Local pair put scare into AVP's top team
Sat, Aug 22, 2009 
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MUSKEGON — While Stevo VanderWerp was getting his first taste of the Association of Volleyball Professionals action on Friday morning, partner Pete Goers was enjoying his last hurrah.
VanderWerp, 19, and Goers, 36, both of Grand Haven, put forth a valiant effort on Friday, but came up short in their two matches at the AVP Muskegon Open, held at Pere Marquette Beach.
The local pair opened with the world's top beach volleyball team, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, the reigning world champions and the gold medal winners at the Beijing Olympics. VanderWerp and Goers actually led the first game, 18-17, before losing that contest, 21-19. Game 2 was also close before the top-seeded team of Dalhausser and Rogers pulled away late for a 21-16 win.
"We definitely gave them a match, for sure," said VanderWerp, who along with Goers earned a spot in the AVP by winning the Midwest Professional Volleyball Association (MPVA) season championship the past two years. "It was a great experience. We had a lot of fans out there supporting us. We played really well and gave them more than they expected."
The 6-foot-9-inch Dalhausser and the 6-2 Rogers have each won over $1 million in their beach volleyball careers and have a combined 81 first-place finishes on the AVP.
VanderWerp and Goers went on to lose their second match in the double-elimination tournament to Jonathan Acosta, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Joey Dykstra of Hermosa Beach, Calif., who owned the 16th seed in the tournament. Acosta and Dykstra won the opening game, 21-17, then took the second, 21-15.
Goers, who played full-time on the AVP a decade ago, said it was wonderful to play in the big-time event again, especially alongside his youthful partner.
"It was a lot of fun. My career's winding down, so there aren't going to be too many more opportunities like this," Goers said. "To be on center court, against guys like that, and to do it with Stevo was great. It was a great way to cap off this little segment of my career. It was an honor to be on the court with those guys."
Goers, a veteran on the beach volleyball scene, took VanderWerp under his wing a few years back, and the pair have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success on the MPVA. While Goers' career on the beach is winding down, VanderWerp's future is bright.
"Playing with Steve has given me new life to a career that was winding down," said Goers, who at 6-5 is the intimidating net presence to the 6-0 VanderWerp's speedy back-row play. "To play with somebody of his ability and his relentless energy, him running around doing all the hard work has made my job a lot easier."
While Goers spent Friday night with the Zeeland junior varsity volleyball team that he coaches, VanderWerp and a few friends that play on the U21 national beach volleyball training team went out to dinner with Dalhausser and Rogers.
"My dad (Scott VanderWerp) has known Todd since back when the AVP came to Muskegon in the late '90s," VanderWerp said. "When they come to town, we try to get together; and since the USA team I play on is going to England to represent the United States, we're going to have dinner with them, just to see what they do.
"They're amazing players and great guys, too."
The AVP continues today and wraps up on Sunday at Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon.
