The Chicago Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (KKBB) volleyball team came within a spike of winning its division in the annual 2011 Team Saint Louis Volleyball Tournament, held recently.
The tournament featured 40 teams, representing Atlanta, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New York, Louisville and other cities.
KKBB lost in the finals of the 17-team B-Division to Kansas City Hit It or Quit It, 17-25, 17-25. KKBB was one of five B-Division teams from Chicago.
"For having a newly assembled team, I'm extremely proud of how well we gelled without much [pre-tournament] court time," said KKBB player-coach Mark Byrne. "Our setter, a volleyball role equivalent to a quarterback in football, lives in Indianapolis, so only four of us practiced together a week before the two-day tournament.
"[Kansas City] played with a very high level of athleticism and won the championship without going to the loser's bracket. We gave up a decent lead against them and never recaptured the advantage."
Byrne, 36, said one of the team's tournament highlights was its match against the Lexington Soundbar, a three-set nail-biter won in overtime. "As a regular fixture on the North American Gay Volleyball Association (NAGVA) circuit, Lexington Soundbar's roster includes friendly faces, namely, [Chicagoan] Sebastian Ang as libero."
KKBB defeated Lexington 18-16 in the third set.
"The team played pretty well throughout the tournament," Byrne said. "Three teams in our division finished 7-1 after pool play, but, due to our point-spread, we were named the No. 1 seed. Advancing to the third round without giving up a set was a great indicator that we had the endurance to make it to the finals.
"We played eight pool-play sets Saturday afternoon and then the double-elimination tournament ended up being twelve sets beginning early Sunday morning."
KKBB featured setter Marty Murrillo, outside hitters Eric Veit and Ozzie Meza, middle hitters Byrne and Derek Blin, right-side hitter Eric Nelson, and libero Marc Estrada. Four of the team members played for the Chicago Bonheur team in January's NAGVA tournament in New Orleans, finishing third in its 24-team division.
Byrne and Blin were named tournament all-stars in St. Louis, as voted by the tournament's officiating team and the head referee.
"I was completely shocked and very flattered to be named All Star," Byrne said. "I updated my Facebook status that evening to, 'While the tournament named two All Stars from our team, I'm convinced there were seven.'"
Byrne said Blin is a smart player on the court.
"I remember him gently tipping a ball over two opponents for a point instead of hitting the ball into a double block," Byrne said. "Other strengths [of Blin] include being vocal on court and off, calling for a set, letting his team know he is running after a ball and lifting spirits by making some noise. In our loser's bracket match against the Madison (Wisc.) Madness, Derek made several impressive defensive plays, which [you] doesn't see very often from middle hitters. He's a stud."
In fact, Byrne said everyone on KKBB played exceptionally well in St. Louis.
"Everyone brought something wonderful to the team," Byrne said. "Ozzie and Derek's high level of playing can be attributed to their fitness, chasing down balls and maintaining focus. Scott filled in as setter one game and is extremely crafty. The other team would yell, 'corner' each time he got set, meaning, Scott can pinpoint open areas of the court accurately.
Eric described himself as a machine, which is true because he is a serving machine, passing machine and hitting machine. At the post-tournament party, I overheard other teams talking up Marc's defensive skill of putting up hard driven balls and Marty's finesse at setting. This was a dream team."
KKBB likely will travel to Houston in May for the annual NAGV Nationals, and also will compete in an August tournament in Chicago.
