Oct. 22, 2009

Feature written by Clyde Verdin, Jr.

They weren't supposed to make it this far.

For two players that had only been practicing and playing together for a short time, making the finals of one of the largest and most prestigious beach volleyball tournaments in the country wasn't supposed to happen this soon. But there they were, staring down an opponent that had already beaten them earlier in that same event, now vying for the tournament championship. Except this time the outcome was much different. This time, it was the two unknowns who became the fan-favorites, the team everyone seemed to be rooting for. For Juliana Evans, she knew that this would be her moment to shine.

"We played every match like it was our last in order to get to that point (in the championship match)," Evans (formerly Juliana Godoi) commented. "And we knew that we needed to put everything that we had into this one last match."

At the end of the day, Evans and her partner - Kim McGiven - defeated the duo of Sarah Straton and Iwona Lodzik for the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball Championship title.

"It was surreal," Evans said. "It felt amazing because we came from almost nowhere to win one of the biggest volleyball tournaments in the country."

For those who may not be familiar with Evans, you may remember her from her maiden name, Godoi, or her stellar back-row play for the Tiger volleyball team in 2003 that led to her being named Big 12 Defensive Specialist of the Year that season. Now, Evans has found comfort again in the game she loves, nixing the hard court for the beach sand and sun block. Evans said that it is easy to realize the differences between regular volleyball and beach volleyball, with the one glaring difference being having just one teammate as opposed to five other players around you.

"It's a totally different game, made especially for people who like to control the tempo of the match and who like to have their hands on the ball a lot," she said. "It's great for me because I'm used to that style of play when I was playing for Mizzou."

The way the story begins for Evans starts after she left Columbia, Mo., for the sunny skies of California. Like many after college, Evans got married and then began a family, and with any baby comes baby weight, something that Evans was looking to get rid of.

"I wanted to get back in shape," Evans said. "I wanted to find something that would make it fun to workout again and be meaningful. That's when I found beach volleyball."

That's when she found a group of 30 or more people that would always play the sport around her home in San Diego. Soon after, through word of mouth, she would be introduced to her future partner, McGiven.

"After we had been playing for fun, somebody told me that I should try getting a partner and start playing in tournaments," she said. "Then somebody told me about this girl who was coming back from playing overseas that I should look into. It was Kim."

The rest, as they say, is history and the two clicked right away and decided that it was time to start playing in tournaments together.

Ignorance was bliss for Evans and McGiven as they started playing in tournaments around the area in front crowds who had no idea who they were. The sentiment was returned as they had no idea who they were playing, which may have worked to their advantage early in their tournament careers.

"We had no idea who we were playing against, so we just went out there and performed as best as we could," Evans said. "A lot of people thought that it was a fluke that we were playing as well as we did, but to us, we were just kept trying to find out how we stacked up against other competition."

Eventually, the pair made the decision to hire a coach and continue participating in tournaments around California. Evans and McGiven began competing in the US Open qualifying matches that were held around the country to make the tournament, eventually winning the Santa Cruz qualifier.

Although having to re-condition her body and learn a completely new game, Evans attributes a lot of the skills that she acquired, and still uses to this day, to the coaching and teaching of Wayne and Susan Kreklow.

"They made me a better player," she said. "When I went to Mizzou, I was a little older than the rest of the athletes there, but it wasn't a disadvantage and their training prepared me for what I'm doing now."

Now, Evans and McGiven will look to break into the AVP tour against some of the top beach volleyball players in the world, including former Olympic champions. Although it would have been an attainable goal years ago, Evans really isn't too worried about earning an Olympic medal these days.

"It would have been nice, but I would have needed to try out for the Brazilian team and they have some of the best volleyball players in the world," Evans said. "It's a nice dream, but I like where I'm at right now."

In her early 30's, Evans has begun a new career in a sport with other people her age right now, but in the near future she believes it will explode with younger talent. With sand volleyball being sanctioned by the NCAA to become a sport in the next several years, the athletes will start getting younger, opting to stay at home rather than possibly playing overseas.

"The sport seems to be growing every year and I really believe that more girls will want to stay and play beach volleyball, rather than going to Europe to play when they are finished in college," Evans said. "Even though I'm not as young as I used to be, I believe I'll have a long career doing this."