2009 Press

Grass stains galore don't bother volleyball lovers
By Tribune Staff • July 12, 2009


Krista Koljonen and Katherine Sunwall combined to win the Women's championship and Terry Gates and Phil Stedman teamed up for a victory in the Men's division at the third annual Grass Stain Open volleyball tournament Saturday at Elk's Riverside Park in Great Falls.

Koljonen and Sunwall defeated Tiffany Bergan and Carrie Sunwall in the Women's title match.

In the Men's final, Gates and Stedman edged Matham Alfadel and Kyle Erickson.

Third place in the Women's division went to Beckie Javinar and Steph Robertson. Tammy Turner and Keely Abbas finished fourth.

Brian Bergan and Charlie Compton earned third-place honors in the Men's division. Taking fourth were Tim Stedman and Rece Gendreau.

Eight two-person teams competed in both divisions.

Turner, the secretary of the Great Falls Volleyball Association, termed the event a "great success." She thanked the people who donated water and fruit.

Krista Sunwall was the organizer of the event.

[I aplogize to Tim Steadman and Reece Gendreau for the misspelling of their names in the newspaper article. Also, Tammy gave a thanks for ALL of the donations, but the Tribune writer chose a couple of the donations to write about.

I thought the volleyball pic for the article turned out really well. It was on the front page of the sports section.

For those of you who don't know, Sunwall is my maiden name, so that tends to be a common mistake. No biggie.]

Save the Date for the 2010 Grass Stain Open

The 2010 Grass Stain Open will be Saturday, July 10, 2010, so mark your calendars and help spread the word.

Thanks, everyone. Remember: 7/10/10.

2009 Tournament Day

First of all, Happy Birthday to our very own Tammy Turner. She chose to spend her birthday playing volleyball and earned a hat and 10 bucks as a result. Hope it was a memorable day, Tam.

I would like to thank all of the teams for supporting our tournament in Great Falls. Personally, I'm extremely thankful to all of the women's teams who came out to play. I must admit, you surprised me. Eight teams after last year's cancellation was definitely a pleasant shock. All of the women but three were newbies this year. Also, the 2009 women's MVP was a repeat vote winner from the 2007 tourney; although, she was able to lead her team to a first place finish this time.

On the men's side, we had the same situation as last year: the previous year's overall winner defending his title with a new partner. Six loyal guys have played in the GSO all three years, which means that the remaining 10 guys were all newbies this year. We had a new MVP'er this year; however, heat exhaustion prevented him from finishing the championship match and landed him in the ER that evening. To be nostalgic, we had two former GFVA male members who used to play in the Grass Stain Open when it was a coed 4's tournament in the 90's.

Injury Update Regarding Kyle:

Even though Kyle drank water and ate 8 bananas throughout the day, it wasn't enough to replace his output. His initial cramping turned into extremely painful cramping and nausea. Keely ended up taking him to the emergency room from Machinery Row, which turned out to be a very good thing. Otherwise, his heat exhaustion could have turned into heat stroke (body organs shutting down). After 3 L of IV fluid and 3+ hours in the ER, Kyle felt so much better, was able to walk on his own, and was released.

This is a good reminder for all of us to drink plenty of fluid, which may be more than we think necessary, during these hot summer tourneys. Ask Kyle. This incident was scary.

Thanks, Kee, for driving like a mad woman to get him to the hospital and taking care of business at the ER.

Sincerely,

Krista

(a.k.a. Pizza Stealer. Sorry about that, Phil. Like I told you at Machinery Row, I didn't know that was your pizza. I was feeling sorry for that particular pizza pie, since nobody had taken a slice yet. Oops. I may nickname you Joey, since Joey doesn't share food.)

2009 Photo Gallery

2009 Results

MEN'S RESULTS:
1st PLACE: Terry/Phil
2nd PLACE: Kyle/Maytham
3rd PLACE: BB-CC
4th PLACE: Butte Boys
5th PLACE: Damon/Steven
5th PLACE: Erland/Hussain
7th PLACE: Forest/Jeremiah
7th PLACE: Wade/Dave

Access the complete 2009 Men's Bracket at the Great Falls Volleyball Association website.

WOMEN'S RESULTS:
1st PLACE: Sunwall Sisters
2nd PLACE: Double Trouble
3rd PLACE: Beckie/Steph
4th PLACE: T-Dawg
5th PLACE: Emmy/Megan
5th PLACE: Team Hotness
7th PLACE: Megan/MaryGlen
7th PLACE: Klick/Morin

Access the complete 2009 Women's Bracket at the Great Falls Volleyball Association website.

2009 MVP Results

2009 Men's MVP - $15 iTunes Card and Grass Stain Open Hat

Kyle Erickson from Missoula, MT

2009 Women's MVP - $15 iTunes Gift Card & Grass Stain Open Hat

Katherine Sunwall from Great Falls, MT

2009 Prizes

2009 Men's Division

1st Place - $300 Cash:
"Flathead Fun Guys"
Shroom Eater/Phil

2nd Place - $150 Cash:
"Pool Play Pounders"
Kyle/Maytham

3rd Place - $40 Cash [donated back to GFVA - thanks, guys]:
"Got Smarts"
BB-CC

4th Place - $20 Cash:
"Young Guns"
Butte Boys

2009 Women's Division

1st Place - $300 Cash
"Sassy Sissies"
Sunwall Sisters

2nd Place - $150 Cash
"Downtown Dames"
Double Trouble

3rd Place - $40
"Lady Argos"
Beckie/Steph

4th Place - $20 Cash
"Fair Claim Beauties"
T-Dawg

2009 Giveaways

Oldest Men's Team - Wade and Dave at 42.0 - 2 GSO Hats

Youngest Men's Team - 2 years in a row - Tim and Reece at 22.5 - 2 GSO Hats


Oldest Women's Team - Tammy and Keely at 29.2 - 2 GSO Hats
Today was Tammy's 37th Birthday. She and Kee earned this prize by 0.2.

Youngest Women's Team - Jessica and Kathryn at 17.0 - 2 GSO Hats
Our local Lady Rustlers

2009 Teams

We had a total of 16 teams for the 2009 Grass Stain Open - 8 men's and 8 women's.

Sorry, no team pics for the following men's teams:

"Kyle/Maytham"
Kyle Erickson from Missoula, MT
Maytham Alfadol from Butte, MT
Average Age of 26.5

"BB-CC"
Brian Bergan from Great Falls, MT
Charlie Compton from Great Falls, MT
Average Age of 36.0

2009 Volunteers

A big "Thank You" to the following volunteers:

"Super Dad"
Thank you, Arden Sunwall, for all of your help (delivering the heavy jug of Gatorade, picking up Benadryl for Tessa, taking pictures, and setting up the players' luncheon). Also, thanks for being willing to volunteer three years in a row! I appreciate it so much.

"Great Falls Volleyball Association Members"
Thanks, Great Falls Peeps, for setting up AND tearing down. I didn't even really formally ask you this year, and you showed up anyway to help out. Thank you for compensating for my poor memory.

Lastly, I want to thank the following GF locals who sold Papa Murphy's cards during our fundraiser for the tournament:

Wade Altschwager (gets a pat on the back for selling the most cards)
Damon Alexander
Wendy Stroop
Carrie Sunwall
Katherine Sunwall
Brandt Olsen
Tiffany Bergan
Keely Abbas
Tammer Turner

I also want to thank all of the friends and family members who bought cards from us. Your contributions made a huge difference in our tournament this year. We still have 19 cards to sell in order for the GSO Budget to be in the black. If anyone would like to buy a Papa Murphy's coupon card from me for $5, please let me know. The card doesn't expire and is worth over $22 in savings. Thanks.