Inaugural Greeley Stampede volleyball tournament a hit for all involved ...Saudi Arabia

Typically, the Greeley Stampede brings out the finest cowboy boots and hats, the shiniest belt buckles and jeans so starched they could stand up on their own.

But on Sunday, nearly 100 competitors traded out the Western wear for something a little lighter.

Ninety-six people competed in 24 teams across six courts for the inaugural Greeley Stampede volleyball tournament Sunday afternoon south of Aven’s Village Playground. The dozens of onlookers had to keep their head on a swivel as volleyballs flew in from every which direction.

“It’s fun to see everybody compete,” University of Northern Colorado sophomore defensive specialist Finley Schelhaas said. “And seeing how excited everybody was getting. The love for volleyball truly doesn’t die even when you’re a little older.”

While volleyball is not the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when they think of the Stampede, the organization is always looking for ways to get more people involved in the festivities.

“Our CEO, Justin Watada, is always trying to make the event better,” Stampede volunteer coordinator Charity Ray said. “… We constantly try to get better, improve, add things that the community enjoys. And UNC Athletics is one of our sponsors, so it’s kind of like, how can we use the resources we have?”

As the vendor coordinator, Ray is typically up to her ears in permits and contracts. But, as Watada looked around the room after pitching the idea, his eyes went straight to Ray.

She played for 15 years growing up in Kersey and was a big UNC volleyball fan as a child — though simply calling her a fan may be a bit of an understatement, she joked, reminiscing about the blue and gold skirt she would don to home games.

“Charity used to come to our UNC volleyball camps,” UNC volleyball coach Lyndsey Oates said. “And she came to basically every game.”

When Ray pitched the idea to Oates, it was an easy yes. It was a good, fun way to raise some money for the program without much upfront cost.

The Stampede fronted most of what few expenses there were — primarily a T-shirt, water bottle and drink ticket for each competitor. Once the Stampede recoups everything it spent, the proceeds all benefit the UNC volleyball program.

Plus, there are much worse ways to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon than sitting in the grass at the Stampede. A little afternoon rain shower that brought overcast skies for the back half of the event didn’t hurt, either.

“All the players are in town, and they love the Stampede,” Oates said. “A Sunday afternoon is a good day. Our players didn’t have anything. It’s a win-win.”

This year’s tournament — which both Oates and Ray hope will be the first of many — featured 24 teams: 16 in the competitive division and eight in the recreational division.

Each team was guaranteed four matches — three in pool play, which were two games to 21. Teams were then seeded by point differential and put into a single-elimination bracket. The tournament games were to 15, best two of three.

“Block Her? I Hardly Know Her,” was one of the more clever names in a group that was not short on creativity. (Some personal favorites include “All Bark, No Spike,” “How I Set Your Mother” and “Chewblockas”)

They wouldn’t divulge who “Her” was, but it surely wasn’t in reference to Oates. Over the past year-plus, two of the members, Zane Branham and Benjamin Alexander, have become pretty familiar with Oates and the rest of the Bears volleyball program.

Branham and Alexander — whose father, Ron, was the head coach when Oates began her career as an assistant 22 years ago — were two of the dozens competing on Sunday. They are also the only two men’s practice players, or “hired arms,” as they called it, tasked with competing against the UNC volleyball team almost daily.

Branham — who Alexander immediately pointed to when asked who the better player is — focuses almost exclusively on practicing with the team. That entails scrimmaging, running drills and imitating opposing players the UNC is about to face — which Branham said is especially useful come NCAA tournament time when the competition gets stiffer and the players get bigger and more athletic.

Alexander, who hopes to follow in his dad’s footsteps, is also the team’s primary technical coordinator — which entails reviewing practice film, taking advanced stats and coding them into a program that allows players to review film broken down into specific categories.

“If they want to watch all their digs, they can go back and watch all their digs,” Alexander said. “And they don’t have to watch the whole game.”

He does the same thing during games, only in real time so the coaching staff can reference statistics without having to necessarily wait for a break in play.

“I want to be a coach after college,” Alexander said. “So it’s great to get that technical side of it, too.”

And though the tournament didn’t go quite as they had hoped — losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual runner-ups after securing the No. 1 seed during pool play — both said they had fun and hope to do it again next year if their schedules allow.

The tournament also demonstrated the camaraderie and excitement that volleyball evokes across northern Colorado. The entire afternoon friendly banter was fired across the net — and even from court to court.

“They all seem to know each other,” Schelhaas said. “It’s cool, like some people that were on a team at the Zebra tournament (an annual fundraiser UNC hosts with proceeds going to combat child marriage in Africa) were facing each other this time. It seems like one big group of friends.”

Winner, Winner

At the end of the day, it really was “Game Over” for all but one team in each division.

In the competitive division, “Game Over,” made up of Aaron Estrella, Sheila Martinez, Verenice Chaparro and Francisco Schryock took home gold.

“Water Hose Kids,” consisting of Meghan Chrisenson, Justin Scholz, Danielle Shields and Paul Christensen topped the recreational division.

Each team took home four tickets to either Scotty McCreery (July 3) or Parker McCollum (July 5), four tickets to American Bull Fighting (July 4) and four season tickets to UNC volleyball for 2025.

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