AVP is back! Yay!
Over the weekend, 1 men’s & 1 women’s beach team are $20,000 richer after winning the AVP Cincinnati Open.
2012 Olympic silver medalists Jen Kessy and April Ross dominated the women’s tournament and defeated the new tandem of 3-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh and Nicole Branagh in the gold medal match (21-11, 21-18).
Here’s the complete women’s ranking:
1. Jennifer Kesey-Jen Ross
2. Nicole Branagh-Kerri Walsh
3. Jenny Kropp-Whitney Pavlik
4. Jennifer Fopma-Brooke Sweat
5. Christal Engle-Tealle Hunkus
6. Brooke Niles-Tyra Turner
7. Angie Akers-Brittany Hochevar
8. Kristen Batt-Raquel Ferreira
9. Lauren Fendrick-Rachel Scott
10. Morgan Beck-Priscilla Lima
11. Olava Paso-Kendra Van Zwieten
12. Erin Gray-Traci Weamer
After defeating 2008 Olympic Champions Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, Sean Scott and John Hyden brought their powerful game in the final match against Matt Fuerbringer & Nick Lucena (21-17, 21-16).
Here’s the complete men’s ranking:
1. Sean Scott-John Hyden
2. Matt Fuerbringer-Nick Lucena
3. Todd Rogers-Phil Dalhausser
4. Brad Keenan-John Mayer
5. Jake Gibb-Sean Rosenthal
6. Ryan Doherty-Casey Patterson
7. Braidy Halverson-Ty Loomis
8. Ryan Mariano-Ed Ratledge
9. Stein Metzger-Mark Williams
10. Billy Allen-Matt Prosser
11. Paul Baxter-Pedro Brazao
12. Kevin McColloch-Mike Placek
Pre-Tournament Quotes:
“The first time I spoke to someone at the AVP, they were talking very much in a long-term sense. When I say long term, I mean three to five years out. That’s what this plan was all about, and I personally appreciated that because I don’t think I’d ever heard someone in the beach volleyball industry really speaking in those terms before.” -Todd Rogers
“I could have waited for everything to be in order not only in-house but outside, but waiting for one year, people might just forget about it and move on. I felt compelled to revive something — to the fans, players, potential sponsors and media — because I feel like I owe it to the sport of beach volleyball, to bring it back. This is a huge — I would say it’s not the NFL or NBA — but in a lifestyle sport it’s a big name, and to not have it for two years would be completely detrimental to everybody including myself.” -AVP CEO Donald Sun on the relaunching the AVP.
“At first I was very excited, of course, because it was another tour for us to play on — we haven’t had a lot for the last few years and the AVP brand is a big name. But then you start to get a little skeptical because I have played for so long and have played through a few owners and I’ve watched it go under a few times, and you’re just skeptical and you cross your fingers and hope it’s different this time.
It’s something great for women. The fact that it’s always equal prize money and equal air time is really important, and that’s why women and men at this point are always going to be fighting for it to be equal, because it is so important for men and women in our sport to stick together. I’m excited to see a lot of young players getting out there and trying to become professional and making it their careers.” -Jen Kessy
(source: espn.go.com)
More Pics from AVP’s Facebook Page:
Click here to view the men’s results.
Click here to view the women’s results.
Congratulations to all the winners and to every athlete who competed!
Next AVP Tournament? Santa Barbara September 7th-9th, 2012!