Top seeds Dave Palm and Eric Zaun and Brooke Niles and Karolina Sowala came away with the top prizes at Alki Beach in Seattle on August 30. The No. 1-ranked duos overcame significant weather challenges including wind gusts exceeding 50 mph that suspended play briefly on Saturday.
Dave Palm and Eric Zaun encountered Palm’s former partner Drew Mallin and his new teammate Ryan Vandenburg in the final. Vandenburg’s 6’10” frame and Mallin’s defensive skills threatened to take over at any time, and the duo combined to give Palm and Zaun a drubbing in game two, but it was Palm and Zaun who walked away with the championships (21-18, 11-21, 16-14). The win is the duo’s second in 2015, and Palm’s third for the year.
Niles and Sowala came up against Raquel Ferreira and Vivian Cunha in the final. Ferreira and Cunha have been the hot team on the tour, taking home the last three consecutive championships, and they trounced Niles and Sowala in the first set 21-10. Niles and Sowala then came back to win games two and three 21-19, 15-10.
Brooke Niles is having an exceptional year, earning two championships on the NVL tour, as well as being named head coach of the beach program at Florida State University.
The final stop on the NVL tour is the $100,000 Player’s Championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida, September 25-27.
