AVP Austin 2019: Male Tournament

Dear Readers~


From May 17-19, 2019 the AVP had their second stop of the 2019 season in Austin, Texas. The two men's teams I'll be covering are #5 ranked Tim Bomgren and Troy Field as the first men's team along with #1 ranked Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb as the second men's team I'll be covering.

Up first is the #5 ranked team of Bomgren and Field. After making it to the semifinals in Huntington Beach, the pair really wanted to make it to the finals so stay tuned to see what they do to make that happen. Their first match was against the #12 ranked team of Duncan Budinger, Chase Budinger's older brother, and Kyle Friend. The first set ended 21-18 with Bomgren and Field taking that set. the second set ended 21-15 with Bomgren and Field taking that set as well and getting a 2-0 sweep over Budinger and Friend. The next match they played was against #4 ranked Jeremy Casebeer and Chaim Schalk. The first set ended 21-19 with Casebeer and Schalk taking that set. The second set ended 21-14 with Casebeer and Schalk taking that set as well and getting a 2-0 sweep over Bomgren and Field, sending them to the contender's bracket. While in the contender's bracket, the first team they played there was the #10 ranked pair of Michael Brunsting and Ty Loomis. The first set ended 21-19 with Brunsting and Loomis taking that set. The second set ended 21-17 with Bomgren and Field taking that second set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended at 15-12 with Bomgren and Field taking the third set and moving on. Their next game was against the #14 ranked team of Skyler del Sol and Bruno Amorim. The first set ended 21-14 with Bomgren and Field taking the first set. The second set ended at 21-16 with Bomgren and Field taking that set as well and knocking another team out of the tournament. Their next match was against #3 ranked team of Ed Ratledge and Rafu Rodriguez, the 2018 AVP San Francisco Open champions. the first set was close, ending at 23-21 with Bomgren and Field taking that set. The second set ended 21-18 with Ratledge and Rogriguez winning that set and causing a third set to happen. the third set ended 15-6 with Bomgren and Field winning the game and knocking the #3 ranked team out of the tournament. Their next game was against #4 Casebeer and Schalk for the second time at this tournament, because it was the semifinals that game will be covered in a later blog when I cover the semifinals and finals of the men's and women's teams competing in Austin.

Tim (black hat) and Troy (pink hat) celebrate after making it to their second consecutive semifinal of the 2019 AVP season and only their second tournament together. Don't forget to follow them on Instagram to keep up with their 2019 season: @troyfield_beach and @timbomgren

The second men's team I'll be covering is the #1 ranked team of Jake and Taylor. Their first match was against the #16 ranked team of Paul Lotman and Gabriel Ospina. The first set ended 21-18 with Taylor and Jake taking the first set. The second set was much closer, ending at 23-21 with Lotman and Ospina taking that set and causing a third set to happpen. That third set ended 15-13 with Lotman and Ospina taking that set and knocking  Jake and Taylor into the contender's bracket. Taylor and Jake's next game was against the unranked pair of Mark Burik and Ian Satterfield. Taylor and Jake won the first set 21-19 as well as the second set at 21-18 and moving on while Burik and Satterfield got knocked out of the tournament. Their next game was against#6 Eric Zaun and Avery Drost. The first set ended 21-16 with Taylor and Jake winning that set as well as winning the second set 21-13 and knocking Drost and Zaun out of the tournament. the next team they played was against #7 ranked Chase Frishman and Piotr Marciniak. The first set ended 21-17 with Taylor and Jake taking that set. The second set ended 21-19 with Frishman and Marciniak taking that set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended at 15-10 with Taylor and Jake winning the set and knocking Frishman and Marciniak out of the tournament. Their next match was against #9 Sean Rosenthal and Ricardo Santos. This game was tough because this would determine who would be in the semifinals. The first set of the match ended 21-19 in favor of Rosenthal and Santos. The second set ended 21-18 with Taylor and Jake getting their revenge and causing a third set. The third set ended 15-12 with Taylor and Jake winning the set and moving on to the semifinals as well as knocking Rosenthal and Santos out of the tournament. Taylor and Jake's next game is against the #2 ranked team of Phil Dalhuasser and Nick Lucena. With this game being the semifinals, you'll have to wait until the blog talking about the semifinals and finals comes out to see how that game went.

This is Taylor and Jake's reaction after making it to the semifinals after defeating Rosenthal and Santos. Don't forget to follow both of these on Instagram: @jakesgibb and @trcrabbs

That  concludes the men's tournament from the 2019 AVP Austin Open. Don't forget to check out my previous blogs covering some of the teams that competed at the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open back in early May. Stay tuned for my next blog when I cover some of the female teams that competed there at the 2019 AVP Austin Open. Until next time, Miller out


~J. Miller

AVP Huntington Beach 2019: Semifinals/Finals

Dear Readers~


On May 5, 2019 the semifinals and finals for the men and women competing at the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open happened. The men competing include #8 Trevor Crabb and Tri Bourne taking on #1 Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb while #7 Tim Bomgren and Troy Field played against #6 Casey Patterson and Chase Budinger. The women competing include #1 April Ross and Alix Klineman taking on #2 Sara Hughes and Summer Ross while #4 Emily Day and Betsi Flint took on #14 Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan.

The first women's semifinal was April and Alix taking on Summer and Sara. The first set was close, ending at 25-23, with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended at 21-18 with Summer and Sara taking that set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended at 15-9 with April and Alix taking the set and advancing to the finals. In case you're wondering, there's no relation to Summer and April, unlike other players on the AVP with similar last names, like husband and wife pair of Billy and Janelle Allen, or brothers Riley and Maddison McKibbin.

The second women's semifinal was Betsi and Emily taking on Melissa and Sarah. The first set ended 21-19 with Emily and Betsi taking that set. The second set ended at 21-12 with Melissa and Sarah taking that set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended at 16-14 with Melissa and Sarah taking it and advancing to the finals as well as knocking Betsi and Emily out of the tournament.

The first men's semifinal was Trevor and Tri taking on Jake and Taylor. The first set ended at 21-14 with Taylor and Jake winning that set. The second set ended 21-18 with Tri and Trevor taking that set and pushing it to a third set. That third set ended 15-11 with Taylor and Jake winning that set and advancing to the finals as well as knocking Tri and Trevor out of the tournament. For those wondering, yes Trevor and Taylor are brothers with Trevor being the older one of the two.

The second men's semifinal was Tim and Troy taking on Casey and Chase. The first set ended 21-16 with Chase and Casey taking that set. The second set ended 21-19 with Chase and Casey taking that set as well and advancing to play Taylor and Jake in the finals. This was Troy's first semifinal appearance ever since starting his career at the Austin Open back in 2018.

The women's final was April and Alix taking on Melissa and Sarah. The first set ended close at 21-18 with Melissa and Sarah taking that set. The second set ended at 21-12 with April and Alix taking that set and pushing the match to a third set. The third set was the closest of the three during the women's finals. That set ended at 17-15 with April and Alix winning that third set and becoming the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open champions, as well as the pair winning their fourth straight AVP tournament, since they won the tournaments in Manhattan Beach, Chicago, and Hawaii at the end of the 2018 season.

This is a picture of the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open Champions, Alix Klineman (left) and April Ross (right) Don't forget to follow them on Instagram to follow their 2019 season full of international travels: @aprilrossbeach and @aklineman10 along with their coach, Silver medalist at London 2012 Jennifer Kessy: @jenniferkessy

The men's final was Taylor and Jake taking on Casey and Chase. The first set ended very close at 27-25 with Taylor and Jake taking that set. The second set was close, but not as close as the first. The score at the end of that set was 21-14 with Taylor and Jake winning the set and defeating Chase and Casey in back to back sets to become the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open men's champions.

These two are your 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open champions, Taylor Crabb (left) and Jake Gibb (right) Make sure to follow them as their 2019 season is full of international travels: @tcrabbs and @jakesgibb Don't forget to follow their coach, gold medalist at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Rich Lambourne: @richyusa

That concludes my blog covering the semifinals and finals for both men and women at the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open in Huntington Beach, California. Stay tuned as I get ready to cover the next AVP stop in Austin, Texas in my next blog. Don't forget to see how some of the other teams did, like the McKibin brothers along with Stafford Slick and Billy Allen in my blog over some of the men's teams at Huntington or if you prefer the women's side, there's a blog covering how April and Alix played before the semifinals and finals along with the youngest players to ever play in an AVP main draw, 16 year olds Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple. Until next time, Miller out

Before I officially end this blog there is some big news that dropped on Thursday, June 13, 2019 coming from the official Instagram page of the AVP about professional beach volleyball athlete Eric Zaun. That post is put below so if there's more you'd like to know about Zaun as a person Travis Merwhitter wrote a tribute about him for P1440 which is linked here for those that are willing to check it out but just a warning so you can be ready: The stories Travis tells are very sad and have gotten several people emoional: https://p1440.com/news/you-cannot-replace-an-eric-zaun/ Eric was one of the reasons I wanted to attend the 2019 AVP Manhattan Beach Open in mid August. Things will never be the same on the AVP or the FIVB. You will be missed Eric. Eric Zaun 1993-2019

Y'all may find this hard to believe but he was born only 6 years before me. If you'd like to follow Zaun on Instagram, his username is here: @ericzaunbeachvolley

~J. Miller

AVP Huntington Beach 2019: Female Tournament

Dear Readers~


In my previous blog I covered a few of the male teams competing in Huntington Beach for the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open happening May 3-5, 2019. The male teams were Riley and Maddison McKibbin along with Billy Allen and Stafford Slick, so now it's time to cover the women's bracket. The two teams I chose to cover were #24 ranked Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple along with #1 ranked Alix Klineman and April Ross.

You're probably wondering why out of all of the teams competing at the Huntington Beach main draw did I choose the #24 team. That's because Kraft and Maple are each only 16 years old, making them the youngest athletes to ever compete in the main draw of an AVP event since the AVP started back in 1983 and had it's first tournament in 1984. Both have also been accepted to play beach at UsC and haven't even graduated high school. Now it's time to see how the 16 year olds did. In their first match in the main draw, they played against the #9 ranked team of Brittany Hochaver and Carly Wopat. The first set ended at 21-12 with Brittany and Carly taking the first set. The second set was closer, ending at 21-18, with Brittany and Carly taking that set as well and putting Maple and Kraft into the contender's bracket. The next match Maple and Kraft played was against the #23 team of twin sisters Audrey and Nicole Nourse, better known as the Nourse twins who turned 18 just days before this tournament, meaning that this match was only teenagers playing. The first set ended at 21-13 with Maple and Kraft taking the first set. The second set was a little closer, ending at 21-15, with Maple and Kraft taking that set as well and knocking the Nourse twins out of the tournament. The third game Maple and Kraft played was against the #16 ranked team of Brittany Tiegs and Jessica Sykora. The first set ended at 21-17 with Tiegs and Sykora taking the first set. The second set was close, ending at 22-20, with Maple and Kraft taking that set and causing a third set. The third set ended at 16-14 with Tiegs and Sykora taking that set and knocking Maple and Kraft out of the tournament.


The second women's team I'll be covering is the #1 ranked April Ross and Alix Klineman. Their first match was against #17 ranked Alexa Strainge and Emily Hortong. The first set ended 21-10 with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended 21-18 with April and Alix taking that set as well and knocking Strange and Hortong into the contender's bracket. Their second match was against #9 Brittany Hochaver and Carly Wopat. The first set ended 21-19 with April and Alix taking the first set. The second set ended 21-9 with April and Alix taking that set as well and knocking Hochaver and Wopat into the contender's bracket. The next match was against #4 ranked Emily Day and Betsi Flint. The first set ended 21-17 with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended 21-15 with April and Alix taking that set as well and knocking another team into the contender's bracket. The next game April and Alix played was against #2 Sara Hughes and Summer Ross, because this was a semifinal match that game will be saved for a later blog along with the other semifinal and final matches so stay tuned for that.

April (front) and Alix (back) just doing what they love in Huntington Beach, California. Don't forget to follow April and Alix on Instagram as they work their way to the Tokyo Olympics: @aprilrossbeach and @aklineman10

That concludes the women's bracket of the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open in Huntington Beach, California. Don't forget to check out my previous blog as I covered the men's bracket and stay tuned for my next blog as I cover the semifinal and final matches of the tournament on both the men's and women's sides of the bracket. Until then, Miller out


~J. Miller

AVP Huntington Beach 2019: Male Tournament

Dear Readers~


From May 3-5, 2019 the first AVP stop of the season happened in Huntington Beach, California. Because it was the same weekend as the national finals for the NCAA's indoor and beach seasons, athletes like Terese Cannon, Sarah Sponcil, and Irene Pollock were unable to compete since they were in Gulf Shores playing or coaching for the NCAA. In the first blog covering the first stop of the 2019 AVP season, I'll be covering a couple of the male teams in this blog and few of the female teams in my next blog. The two male teams I decided to cover was the #14 ranked Mckibbin brothers, Riley and Maddison, with the second team being the #5 ranked Billy Allen and Stafford Slick.

Up first is the #14 ranked Mckibbin brothers. They played 5 matches during the tournament. Their first was against #19 ranked Brandon Clemens and Dylan Maarek. The first set ended at 21-16 with Maddison and Riley taking that set. The second set ended at 21-17 with Clemens and Maarek taking that set and causing a third set. The third set ended at 15-13 with Riley and Maddison taking that set and advancing to the next round in the winner's bracket while Clemens and Maarek were moved to the contender's bracket. The McKibbin's next match was against the 2018 AVP San Francisco champions, #3 ranked Ed Ratledge and Rafu Rodriguez. The first set ended at 21-18 with Ratledge and Rodriguez taking that set. The second set ended at 21-17 with Ratledge and Rodriguez taking that set as well and having a 2 set sweep over Maddison and Riley. That game moved Riley and Maddison to the contender's bracket while Ratledge and Rodriguez moved on in the winner's bracket. The third game the brothers played was against #20 ranked Andrew Dentler and Daniele Dalanhese. The first set ended at 21-11 in favor of Dentler and Dalanhese. The second set ended at 21-19 with Maddison and Riley taking that set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended very close at 15-13 in favor of Maddison and Riley. After defeating the #20 ranked team, the Mckibbin brothers played the #21 ranked team of Logan Webber and Christian Honer. The first set ended at 19-21 with Webber and Honer taking the first set. Maddison and Riley came back in the second to win it 21-15 and cause a third set. The third set ended 15-10 and knocking Webber and Honer out of the tournament. The next team the McKibbin's played was the #1 ranked team of Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb. The first set ended 21-7 with Taylor and Jake taking that set. The second set ended at 21-16 with Maddison and Riley taking their revenge and causing a third set. The third set ended at 15-8 with Taylor and Jake winning the third set and the match. After losing that match, Maddison and Riley were knocked out of the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open while Taylor and Jake advanced to more matches at the tournament. Don't forget to check out the vlog Riley and Maddison did covering the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open where they introduced some of the new teams titled "EXCITING NEW TEAMS on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour" so click the link below to check that out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbheNBz0wY

This is the thumbnail of Riley and Maddison's first vlog of the 2019 AVP season so I highly recommend checking it out on YouTube

Another men's team I'll be covering is the reunited partnership of #5 ranked Stafford Slick and Billy Allen. For those that don't know, during the 2018 season, Billy was partnered up with Ryan Doherty while Stafford was partnered up with 2016 Olympian, Casey Patterson. After the 2018 season, Billy and Stafford agreed to play together like they had back in 2017, where they actually made it to the finals at AVP stops like New York, where they played Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb, along with the stop in Seattle, where they took on Trevor Crabb and Sean Rosenthal. Allen and Slick's first game was against the #12 ranked team of Mark Burik and Ian Satterfield. The first set ended at 21-16 with Billy and Stafford taking that set. The second set ended with a very similar score to the first set, at 21-17, with Billy and Stafford taking that set as well, getting a 2-0 sweep over the #15 team of Burik and Satterfield. The next game the pair played were against the #4 ranked team of Jeremy Casebeer and Chaim Schalk. The first set ended at 21-18 with Schalk and Casebeer taking the first set. The second set ended at 21-16 with Casebeer and Schalk taking that set as well as sending Billy and Stafford into the contender's bracket. While in the contender's bracket, their next match was against two Olympians, Sean Rosenthal and Ricardo Santos. The first set ended at 21-19 with Billy and Stafford taking that set. The second set ended at 21-17 with Santos and Rosenthal taking that set and pushing it to a third. The third set ended just as close, if not closer than the previous 2 sets. That third set ended at 16-14 with Billy and Stafford coming out on top and knocking Rosenthal and Santos out of the tournament. Billy and Stafford's next game was against the #1 ranked team of Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb. The first set was close, ending at 21-18 with Jake and Taylor winning that set. The second set was even closer, ending at 21-19 with Jake and Taylor taking that set as well and having a 2-0 sweep over Billy and Stafford. For those wondering, this was actually Taylor and Jake's very next game after taking on the McKibbin's as mentioned earlier. With Taylor and Jake knocking Maddison and Riley, then later Billy and Stafford, out of the tournament, that concludes the 2 teams I'll be covering for the men's first 2 days of play in Huntington Beach, California.

This is a picture taken at the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open of Stafford Slick (right with goggles) and Billy Allen (left with back to the camera) Don't forget to follow them on Instagram as they spend the summer traveling the world: @staffordlick and @billyketchallen

Stay tuned for next week when I talk about how two of the female teams did at the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open. Those two teams include a pair of 16 year olds, the youngest athletes to compete at an AVP main draw since the first tournament in 1984, as well as the #1 ranked female team in the AVP this season and most of last season. Until next time, Miller out.


~J. Miller