Pro Beach Volleyball: Reno Calls It A Day

It was the end of an era in women's pro beach volleyball at the season ending Beach Volleyball America (BVA) tour event in San Diego, California, the weekend of August 26-27, 2000.

Nancy Reno, who is as well known in the sport of pro beach volleyball for her big block and booming serves, as she is for her colorful, tie-dyed, Grateful Dead, outfits, retired from the sport following her final event in San Diego.

It was fitting that Reno had made it to the championship match in her final tournament, which was held close to her home in Encinitas, California, a 30-minute drive from San Diego.

In fact, she had made it into the championship match in each of her final three tournaments, winning the BVA Long Beach Open on August 19, 2000, with her partner, Elaine Youngs, and finishing second at the BVA Pismo Beach Open, August 12, 2000, with another partner, Leanne Schuster.

But in her final event, on a sunny day on Mariner's Point in San Diego, and in front of big, colorful, section of tie-dyed dressed and painted friends and fans, Reno and Youngs lost a close match, 15-7, to Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan.

Davis and Johnson Jordan, who along with Misty May and Holly McPeak will represent the USA at the Olympics in September, went on to honor Reno after the match. They presented her with a framed tie-dyed shirt in honor of her career and the support she had given them personally in their young careers.

Although she is only 34 and can still play well enough to make it to the finals in tournaments, as she proved the final three weeks of the season, she had decided earlier this year to call it a career at the end of the summer. And she is sticking to her word.

The reason for her retirement is a combination of things -- the pain in her shoulder, which she had surgery on a few years ago, the long and constant travel, especially for international events on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World tour, and most important, the "call of the mountains" back in Colorado, the place she will now call home.

She leaves the sport on top of her game, something not many athletes have been able to do. She closed out the inaugural season of the BVA Tour with one win, three seconds, and a fourth. She was also named the Tour's Best Blocker as well.

For her career, Reno has 38 total wins -- one on the BVA Tour, 20 on the old WPVA (Women's Professional Bolleyball Association) Tour, 10 on the FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball) Tour, and seven on the AVP (Association of Volleyball Players) Tour.

Her 38 wins place her fifth on the career win list behind Karolyn Kirby (67), Jackie Silva of Brazil (58), McPeak (54), and Liz Masakayan (44).

She has won $536,948 in her career, which is fourth on the prize money list behind Kirby, McPeak, and Masakayan.

Her best seasons were in 1995 and 1996, when she won 18 events with McPeak (1995 - eight WPVA, six FIVB; 1996 - three WPVA, one Evian Indoor in New York City).

She and McPeak also finished fifth at the 1996 USA Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Her total win breakdown is 20 with McPeak, 10 with Kirby, four with Angela Rock, and one each with Linda Chisholm, Cammy Ciarelli, Janice Harrer and Youngs.

Her pro beach award list is also impressive. Along with her Best Blocker Award this year, she also won it three previous times in 1992, 1995, and 1996 on the WPVA tour. She was also named the WPVA's Most Improved Player in 1992, and that tour's Top Hitter in 1995.

Reno played her college volleyball from 1984-1987 at Stanford, where she was part of a team that made four consecutive NCAA semifinal appearances. She also received a number of awards and honors in college, including being named an All-American (1987), Pac-10 All-Academic Team selection (1987), NCAA All-Tournament Team selection (1987), U.S. Strength and Conditioning All-American Team selection (1987), and three-time All-Conference Team selection (1985, 1986, 1987).

As she heads to her new home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Reno leaves a wonderful legacy in women's pro beach volleyball.

She is one of the sport's great athletes, leaving her name etched in the record books. She is also one of the sport's most colorful, free spirits, playing her matches in those bright, colorful, tie-dyed outfits, that fans loved to see.

She played the game hard and she played the game to have fun. The fans could see it and they cheered for her every time she was on the court.

Making it to those final three tournament finals just added more to her legacy, proof that she is walking away at the top of her game.

When she walked off the court that last time in San Diego, she walked off it knowing she had given everything she had in her.

The fans cheered loud and Reno smiled and thanked them.

Next year, when the season begins and players take to the beaches in California and around the world, Reno will be sitting high up in the Rocky Mountains enjoying her new life.

Like life, the sport will go on. But Nancy Reno will be missed by all.

VolleyCentral.com is an online volleyball magazine which provides volleyball fans with scores, stories, and interviews on the sport of volleyball. Rick Capone, who has been a writer at e-sports.com since 1998, is the editor of VolleyCentral. The URL is: http://www.volleycentral.com.