Switching up teams midway through a game, no scoring and high-fiving the “opponents” on particularly good plays are not the hallmarks of a typical volleyball game but they are the typical of the camaraderie and goodwill present at the annual Lori Bassett-Branco volleyball marathon.

Held on Oct. 12, the event saw 22 attendees play around four hours of volleyball at the Yolo gym and raise $1,054 for breast cancer research, said event organizer Kiyo Yamamoto.

“It’s not about keeping score,” Yamamoto said. “It’s all about having fun and helping a good cause.”

Yamamoto and Bassett-Branco have been friends since Bassett-Branco began playing in Yamamoto’s adult volleyball league. When Bassett-Branco was diagnosed with cancer, Yamamoto was one of the friends she could count on for help and when she went into recovery, Yamamoto felt it was a milestone to celebrate.

“She’s a survivor and it seemed like a good time to recognize and honor that,” Yamamoto said.

It seemed obvious to Yamamoto that the celebration should be rooted in volleyball, since that is how the two met and what forged their initial bond. She stated the volleyball marathon in 2017 and has been holding it every year since, minus when they couldn’t in 2020. The event has players pay a registration fee and then play for four hours.

“They’d probably play to midnight if I let them,” Yamamoto said laughingly. “They’re having so much fun.”

Yamamoto likes to keep the fun going by mixing up the players mid-match.

“I’ll call out to have all the players wearing pink move to the next court or have all the girls move over to the next one,” Yamamoto said. “It keeps it fun and makes it social for everyone.”

All the funds raised from the marathon are donated to the school district’s dig pink fundraising efforts.

When Bassett-Branco learned what Yamamoto planned to do in regards to the very first volleyball marathon, she said it left her floored – in a good way.

“It was awesome,” Bassett-Branco said. “Kiyo is such a good friend. I felt so honored that she did this for me and that everybody comes out to support such a good cause.”

Learning that she had cancer was a complete shock for Bassett-Branco, who had no family history of it. Her diagnosis was especially rare. On one breast there was a visible lump and in the run up to the surgery, her doctors at UC San Francisco found another one on the other beast that was hidden and deep. One was aggressive and one wasn’t. She had a lumpectomy and then underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. She later was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and underwent treatment. She is now completely cancer-free.

“I wasn’t diligent with my mammograms,” Bassett-Branco said. “It had probably been three or four years since I had gotten one. That’s the advice I would give to all women – be diligent.”