From August 30, 2019 to September 1, 2019 the second to last stop of the 2019 AVP season happened in Chicago, Illinois. The blogs covering this stop will be a little different because this blog will have the #1 ranked teams of each gender while the next blog will have the other men's and women's teams I'm covering for this AVP stop. The #1 ranked teams are Casey Patterson and Chase Budinger for the men along with April Ross and Alix Klineman for the women. The first team I'll cover will be Chase and Casey so let's get into this blog for Chicago.
Chase and Casey's first match was aginst #16 ranked Mark Burick and Piotr Marciniak. The first set ended at 21-15 with Chase and Casey taking that set. The second set ended at 21-15 as well with Burick and Marciniak taking that set and causing a third set to happen. The third set ended at 15-9 with Chase and Casey taking that set as well and moving on in the winner's bracket. Their next game was against Casey's partner for the 2018 season, Stafford Slick, and his current partner, Billy Allen. With Casey and Chase ranked #1 while Billy and Stafford were ranked #8, it was an intense match. The first set ended close at 23-21 with Casey and Chase taking that set. The second set ended at 21-14 with Casey and Chase taking that set and knocking Stafford and Billy into the contender's bracket. Casey and Chase's third match of the tournament was against the #20 ranked team of Paul Lotman and Miles Partain. With the winner of this match advancing to the semifinals, the game was itnese. The first set ended at 21-19 with Casey and Chase taking that set. The second set was just as close, ending at 23-21 with Casey and Chase taking that set as well and knocking Lotman and Partain into the contender's bracket. Casey and Chase's next match was against the #2 team of Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb. With this match being the semifinals, you'll have to wait for the blog covering the semifinals and finals to see who won that match.
Chase (left) and Casey (right) high five between points during their match against Stafford and Billy. Don't forget to follow the pair on Instagram: @caseypatt and @budinger10
Next up is the #1 team on the women's side, April Ross and Alix Klineman. Their first match was against the #16 team of Zana Muno and Chrissy Jones. The first set ended at 21-8 with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended at 22-20 with April and Alix taking that set as well and knocking Zana and Chrissy into the contender's bracket. Their next match was against the #8 team of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan. With Sarah and Melissa beating April and Alix for the Manhattan Beach Championship, April and Alix really wanted revenge. the first set ended at 21-8 with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended at 21-19 in favor of April and Alix. That means that the pair knocked the winners of the previous stop into the contender's bracket. Their next match was against the #5 team of Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil. with the winner automatically moving on to the semifinals, the pressure was on for both teams. The first set ended at 21-10 with April and Alix taking that set. The second set ended at 21-16 with April and Alix taking that set as well and moving on to the semifinals. April and Alix took on Sarah Hughes and Brandie Wilkerson in the semifinals so that game will be in a later blog covering the semifinals and finals of Chicago.
April (left) and Alix (right) celebrate after getting the point to win a match. Don't forget to follow the pair, as well as their coach Jennifer Kessy, on Instagram: @aprilrossbeach, @alixklineman, and @jenniferkessy
Stay tuned for my next blog covering #4 on the women's side, Emily Stockman and Kelley Larsen, as well as #13 on the men's side, Bill Kolinske and Eric Beranek. For those still wondering about why I didn't split the Chicago blogs into Men's and Women's like earlier in the season, you'll have to check out the next blog explaining that. Until next time, Miller out.
~J. Miller
No comments:
Post a Comment