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
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