Spike the ball, win the games, score a prize . . . and raise some money for a good cause.

November 15 was Beaver Area High School’s first ever Spikeball tournament.

The fundraising tournament was organized by seniors Abraham Naber, Harrison Pontoli, and Mason Rose for their senior project.

"We loved playing Spikeball, we wanted to teach more people how to play, and [the tournament was] something no one has ever done before in Beaver,” explained Pontoli about the trio’s reasons for organizing the event.

All of the tournament’s proceeds were donated to the Sam Dimattero Project. The senior project raised $100 for the SD project. The SD Project organization which began in Pennsylvania raises money for youth athletes all over the world who struggle financially.

For those who don’t know, Spikeball is a relatively new backyard game that has rapidly gained popularity. It’s becoming so popular, that people actually are starting to play the game professionally.

Spikeball is played a little like beach volleyball in that there’s a net and two two-person teams. But now the net is round, about three feet in diameter, and stretched across a circular frame sitting on the ground like a little trampoline.

The idea of the game is to use your partner to complete volleyball-like passes which throw off your opponents while standing around the net. You are allowed no more than two passes between you and your partner before your team must spike the ball into the low circular net.

As the ball bounces off of the net, the other team must intercept the ball and repeat the process. If a team fails to spike the ball onto the net, the other team wins.

“I was surprised by the intensity of the game, and after watching it in action I really wanted to play,” shared Spikeball noob and PE teacher Ms. Susan Pilarski.

The tournament was arranged as a single-elimination bracket with each round consisting of a best-of-three games arrangement. Ten two-person teams competed.

After four rounds of play the team of seniors Jack Yanssens and Sammy Kissick were victorious.

"The win felt great. Going into the tournament we knew that [seniors] Matt [Lipinski] and Gil [Hankinson] would be our toughest competition, considering [organizers] Harrison and Mason weren’t playing. After going down one game in a best-of-three it felt great to come back and win it all,” explained Yanssens.

After being contacted by the tournament organizers, the Spikeball company generously donated six sets which included the net, frame, and ball for the tournament to use. Three of the sets were used during tournament play, two were awarded as prizes to the tournament winners, and one was left with the school for future PE class use.