wk10

The week was even hotter and more humid than last week but once again it made for great volleyball weather on Wednesday night. The Rockaway Beach Volleyball League completed its penultimate week, leaving only one regular season night to be played before the playoff extravaganza on 8/8. Conditions were good but a zephyr of a wind (not a sirocco) made ball control a little dicey. The teams that controlled the ball won the games. Races remain extremely tight in 6 divisions – the Ocean has Freedhand’s, Hyper Athletic and Gatemate.net within 2 games of each other; the Ocean Breeze has Casino Auto Body, JG Electric and That’s What She Set tied for first place; The Beach has Rat Pack NYC, Edison Place and the Wharf Rats within 4; the Boardwalk has the Rockaway Breakers, It’s All Good Tees and the Rockaway Gliders within 1; the Sun has Perfect Settings, the White Horse Tavern and the Bungalow Baranha’s within 2; and the Moon has Channimals, Boarder’s Surf Shop and the IFMA’s within 3 of each other. Kobeyaki Got Kills, the Breakaways, It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere and the Harbor Light Sandhogs have clinched the top seeds in their respective divisions and can take it easy in the final week of the season. Next week will settle the pennant races and finalize all playoff positioning and seeding. Everyone makes the playoffs but seeding and matchups are very important if a team wants to go all the way and walk home with a coveted championship sweatshirt. There’s only two more weeks until the big playoff Saturday, and we don’t know what happened to the summer either.

Dickie Flanagan landed on the DL last week with his pulled calf (cow) muscle but that did not keep him away from the beach this week. He cooler coordinated for It’s All Good and led them to a 3-2 victory over Team Margaritas. Some say he was the team MVP but others looked to Alex Goldberg who motored over every inch of the court covering balls in every corner of the court. Young Alex could be headed the way of other former team members who grew up, defected to top teams, leading them to victories in top divisions. It’s All Good better get his signature in blood on a long-term contract. TBG stepped up with a good joke but not many spikes or digs. What two jobs is QB Tom Brady least suited for during his football suspension? Wait for it – balloon salesman and Smartphone repair man. EZ Company took 3 hard fought games from Serves ‘Em Right. TJ sat to marinate his baby back ribs, which gave Ann the perfect chance to needle him. Nature Dan played great in between showings of his favorite suicidal squirrel and caterpillar photos. It seemed like somebody muzzled the Grunt Man as an eerie silence fell over the court. Coach Gloria Steinem trotted out the ladies and again her moves worked. Did MF really think you got a second serve if the first one goes into the net (not that she needed it)? Dan the Younger did his usual shtick of making everybody else look better without them even knowing it. Forget the internet; if you want any type of good food or drink, the Gregmeister knows where to get mass quantities at tiny prices. Rumor is that Mighty OQ will have a "Here comes Willis!" moment on playoff day. Cecilia the Red showed off her Serve of Death just to keep everybody honest. The Devinator found loads of room on the court without Tasmanian Teej to get in her way. Techno Girl dominated both front and back lines with a big harrumph.

The IFMA’s found as many shovels as winning games – two. Not bad on either count. Cheers to Sets on the Beach for their first win of the season, edging ServPro 3-2. Break up Connolly’s – Part II. The charter team beat another charter RBVL team, the Beach House 4-1. How many times and on how many beaches have these two legendary squads done battle? And what is their all-time record against each other? Was Mr. Happy locked in the equipment room again? What is the secret to their late season success? Sands Point had more positive energy than any other team, despite only winning two. They’re flying under the radar until the championship. They’ve made great strides although they still remain firmly in last place. Sands Point heartthrob Ray Agoglia wasn’t playing his best. He blamed having to carry the weight of being such a neighborhood stud as a reason for his poor play. First place Perfect Settings played the Bungalow Baranha’s, and while they took the first two the battle-weary Baranha’s fought back to take the next three. They swam upstream to make things not so perfect for the Settings. Many players said things really started working out for the Baranha’s once Katie Honan got on court. “We were losing, and once she got on the court we started winning,” Neil McNelis said. “There were no power outages on court 31 once Katie Honan stepped on the court.” There was power behind Jackie Agoglia’s serves, too, and great plays by Sue O’Shea.

Ocean’s 12 took two from Rockaway Gliders with the wind being a big factor. For the most part, all games were until the fifth, when the Gliders crushed them. Eddie McCarthy was a standout player along with Chris Stokes. They are all very excited for the championship day. Gravity was also a factor, and the moon was looking very big, too, which may have impacted their play. Digging and Swiggin’s “best player” got stuck officiating corrections and they wound up only winning 2 games. You have to know what your role is and it’s not referee. Mileys Home Improvement are keeping the streak alive – the losing streak. At least they’re consistent. Gambino disappointed the team with his lack of line calls. Next week, man, next week. U Got Served took four from All-American Heroes in spite of the absence of Coach TJ, who was coaching a baseball game. Elefant took one off his face but kept the volley alive, and he didn’t even get a broken nose. Tommy “The Lefty” Mac had plenty of spikes. Captain Mike Sparrow also did a great job to keep plays alive. Shout out to Rob and Jaime and their adorable kids who kept the cheering squad up. Roger’s Irish Setters edged the Social Yachties 3-2 in spite of missing Florida Charlie, who was apparently catching every skate in the state of Florida. They’re excited to be tied for sixth place going into the final week. The old timers of the Stanii finally got back in their groove winning three out of five against the Beach Bums. They were led by the young legs of Kieran, Thomas and Matt, who this week had no black swan divers, amazingly. Tommy Woods returned from Minnesota in rare form. All of the games were close and the Beach Bums took two because of the stellar play of Brianna Minogue, Jenna Gentile, Kristina D’Angelo, who were the team’s MVP’s. Commissioner Patty was on the court - off the court - practicing her pinky dives. She promises she’ll be ready for the playoffs.

The second-to-last after-party was a rager at the Bungalow Bar and they outdid themselves once again. DJ Teddy was on the back deck making sure everyone danced through the night. Baranha’s mascots Bailey and Mia were the stars on the dance floor and showed up every other adult out there. The Bungalow Bar’s hospitality is always amazing. There are few other places we’d want to be on a hot July night than the back deck at the bar, and we all appreciate the fun. Next Wednesday will be the 2015 regular season finale both on and off the courts. The volleyball action on the courts will decide playoff positioning and the party action at the Belle Harbor yacht Club will decide nothing, except who can have the best time. Every year this is the biggest and best celebration of the season. 8/5 should be no different. See you at BHYC.

If you are reading this article early enough on Friday, you still have time to participate in the annual Graybeard’s Family Fun Run tonight. Sign up at 6 PM at St. Francis De Sales. The party starts at 6:30 PM and the races begin at 7 PM. Bugsy will be very busy hosting the festivities while Joe McGivney’s band, Gearth, Wind and Fireman will provide the music. If you run the 5k, we’ll see you at the finish line; if you don’t, we’ll see you at the beer line. Either way, come by and enjoy the music. Captains are reminded that they can have team items entered in the weekly Wave article by showing up at the sponsor bar or by e-mailing Joe at jmcgivney2@nyc.rr.com by 11:59 PM on Wednesday night. But you only have one more week to do so. The RBVL has a Facebook page and, if you like it, you will receive timely updates, whoever you are, captain or not. Your RBVL Committee members will be around each and every week to help out on any matters and answer your questions. If you have any questions please call Patty Moule at 917-613-0908. (Call between 10 AM and 9 PM.)

See you on the beach!