense). This is particularly notable in women’s roundnet, where only 6 women have ever been named US National Champions, while the men’s division winners list is also quite short; with repeats (Chico 2014-2015) and three-peats (Cisek/Showlater 2017-2019), meaning only 12 men holding that title in the past 8* years.
*8 years is inclusive of 2014-2022 excluding 2020, where no formal National Championship was recognized despite Utah Roundnet hosting a similar event in 2020.
Men's Division
I see man’s division as the chalkier and less-compelling depth of teams. Due to Rogue’s unfortunate withdrawal (Marino injury), it is fascinating to see many unfamiliar pairings as the top seeds. Finocchi/Picone and Abrams/Hamilton come in as mash-ups yet also top seeds, while three-seed Gross/Shaytar have some chemistry from their time playing with and against each other locally in Rochester, NY. Further down the board, perhaps the most familiar pairing of all is Bot House (Lippman/Peterson), who most recently knocked Eisensträger/Siemer out of the Spikeball Tour Series Championship.
For a division littered with fresher pairings, we’ll see their chemistry go heads up with the very top talent in the US. Also fighting in the camp on “Team Chemistry” are contenders Low Key (Church/Morgan), Lazy (Larson/Marshall), and BorderLine (Thompson/Wagner), all of whom have played upwards of a full year together. The last footnote I’ll add about mashup opportunities is Not TBD (Cummings/Fragiacomo) and Backpaqed (Clifford/Rose) will face off in the last pool as the 8 and 9 seeds. If this matchup goes 2-0 either way, it should earn them a great bracket draw to reach the semis and even podium.
With how much more parity we’ve seen in roundnet this year, I would not be shocked by some seeded upsets. Whether they happen in the morning or in a late bracket match is anyone’s guess.
Women’s Division
Twinz had the misfortune of dropping due to injury. Now without a juggernaut favorite in the division, the uber talented women’s field may be the most compelling US-only tournament in many years (for long-time roundnet fans, let me know what other tournament comes to mind). In a division with very few familiar pairings, save the reunion episode of the legendary THUS Parabatai (Morgan/Wu) and continuation of Veggie Tales (Foster/Patel), I see this division boiling down to a battle of the East and West for WR.
For the East, we have Jenki/Phan, Chocolate Outrage (Allen/Ding), Pierson/Washburn*, as well as Foster of Veggie Tales. THUS is repping the West along with in Anderson/Savage, Gahley/Sato, and part of J$ (Nguyen of California). Ultimately, any of the above teams could carve a path to the middle of the podium, and I am eager to watch as one manages to navigate this dense talent pool to earn a spot on Team USA.
*Washburn is a former FL native who has spent much of this season playing in Europe, so saying she is repping the East also refers to her repping east of the Atlantic.
EDIT: to see how “European” Lou have become, check out this screenshot from an American roundnet discord server. We at Future Roundnet love our Lou.
Mixed Division
For Sunday, the Mixed Division will crown yet another National Champion. While the top seed in Duos will be dropping due to Marino’s absence, there is still a lot of talent — just not the traditional American mixed talent we’ve grown accustomed to having seen lots of mixed roundnet at the Spikeball Tour Series this year.
Perhaps the two most credentialed mixed players in the field are Sarah Allen (STS Champion 2023) and Ryan Gross (Mixed World Champion 2022), but neither is playing with their usual teammate (Finocchi / Hui, respectively). What’s more, we’re missing mixed fixtures including Olivia Jenki, Ali Jenki, Katie Pierson, Will Picone, Rahul Murthy, and Joe Bondi… that is to say, similar to the men’s podium, the mixed podium will feature many new faces.
10 Years of Roundnet in the US
For a sport nearing in its 10th year of consistent tournament play in the US, it’s refreshing to witness more and more firsts, and on a personal note, I’m really grateful that our USA Roundnet community continues to grow not only in quality and quantity, but also in connectivity — something that is particularly challenging to manage for a larger country and with limited resources. I am excited about what’s to come for this National Championship and the continued progress for our national roundnet community.
Where to follow the event?
To follow the event, keep up with live scores here and live Instagram Updates @USA_Roundnet.
Live streams will be on Twitch Streams by Matt Burrows and Ben Dantowitz.
Post-Production of finals matches will be on Roundnetwork’s YouTube.
Predictions
- Everyone has an awesome weekend of warm, sunny roundnet
- Players do an excellent job reporting scores and starting matches in a timely fashion
- Self-officiating disputes are handled with cool heads and in a constructive manner
Note: If you’re wondering why I hesitate to give a formal prediction, it’s because I am personally helping run the tournament tomorrow as a volunteer with USAR. Thanks to support from our co-hosts FL Roundnet, I may be able to help observe some of the later matches in the day. Even though I’m not betting on any matches, I do not want even a fun little prediction to impact how my impartiality as an observer could be perceived.
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Ben Dantowitz volunteers on the Board of Directors for USA Roundnet. To contact Ben, reach out to his personal instagram.
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