Nancy Mason
(2000 Queen of the Beach Contender)

by Gene Mick (genemick@att.net)

If it weren't for Dalas Dodd, Nancy Mason would never have made it to the final four on Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel/Paul Mitchell AVP Queen of the Beach in Las Vegas at the beginning of October 2000.

In July 1994, a young Dalas Dodd, the baby daughter of Mike and Patty Dodd, was not feeling well. Mike and Patty stayed home with Dalas rather than travel to Chicago to compete in the AVP event there. Patty's partner, Christine Romero, was left without a partner to play with. The night before the tournament, Nancy Mason had a message on her answering machine in Chicago from AVP president Jon Stevenson. "We got your name from the guy who runs the MPVA (Midwest Professional Volleyball Association) and we need someone to play in Chicago with Christine Romero. Will you play?"

Mason thought it was a joke at first, but she quickly found out it wasn't. "Christine and I uno-dosed, but as terrible as I was, it made me want to move out here (Southern California) and play." So if it weren't for Dalas Dodd, Mason would not have pursued her career playing professional beach volleyball. After a successful college career at Indiana University, the 5'10Ó Mason spent some time developing her beach skills on the MPVA Tour, but she wasn't dreaming of some day competing in the Queen of the Beach. That phone call from Jon Stevenson changed everything.

Ms. Mason was prepared to win in Las Vegas in October 2000 and a lot of winning she did.

Seeded 12th among 14 contenders in the Queen of the Beach tournament held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas from October 5th through October 8th, Mason had to earn her way out of the qualifier on Thursday to contend for the Queen' crown. She played on Thursday in a pool of 4 players, only one of which would advance to Friday's play. The other players in her pool were Stephanie Cox, Katie Eldridge, and Rachel Wacholder. All these players, except Wacholder, were seeded higher than Mason, but Nancy had no other expectation but to emerge the winner of her pool and that's just what she did.

Having advanced out of Thursday's competition, Mason's next goal was to advance to Sunday's final 4 players - and then take a shot at becoming the Queen. The Hard Rock Hotel's odds-makers weren't exactly favoring Mason to advance, but once again, she beat the odds by winning 2 of the 3 games she played on Friday and Saturday in her pool. Her pool consisted of Holly McPeak, Leanne Shuster, Linda Hanley, and herself. Unlike the qualifier pool on Thursday that advanced only one player, this time both Holly McPeak and Nancy Mason advanced to Sunday's competition, joining Barbra Fontana and Elaine Youngs from the other pool.

Sunday's competition was tough if your name wasn't Barbra Fontana. All three games played were won by the team that Fontana was on and thus Fontana was crowned the Queen. For the other three contestants, including Mason, the key to placing 2nd, 3rd, or 4th was how many points you could get playing against Fontana's team. This race for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th turned out to be a tight race that ended for Mason in 4th place. Here are the games played an Sunday with their results:

Barbra Fontana/Lisa Arce - 15
def.
Holly McPeak/Nancy Mason - 6

Barbra Fontana/Holly McPeak - 15
def.
Elaine Youngs/Nancy Mason - 7

Barbra Fontana/Nancy Mason - 15
def.
Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs - 9

So only a few points separated Youngs (2nd), McPeak (3rd), and Mason (4th). In the last game, when Mason played with Fontana, Mason had two goals. She wanted to get at least 7 points with Fontana, because that would have been enough to secure the crown for Fontana. Mason also wanted to go farther. She wanted to win the game and hold McPeak and Youngs points down enough to finish higher herself.

In the end, Mason achieved a lot. Playing with partner Rachel Wacholder, Mason performed well enough on the 2000 BVA (Beach Volleyball America) Tour, including a 2nd place finish in Hermosa Beach, to be invited to the Queen of the Beach. Once there, she advanced out of the qualifier competition to play with veterans Holly McPeak, Linda Hanley, Barbra Fontana, Lisa Arce, Elaine Youngs, Leanne Shuster, and Rookie of the Year Misty May. From there, she advanced once again to play in the final four on Sunday. On Sunday, she finished 4th, but only a narrow margin separated her from Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs.

Look for Smack Sportswear sponsored Nancy Mason to reach even higher achievements in the 2001 season.

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