Sisters athletes play in beach volleyball tourney

The EVP (Extreme Volleyball Professionals) tour made its way to the Pacific Northwest on July 26-27 along the Seaside, Oregon, coast.

The Harrer family fielded three players in three different divisions.

Janice competed in the Women's Pro Open and finished third, Hannah, 14, competed in the Juniors Division and finished third, and Tom and Janice competed in the Mixed Doubles Division, finishing first.

The Harrers moved to Sisters last August from Honolulu, Hawaii, where they have competed in Pro Beach Volleyball for the last 20 years. Having traveled all over the country and different parts of the world, Janice had never competed at Seaside.

"It was exciting to compete for the first time on the Oregon coast, the competition was good and it was refreshing to be back at the beach," she said.

Tom and Janice have a long history of success in the mixed game and, as Tom described it, "enjoyed showing some of the younger competitors that a pair of 40-somethings still have some game."

Janice is a retired beach professional with 13 career Open wins and was an Olympic Alternate in Atlanta in 1996. Since moving to Sisters, Janice has also been a substitute teacher, while Tom is a physical therapist who has been doing on-call physical therapy in Central Oregon, primarily working at GreenRidge Physical Therapy in Sisters.