Beauty and the Beach

Holly Stein photos

Suzanne Stonebarger, left, and Michelle More make up "Team Gorgeous."

Team Gorgeous turns heads on AVP Tour

By ERIC McHUGH
The Patriot Ledger

When it comes to their beach volleyball pairing, Suzanne Stonebarger says she's the do-er and teammate Michelle More is the thinker.

Well, More probably should have thought a little longer before she let Stonebarger do this.

"When I was a freshman (at Nevada-Reno) I hosted Michelle (then a high school senior) on her recruiting trip," Stonebarger recalled. "Luckily, she chose to go to our school. I guess I did a good job."

With the sales job, yes. With the dye job ... um, not so much.

"I'm always the adventurous type," More said. "I had been wanting to do something to my hair, so Suzanne said, 'Oh, I do everyone's hair here.' One of the nights we were just hanging around (in the dorm) with a bunch of the girls from the team and we ordered pizza and she said, 'Oh, why don't we dye your hair?' She mentioned afterward that she had never dyed a brunette's hair before, only blondes. I didn't find that out until after."

"It's a little hard to go blonde when you have black hair," Stonebarger confessed with a laugh. "Unfortunately, she looked like a skunk."

Luckily, there was no long-term damage. Good for More because bad hair days are not permitted when you're half of "Team Gorgeous." The immodest nickname certainly fits - gentlemen, you can judge for yourselves during the Bob's Stores Boston Open in Quincy - although Stonebarger, 27, and More, 26, assure us that they're not raging narcissists.

"We don't take it too seriously, obviously," More said. "It's more like a joke to us."

"No, we didn't come up with it ourselves," Stonebarger said. "It's kind of funny how we got that name. Our first year (on the AVP Crocs Tour) our volleyball game struggled a lot. But the crew, who does an amazing job of setting up (each tour event) were probably our biggest fans that year. They started calling us 'Team Gorgeous' as kind of a joke. It just kind of stuck with us."

Now the two Californians wear it as something of a badge of honor. Allegiances can change quickly on the tour, where players routinely swap partners while trying to find just the right two-player combination. But Stonebarger and More have been inseparable since they began playing on the sand in 2004.

Longevity plus beauty equals an attractive package for adoring fans and sponsors.

"Of course, we embrace it," Stonebarger said. "It's a great marketing tool. That name helps."

The lone downside? More says it might inspire their opponents.

"I definitely think the attention we get can sometimes fire up other teams because we get a lot of press and the fans do recognize us a lot more," she said. "Maybe some teams are out to beat us more because we are a lot more recognized off the court."

Stonebarger and More were decorated college players who opted for the beach scene as a lark. They found the transition from the six-a-side indoor game to the two-player outdoor version to be jarring.

"It's like two different sports," said the 5-foot-9 Stonebarger, who usually plays back while More (6-1) patrols the net. "Indoors you isolate one or two skills and you become like either a middle blocker or a back-row player. On the beach you have to be completely well-rounded with your ball-control and incorporate all the skills."

The new dynamic contributed to their slow start in 2004. That, and the partying.

"Our first year was more fun," More said. "We had the fun side of the AVP. A lot of going out, a lot of meeting new people. That was really a social year."

The two decided to buckle down in 2005 and they seemed to be making progress. In 2006 they placed as high as fifth (twice) and tied for seventh at the season-ending championships in Lake Tahoe, Calif. This season has been a struggle, though. Heading into the Manhattan Beach tour stop Aug. 9-12 their high-water mark was a tie for ninth place in the first event of the year, in Miami back in April. They had been in the 13th- to 17th-place range ever since and were 13th in the Crocs Cup standings.

"We had high hopes," More said. "This has been our first real hiccup. But every athlete goes through a point in time when they're down on their game and not playing to the best of their ability. We're confident that we'll get back on track and keep climbing up that ladder."

"We still have a lot of the season left," Stonebarger agreed. "There's a lot that we can do to make up for the beginning of our year."

Eric McHugh may be reached at emchugh@ledger.com.