IanClarkVolleyball.net-AVP Tour Y2K7 2007 NEW Season Schedule Part III

Ian Clark Volleyball

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Volleyball.com - volleyball.com
Volleyball.org - volleyball.org

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2000 & 2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Seaside Heights,NJ 2006

PART I (1st 10 AVP 2007 events)

PART II (2nd half 8 AVP 2007 events)

PART III (last 4 AVP 2007 events)

Ian Clark's I-MAN I-News Headlines:

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AVP TOUR Y2K7-YEAR 2007

SCHEDULE

2007 Schedule Announcement

Current schedule for the AVP Tour in the year 2007
*All Confirmed Dates

Date Event Site TV

*Febuary 13th 2007 AVP PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOYOTA CHALLENGE Times Union Cntr Albany,NY * Cable,FSNet

*April 13th-15th 2007 AVP QUERVO GOLD CROWN MIAMI OPEN Bicentenial Park Miami, FLA. * Cable,FSNet

*April 19th-22nd 2007 AVP QUERVO GOLD CROWN TEXAS OPEN Ameriquest Field Arlington,TX . * Cable,FSNet

*May 3rd-6th 2007 AVP HUNTINGTON OPEN Huntington Beach Pier Huntington Beach, CA * Cable,FSNet

*May 10th-13th 2007 AVP GLENDALE ARIZONA OPEN Westgate City Center Glendale, ARIZ. * Cable,FSNet

*May 17th-20th 2007 AVP HERMOSA BEACH OPEN Strand Hermosa Beach, CA *Cable,FSNet

*May 24th-27th 2007 AVP LOUISVILLE OPEN Festival Plaza at Waterfront Park Louisville,KY * Cable,FSNet

*May 31st-June 3rd 2007 AVP TAMPA OPEN Tampa, FLA. * Cable,FSNet

*June 7th-10th 2007 AVP ATLANTA OPEN Atlanta,GA * Cable,FSNet

*June 14th-17th 2007 AVP CHARLESTON OPEN Daniel Islnd Family Circle Tennis Center Charleston,SC * Cable,FSNet

*July 5th-8th 2007 AVP SEASIDE HEIGHTS OPEN Seaside Heights,NJ * Cable,FSNet

*July 19th-22nd 2007 AVP LONG BEACH OPEN East Shoreline Drive Long Beach, CA. **LIVE on NBC

*Aug 2nd-5th 2007 AVP McDONALDS CHICAGO OPEN North Avenue Beach Chicago, IL **LIVE on NBC

*Aug 9th-12th 2007 AVP MANHATTAN BEACH OPEN Manhattan Bch Pier Manhattan Bch ,CA **LIVE on NBC

*Aug 16th-19th 2007 AVP BOSTON OPEN Boston Boston,MA * Cable,FSNet

*Aug 23rd-26th 2007 AVP BROOKLYN OPEN Coney Island Beach Brooklyn ,NY * Cable,FSNet

*Aug 31st-Sept 2nd 2007 AVP CROCS CUP CINCINNATI Lindner Family Tennis Center Cincinnati , OH ** NBC,Live

*September 06th-08th AQUIFINA 2007 AVP Vegas Shootout Harrah's Las Vegas, NV *TAPE on NBC

*September 14th-16th 2007 AVP SAN FRANCISCO OPEN Bayside SanFrancisco,CA * Cable,FSNet

FIVB 2007 Swatch Beach Volleyball Tour Men's & Women's Schedule

AVP Professional Men's Beach Volleyball
2007 TELEVISION SCHEDULE Volleyball.org

AVP ON NBC TV !!! :>p~

TV Air Dates:

NBC

EVENT BROADCAST DATE / TIME

The AVP is proud to bring you over 10 hours of NBC broadcast coverage and over 40 hours of cable coverage of Fox Sports Net! Check out the television schedule below and be sure to watch all the AVP tournaments throughout the season. All broadcasts are listed in local time unless otherwise specified.*

Location Event Dates Network Coverage

Miami, FL Apr. 13 - Apr. 15 FSN
Dallas, TX Apr. 19 - Apr. 22 FSN
Huntington Beach, CA May 3 - May 6 FSN
Glendale, AZ May 10 - May 13 FSN
Hermosa Beach, CA May 17 - May 20 FSN
Louisville, KY May 24 - May 27 FSN
Tampa, FL May 31 - Jun. 3 FSN
Atlanta, GA Jun. 7 - Jun. 10 FSN
Charleston, SC Jun. 14 - Jun. 17 FSN
Seaside Heights, NJ Jul. 5 - Jul. 8 FSN
Long Beach, CA Jul. 19 - Jul. 22 NBC and FSN
Chicago, IL Aug. 2 - Aug. 5 NBC and FSN
Manhattan Beach, CA Aug. 9 - Aug. 12 NBC and FSN
Boston, MA Aug. 16 - Aug. 19 NBC and FSN
Brooklyn, NY Aug. 23 - Aug. 26 NBC and FSN
Cincinnati, OH Aug. 30 - Sept. 2 FSN
Las Vegas, NV Sept. 6 - Sept. 8 FSN
San Francisco, CA Sept. 14 - Sept. 16 FSN

*All air times are regional. Please check local listings for viewing times.

The AVP Is Back on NBC

Five Live/Tape Broadcasts During the 2007 Season Marks the Return Of Beach
Volleyball to Network Television for the fourth year in a row

The AVP is proud to bring you over 10 hours of NBC broadcast coverage and over 40 hours of cable coverage of Fox Sports Net! Check out the television schedule below and be sure to watch all the AVP tournaments throughout the season.

FOX SPORTS NET

EVENT BROADCAST DATE / TIME

*Check you local listings for Broadcast times yet to be announced actual event dates below only not necessarily brodcast dates

Location Event Dates Network Coverage

Miami, FL Apr. 13 - Apr. 15 FSN
Dallas, TX Apr. 19 - Apr. 22 FSN
Huntington Beach, CA May 3 - May 6 FSN
Glendale, AZ May 10 - May 13 FSN
Hermosa Beach, CA May 17 - May 20 FSN
Louisville, KY May 24 - May 27 FSN
Tampa, FL May 31 - Jun. 3 FSN
Atlanta, GA Jun. 7 - Jun. 10 FSN
Charleston, SC Jun. 14 - Jun. 17 FSN
Seaside Heights, NJ Jul. 5 - Jul. 8 FSN
Long Beach, CA Jul. 19 - Jul. 22 NBC and FSN
Chicago, IL Aug. 2 - Aug. 5 NBC and FSN
Manhattan Beach, CA Aug. 9 - Aug. 12 NBC and FSN
Boston, MA Aug. 16 - Aug. 19 NBC and FSN
Brooklyn, NY Aug. 23 - Aug. 26 NBC and FSN
Cincinnati, OH Aug. 30 - Sept. 2 FSN
Las Vegas, NV Sept. 6 - Sept. 8 FSN
San Francisco, CA Sept. 14 - Sept. 16 FSN

*All air times are regional. Please check local listings for viewing times.

AVP on TV
2007

To catch all the Men's and Women's 2007 AVP Crocs Tour action make sure to visit Fox Sports Net and check your local listings for viewing times.

New to the AVP last year was OLN televising the Men's and Women's semifinal matches. OLN has gone back to televising Hockey & Soccer in 2007 no more Volleyball.

AVP Womens News - TV Update
* OLD 2002 information below,stay tuned as to what AVP women's events will be
scheduled for broadcast on this network in 2005.

NEW YORK (Variety) - Geraldine Laybourne's Oxygen Media will cablecast five of the seven women's Assn. of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tournaments this summer. The deal is consistent with Oxygen's recently announced strategy of focusing only on high-visibility women's sports. Six weeks ago, Oxygen laid off 20 people in its sports division, reducing the number of events from 31 per year to about 12. Lydia Stephans, president and executive producer of Oxygen Sports, called the AVP tournaments "the premier women's beach volleyball competition in the world." In addition to the five Oxygen cablecasts, the AVP will get three live broadcasts on NBC.
Oxygen's five cablecasts will run on consecutive Sunday afternoons at 2, beginning June 9.

EVENT BROADCAST DATE / TIME

*Check you local listings for Broadcast times yet to be announced actual event dates below only not necessarily brodcast dates

Oxygen will no longer be carrying Volleyball in 2007.

AVP Hour on the radio

Courtesy of Hugo Rec.Sport.Volleyball

In yesterday's LA Times (May 17, 2002), a column
written by Larry Stewart, he mentiones that:

"Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith will co-host a new
weekly show, "The AVP Hour," on KMPC (1540 AM) Thursdays,
7-8 p.m., beginning next week (May 23, 2002)."

However, I listened to KMPC earlier today (Sat. May 18)
and I heard a commercial for it and "Geeter" (Chris McGee)
said that he and Sinjin will be hosting this new
weekly show. He also said that if you don't listen
you'll get sand kicked in your face! ;-) Anyway,
whoever is hosting, it's good to know that the
vball community is getting high profile ambassadors
of the game to get the word out about beach
volleyball on the radio!
Yay volleyball! I hope that we can continue this
well into the future. :-)

Hugo

Hey Hugo,Thanks for the info.Any coverage of the AVP by its Players
is welcome news.By the way Ian Clark has had his own radio show of
sorts on Live365 for over 2 years now.Take a listen to DJ
Slimknicky1 at the following link:

Listen!!! to "I-RADIO AVP" IMAN'S Broadcasting in Stereo!!!24/7

Featuring "DJ- KNICKY" playing all the hits for AVP fans!!!

Coming SOON,Player I-Views & Past Years &Current AVP Event coverage in Real Audio!

http://www.live365.com/stations/slimnicky1
I-RADIO AVP

"Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith will co-host a new
weekly show, "The AVP Hour," on KMPC (1540 AM) Thursdays,
7-8 p.m., beginning next week (May 23, 2002)."

You can listen to it live on the internet on your computer here,follow this link:

KMPC
Sporting News Radio
Los Angeles
1540
Los Angeles, CA.

Click Here

The AVP Hour

**HAVE NOT HEARD YET IF THERE ARE TO BE RADIO BROADCASTS IN 2007 STAY TUNED but for now listen to archives above.........

Dig Magazine

Click Here

First Issue: April 2003 (40-pages, around 80 volleyball photos)

Articles:
This month on tour - Ft. Lauderdale, Tempe

Locals only - where AVP players eat, drink and kick it in Fort Lauderdale and Tempe

The scene - Huntington Beach

Ten ways not to break into the AVP tour

Beach Vocabulary 101

Hot tunes

AVP 2003, Photo Profiles
Misty May - Kerri Walsh
Holly McPeak - Elaine Youngs
Jenny Johnson Jordan - Annett Davis
Carrie Busch - Leanne McSorley
Lisa Arce - Rachel Wacholder
Women's Contenders

Eric Fonoimoana - Dax Holdren
Stein Metzger - Kevin Wong
Mike Whitmarsh - Canyon Ceman
Karch Kiraly - Brent Doble
Albert Hannemann - Sean Scott
Men's Contenders

Hot Gear - Spring Wraps

Fashion Flashback

Legend Connection Ron Von Hagen - Karch Kiraly

The Clinic - Beach Facts & Myths on Hitting Big

Beach Smack with Brian Lewis

DIG
The next best thing to being at an AVP event!!
Official Magazine of the AVP Tour
Volleyball • Lifestyle • Competition
6 issues for just $18
Call toll free to subscribe:
# 1- 800-999-9718
Get a DIG t-shirt or Hat for just $6 when you subscribe for six issues.
DIG is published six times April through October around AVP events.

Articles 2006-2007 Off Season

-Catch up on your reading as to what happened after the end of last year's AVP season here.

May-Treanor dominates awards while Rogers is MVP
October 6, 2006

Todd Rogers wins MVP on men's side; May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert awarded Team of the Year honors at 2006 AVP Players' Banquet
LOS ANGELES, October 5, 2006
Misty May-Treanor and Todd Rogers took home top honors Thursday night as MVPs of the AVP 2006 season at the Players' Banquet. For the fourth consecutive year, May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh were voted 2006 Team of the Year. The honor of the men's Team of the Year was awarded to the CROCS Cup winning team of Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert, who teamed up for the first time this year. All of the awards presented were voted on by the athletes of the AVP.
The star of the evening was May-Treanor, who captured four titles, including the 2006 women's MVP award, Team of the Year, Best Offensive Player for the third year in a row, as well as her first award as the Best Defensive Player. May-Treanor became the first player on either the men's or women's side to win both Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in one season.
May-Treanor's stats with her partner Walsh provide a resounding exclamation point to her unprecedented awards: This season, they became the winningest team in domestic women's history, finishing with 39 career titles together in U.S. tournaments and a single-season most 13 of 16 domestic titles; they ended the season with 35 straight victories; compiled an astounding 82-3 match record; have played in the finals 44 of 45 AVP events together; and will take a seven-tournament winning streak into the 2007 season. As an individual, May-Treanor finished in the top five in four different statistical categories in terms of per game averages: digs (fifth), kills (fifth), kill percentage (fourth) and hitting percentage (third).
"My husband told me to just say thank you and get off the stage," May-Treanor said. "I just want to say thank you to everyone including my partner and CROCS for all their support. I also want to thank my teammate Kerri Walsh. Sometimes I feel like I want to say I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but that isn't right. I want to say that, but I really mean the rest of my volleyball life."
"Misty May-Treanor is a doll and a pleasure, and I look forward to playing with her for years to come," Walsh said.
On the men's side, the teams of Rogers and Phil Dalhausser and Metzger and Lambert battled throughout the season for domination on the AVP Tour. A closely-contested Team of the Year award went to Metzger and Lambert. The duo played in 14 of 15 Final Fours this season, more than any other team; their 11-match winning streak at one point tied for the longest this season; won the inaugural CROCS Cup by a slim six points; and compiled a 67-15 match record.
"In the middle of the season, we just picked up and took care of business," Metzger said. "We didn't care who led the way. We just needed to find our way home."
Rogers captured two titles, including the 2006 men's MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year. Rogers and Dalhausser won eight of 16 titles, including Rogers winning both post-season events: King of the Beach (best individual player) and the Best of the Beach (best team on the beach). Rogers won nine AVP CROCS Tour titles, the most since Kent Steffes in 1998; had a 9-1 mark in AVP championship matches; his 10 finals appearances were the most of any player this year; and will take an 11-match winning streak including the last three titles into 2007.
"This whole year has been so surreal," Rogers said. "If somebody had told me this, I wouldn't have believed them. I couldn't be happier in the way this year has turned out for my career."
Dalhausser captured the award for 2006 men's Offensive Player of the Year as well as the Most Improved Player. The "Thin Beast" collected $143,375 in earnings, more than two and one half times what he made last season; led the tour in blocks for the second year in a row (432), in addition to kill percentage (.627) and hitting percentage (.481). Last year, Dalhausser won only one event his first ever win with partner Nick Lucena and finished first in blocks (405) and sixth in hitting percentage (.588).
Nicole Branagh, last year's Rookie of the Year, took home Most Improved Player on the women's side. In her first 19 pro beach events, Branagh had a best of fifth, while in her last 12 events, she was in the semifinals nine times, including two finals appearances.
"You know the beach is our office, and we are the luckiest people in the world," Branagh said.
There was a tie on the women's side for Rookie of the Year between Logan Tom and April Ross, with Brad Keenan earning the honor for the men. In Hermosa Beach, Keenan went in through the qualifier, then placed third, tying for the best finish from a qualifier in AVP history. Tom finished as high as fifth. Ross finished ninth in back-to-back tournaments her career best knocking off three top-10 teams in the process.
The 2006 AVP tour had 16 stops and has scheduled 18 for the 2007 season. This season the AVP was telecast on NBC, Fox Sports Net and FOX for the first time.
Updates on the 2007 season can be found at www.avp.com.

2006 AVP Awards Winners:

Men:
MVP: Todd Rogers
Offense: Phil Dalhausser
Defense: Todd Rogers
Improved: Phil Dalhausser
Rookie of the Year: Brad Keenan
Team of the Year: Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger

Women:
MVP: Misty May-Treanor
Offense: Misty May-Treanor
Defense: Misty May-Treanor
Improved: Nicole Branagh
Rookie of the Year: April Ross and Logan Tom
Team of the Year: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh

AVP 2007 VOLLEYBALL VIDEO:

Over the winter the AVP has join forces with MLBAM. Which stands for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P., is a subsidiary of Major League Baseball.
Meaning AVP.com is now managed by MLBAM.

Feel the heat of Volleyball Nation.
The 2007 AVP Crocs Tour may be over, but you can still relive all the excting action online
with avp.comTV.

Watch archives of the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour tournament finals - both men's and women's!
Experience classic AVP matches from years past
Access all the video you want through March 31, 2008
Now just $9.95 for an all-access pass through March 31, 2008!
Purchase$9.95

Get avp.comTV Four-Day Pass. $4.95. Your four-day subscription will start immediately upon purchase.
Purchase$4.95

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service at customerservice@website.avp.com or call 1-866-927-8767.
Archived video will be available several hours following the completion of the tournament finals.
To view the video, please click on the appropriate 400K or 700K link below. For system requirements, click here.

Volleyball Vacations coming to Grand Cayman

Friday, March 2, 2007
During a recent one-day stop in Grand Cayman, Volleyball Vacations founder Albert Hannemann took time out from his adult volleyball clinics to run a kids clinic for year three and four students at Montessori by the Sea.
The youngsters received professional instruction from the 14-year Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) veteran and past tour event champion.
The students also got to watch one of their teachers, Wanda Brenton, play a game with Mr Hannemann against two members of the Cayman Islands Beach Volleyball Committee.
Afterwards, Mrs Brenton said it had been a great day for the kids to discover a sport they may have not been exposed to before. “Albert is great with kids. His ability to keep them all involved and interested throughout the clinic was unbelievable. The kids and parents were talking about how much they enjoyed the clinic for days,” she enthused.
Mr Hannemann is no stranger to working with kids, he is currently Vice President of the Dig for Kids Foundation which was founded in January 2000 by his cousin, Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Fonoimoana.
The purpose of the foundation is to provide academic mentoring and athletic training to kids in disadvantaged communities. Through the foundation, more than 9500 children have been taught the basic skills of volleyball and twelve Excellence in Volleyball and Academics Scholarships have been awarded to high school seniors.
Mr Hannemann is currently working with the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation (CIVF) on plans to return to the Cayman Islands in early 2008 with his Volleyball Vacations Company.
Volleyball Vacations will bring 100 guests to the island for a weeklong visit, during which they play volleyball and learn more about the sport from top AVP players.
Mr Hannemann said he is excited at the prospect of coming back to Grand Cayman. “This was my second trip to Cayman and the Volleyball Federation here has been extremely helpful in making this our signature annual event,” he explained. Adding that he plans to arrive, with other professional players, a few days early for the 2008 event and conduct further clinics for local kids.
The CIVF say they are very proud to be able to bring a professional level programme such as Volleyball Vacations to Grand Cayman and expect the trip to generate further interest in the sport.
For more information on Volleyball Vacations visit www.volleyballvacations.com.

AVP CROCS TOUR ANNOUNCES 2007 SCHEDULE
March 5, 2007

LOS ANGELES - March 5, 2007 - AVP, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AVPI), a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, today announced its 2007 AVP Crocs Tour schedule. It includes an unprecedented 18 tour stops, up from 16 in 2006, and a record $4 million in prize money. The prize money, split equally between the men and women, represents a 14% increase from last year's $3.5 million.

The 2007 AVP Crocs Tour includes nine new additions - Miami, FL; Dallas, TX; Glendale, AZ; Louisville, KY; Tampa, FL; Charleston, SC; Long Beach, CA; Boston, MA; and San Francisco, CA. Tickets to all 2007 Tour events will be available at http://www.avp.com.

AVP 2007 Schedule
April 13-15 - Miami, FL
April 19-22 - Dallas, TX
May 3-6 - Huntington Beach, CA
May 10-13 - Glendale, AZ
May 17-20 - Hermosa Beach, CA
May 24-27 - Louisville, KY
May 31-Jun. 3 - Tampa, FL
June 7-10 - Atlanta, GA
June 14-17 - Charleston, SC
July 5-8 - Seaside Heights, NJ
July 19-22 - Long Beach, CA
Aug. 2-5 - Chicago, IL
Aug. 9-12 - Manhattan Beach, CA
Aug. 16-19 - Boston, MA
Aug. 23-26 - Brooklyn, NY
Aug. 30-Sept. 2 - Cincinnati, OH
Sept. 6-8 - Las Vegas, NV
Sept. 14-16 - San Francisco, CA

All events will be televised on NBC and/or FOX Sports Net (FSN).

For the first time, fans can also view all of the finals live on http://www.avp.com. A detailed broadcast schedule will be released soon.

In addition, AVP has continued its development of several promoter relationships to help bring the action of the AVP to additional cities throughout the United States. Local organizers are responsible for promoting events at the local level, including tickets, hospitality, concessions and sponsorships. Event cities with local partners announced to date include: Dallas (Hicks Sports Marketing Group), San Francisco (Giants Enterprises), Glendale (Ellman Companies), Atlanta (Atlanta Sports Council), Las Vegas (Harrah's), Charleston (Family Circle Cup), Brooklyn (Nets Basketball/Forest City Ratner Companies), Louisville (SFX Worldwide and Reach Event Marketing), Seaside Heights (Positive Impact Partners) and Cincinnati (Reach Event Marketing). AVP's strategic alliances with top local promoters allows the tour to gain a stronger presence in event markets as well as year-round local marketing and outreach for each event.

"We are pleased to announce our 2007 tour schedule, which includes our classic tour stops and several new ones this year," said Leonard Armato, CEO and tour commissioner. "Through a number of successful promoter alliances, we are able to bring the excitement of beach volleyball to more cities throughout the country than ever before, increasing the exposure of beach volleyball and reaching a larger audience. With a growing fan base, increased sponsorship and a growing Tour schedule, we are excited to commence the 2007 tour season in Miami this April."

Event Dates
2007 AVP Tour Schedule
Date Event Prize Site Tickets Info
2007 AVP Schedule
April 13 - 15--Miami, FL
April 19 - 22--Dallas, TX
May 3 - 6--Huntington Beach, CA
May 10 - 13--Glendale, AZ
May 17 - 20--Hermosa Beach, CA
May 24 - 27--Louisville, KY
May 31-Jun 3--Tampa, FL
June 14 - 17--Charleston, SC
July 5 - 8--Seaside Heights, NJ
July 19 - 22--Long Beach, CA
Aug 2 - 5--Chicago, IL
Aug 9 - 12--Manhattan Beach, CA
Aug 16 - 19--Boston, MA
Aug 23 - 26--Brooklyn, NY
Aug 30-Sept 2--Cincinnati OH
Sept 6 - 8--Las Vegas, NV
Sept 14 - 16--San Francisco, CA

AVP Brooklyn Open Presented by Cushman & Wakefield Coney Island,New York August 23rd - 26th, 2007

AVP Tour 2007 Event Coverage

Coney Island Area:
Geographically, Coney Island is the westernmost of the barrier islands of Long Island, about four miles long and one-half mile wide. It was formerly an actual island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, part of which was little more than tidal flats. There were plans into the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but these plans were abandoned and the center portion of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas.
Coney Island still maintains a broad sandy beach from West 37th Street at Sea Gate through the Coney Island and Brighton Beach to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately two-and-a-half miles (~4.0 km). The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann boardwalk, reputed to be the world's longest, and the subject of the famous song "Under the Boardwalk," first popularized in 1964. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the north side of the boardwalk, as is the New York Aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades.
In August 2006 Coney Island will host a major national volleyball tournament by the Association of Volleyball Professionals. The tournament, usually held on the West Coast, is to be televised live on NBC. The league will build a 4,000-seat stadium and 12 outer courts next to the Boardwalk for the event. Its promotional partner is Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment

AVP Brooklyn Open History:
Brooklyn Facts: 2007 will be the AVP's second visit to Coney Island.
Brooklyn to Host Second AVP Beach Volleyball Event from August 23rd-26th, 2007
Be a part of the AVP beach volleyball event on the beaches of Coney Island from August 23rd-26th, 2007. Courtside seats still available.

What:
AVP Brooklyn Open Presented by Cushman & Wakefield
Where:
Coney Island
When:
All times are EDT

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Men's and Women's Qualifier Competition
Gates open at 8:00 a.m.
Competition start time 8:00 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 6:00 p.m.
Free Admission

Friday, August 24, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 8:30 a.m.
Competition start time 9:00 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 25, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 8:30 a.m.
Competition start time 9:00 a.m.
Men's Finals 2:30 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, August 26, 2007
Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 12:00 p.m.
Competition start time 12:30 p.m.
Women's Finals 2:30 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 4:00 p.m.
Ticket Info

Tickets:
Buy Tickets

Directions to the Brooklyn Event in Coney Island::
Coney Island is located in the southernmost part of Brooklyn.
If you are Mapquesting, you can use the address West 21st Street and Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224
By Train
Take the D, F, N or Q train to Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue (last stop). This takes about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. At the corner of Stillwell and Surf Avenues turn right and walk along Surf Avenue to West 21st Street.
By Bus
Take the B36 to West 21st St. and Surf Avenue; B74 to West 21st St. and Mermaid Avenue; B64, or the Coney Island-bound B82 to Stillwell Avenue and Surf Avenue.
Use your MetroCard to transfer free from the subway to bus or bus to subway.
By Car
From East: Take the Belt Parkway to Cropsey Avenue Exit (6S). At the light make a right onto Cropsey Avenue and proceed approximately 1 mile as Cropsey turns into West 17th Street. At Surf Avenue make a right and travel along Surf Avenue to West 21st Street.
From West: Take the Belt Parkway to Cropsey Avenue Exit (6). At the light make a right onto Cropsey Avenue and proceed approximately 1 mile as Cropsey turns into West 17th Street. At Surf Avenue make a right and travel along Surf Avenue to West 21st Street.
Limited parking is available along most streets. There are commercial parking lots on West 17th Street and West 12th Street between Mermaid and Surf, West 15th Street between the Boardwalk and Surf and on Neptune Avenue between West 12th and Stillwell Avenue.

Coney Island Beach
19th and Surf Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11224

Map

AVP Host Hotel
HGI @ JFK
148-18 134th Street
Jamaica, NY 11430
TEL: (718) 322-4448
Book Online

Men's Entrys:

Men's $140,000 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23-26, 2007
Finish Player Partner
Joaquin Acosta Jonathan Acosta
Ihor Akinshyn Tim McNichol
Billy Allen AJ Mihalic
Ryan Ammerman Phil Silva
Daniel Balanhese Ed Lunnen
Jaren Barredo Sonnie Chelf
Hudson Bates Mark Burik
Paul Baxter Dain Blanton
Pavel Bodjanac Tom Kohler
Michael Boosin Nils Madsen
Robert Brennan Peter Weremay
Mike Buccarelli Brad Diermeier
Affonso Canedo Wayne Holly
Adrian Carambula Mike Morales
Jeff Carlucci Chris Seiffert
Danny Carter Chris Patrick
Joe Cash Tyler Lesneski
Canyon Ceman Will Strickland
William Chenoweth Justin Phipps
Jeff Conover Matt Osburn
BJ Cook Paul McDonald
John Coon Dave McKienzie
Brian Corso Jesse Rambis
Phil Dalhausser Todd Rogers
Gray Davis Adam Dusewicz
Oguz Degirmenci Ethan Roseborough
Jack Delehanty Phil St. Pierre
Kyle Denitz Casey Patterson
Mike DiPierro Eyal Zimet
Brent Doble Matt Olson
Shane Donohue Dan Sempkoswki
Joey Dykstra Mark Van Zwieten
David Fischer Matt Ogin
Eric Fonoimoana Albert Hannemann
Kristopher Fraser Todd Strassberger
Matt Fuerbringer Casey Jennings
Michael Galli Richard Krutop
Ryan Gano Andrew Klein
Jake Gibb Sean Rosenthal
Kevin Gregan Ivan Mercer
Braidy Halverson Dane Jensen
Guy Hamilton Dan Madden
Dax Holdren Sean Scott
Dameon Holmquist Andreas Olesen
Gregory Hunter Tony Yates
John Hyden Brad Keenan
Adam Jewell Jose Loiola
Brian Kelley Jim Sias
John Kessenich Paul Kessenich
Ran Kumgisky Scott Lane
Mike Lambert Stein Metzger
Erik Laverdiere Brad Vallett
Jason Lee Austin Rester
Yariv Lerner Marcus Santos
Ty Loomis Hans Stolfus
Nick Lucena Mark Williams
Chris Luers Adam Minch
Russ Marchewka Mike Placek
Ryan Mariano Ed Ratledge
John Mayer Kevin Wong
Anthony Medel Fred Souza
Jon Mesko John Moran
Eben Meyer Bill Schultz
Mike Morrison Ty Tramblie
Shane Nelson Vince Zanzucchi
Vincent Robbins Adam Roberts
Will Rohde Chris Scrabis
Fernando Sabla Lucas Wisniakowski
Patric Santiago Sean Symanski
Jeff Schietzelt Jason Stefon
Aaron Wachtfogel Scott Wong

Men's Results:

Men's $140,000 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23-26, 2007
Finish Player Partner
1 Phil Dalhausser Todd Rogers 1 $28,000.00 520.0
2 Aaron Wachtfogel Scott Wong 11 $21,000.00 468.0
3 Mike Lambert Stein Metzger 2 $13,300.00 390.0
3 John Hyden Brad Keenan 5 $13,300.00 390.0
5 Dax Holdren Sean Scott 6 $8,500.00 312.0
5 Matt Fuerbringer Casey Jennings 7 $8,500.00 312.0
7 Jake Gibb Sean Rosenthal 3 $6,500.00 260.0
7 Anthony Medel Fred Souza 4 $6,500.00 260.0
9 Nick Lucena Mark Williams 8 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Ty Loomis Hans Stolfus 9 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Brent Doble Matt Olson 10 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Paul Baxter Dain Blanton 19 $3,600.00 208.0
13 Ryan Mariano Ed Ratledge 14 $2,200.00 156.0
13 John Mayer Kevin Wong 15 $2,200.00 156.0
13 Mike DiPierro Eyal Zimet 18 $2,200.00 156.0
13 Jeff Carlucci Chris Seiffert 21 $2,200.00 156.0
17 Canyon Ceman Will Strickland 12 $900.00 104.0
17 Adam Jewell Jose Loiola 13 $900.00 104.0
17 Eric Fonoimoana Albert Hannemann 16 $900.00 104.0
17 Jason Lee Austin Rester 17 $900.00 104.0
17 Mike Morrison Ty Tramblie 20 $900.00 104.0
17 Vincent Robbins Adam Roberts 22, Q1 $900.00 104.0
17 Joe Cash Tyler Lesneski 24, Q10 $900.00 104.0
17 Jon Mesko John Moran 26, Q2 $900.00 104.0
25 Ran Kumgisky Scott Lane 23 $500.00 52.0
25 Billy Allen AJ Mihalic 25 $500.00 52.0
25 Joey Dykstra Mark Van Zwieten 27, Q4 $500.00 52.0
25 Braidy Halverson Dane Jensen 28, Q5 $500.00 52.0
25 David Fischer Matt Ogin 29, Q8 $500.00 52.0
25 William Chenoweth Justin Phipps 30 $500.00 52.0
25 Joaquin Acosta Jonathan Acosta 31, Q14 $500.00 52.0
25 Eben Meyer Bill Schultz 32, Q22 $500.00 52.0
33 Kyle Denitz Casey Patterson Q6 $.00 24.0
33 Brian Corso Jesse Rambis Q7 $.00 24.0
33 Fernando Sabla Lucas Wisniakowski Q9 $.00 24.0
33 Ihor Akinshyn Tim McNichol Q12 $.00 24.0
33 Chris Luers Adam Minch Q13 $.00 24.0
33 Guy Hamilton Dan Madden Q15 $.00 24.0
33 Jeff Conover Matt Osburn Q16 $.00 24.0
33 John Coon Dave McKienzie Q35 $.00 24.0
41 Russ Marchewka Mike Placek Q3 $.00 18.0
41 Kevin Gregan Ivan Mercer Q11 $.00 18.0
41 Shane Nelson Vince Zanzucchi Q17 $.00 18.0
41 BJ Cook Paul McDonald Q18 $.00 18.0
41 Kristopher Fraser Todd Strassberger Q19 $.00 18.0
41 Adrian Carambula Mike Morales Q20 $.00 18.0
41 Jack Delehanty Phil St. Pierre Q21 $.00 18.0
41 Oguz Degirmenci Ethan Roseborough Q24 $.00 18.0
41 Ryan Ammerman Phil Silva Q26 $.00 18.0
41 Daniel Balanhese Ed Lunnen Q27 $.00 18.0
41 Robert Brennan Peter Weremay Q31 $.00 18.0
41 Dameon Holmquist Andreas Olesen Q33 $.00 18.0
41 Gregory Hunter Tony Yates Q36 $.00 18.0
41 Patric Santiago Sean Symanski Q37 $.00 18.0
41 Hudson Bates Mark Burik Q40 $.00 18.0
41 Pavel Bodjanac Tom Kohler Q42 $.00 18.0
57 Affonso Canedo Wayne Holly Q23 $.00 12.0
57 Yariv Lerner Marcus Santos Q25 $.00 12.0
57 Michael Galli Richard Krutop Q28 $.00 12.0
57 Erik Laverdiere Brad Vallett Q29 $.00 12.0
57 Jeff Schietzelt Jason Stefon Q30 $.00 12.0
57 John Kessenich Paul Kessenich Q32 $.00 12.0
57 Danny Carter Chris Patrick Q38 $.00 12.0
57 Mike Buccarelli Brad Diermeier Q39 $.00 12.0
57 Brian Kelley Jim Sias Q41 $.00 12.0
57 Shane Donohue Dan Sempkoswki Q44 $.00 12.0
57 Ryan Gano Andrew Klein Q45 $.00 12.0
57 Will Rohde Chris Scrabis Q46 $.00 12.0
57 Michael Boosin Nils Madsen Q47 $.00 12.0
57 Gray Davis Adam Dusewicz Q34 $.00 0.0
57 Jaren Barredo Sonnie Chelf Q43 $.00 0.0

Men's $140,000 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23-26, 2007

Qualifier Bracket
Round 1
Match 2: Dameon Holmquist / Andreas Olesen (Q33) def. John Kessenich / Paul Kessenich (Q32) 21-17, 23-21 (0:43)
Match 6: Oguz Degirmenci / Ethan Roseborough (Q24) def. Brian Kelley / Jim Sias (Q41) 21-6, 21-5 (0:25)
Match 7: Hudson Bates / Mark Burik (Q40) def. Yariv Lerner / Marcus Santos (Q25) 20-22, 21-13, 15-9 (0:54)
Match 10: Patric Santiago / Sean Symanski (Q37) def. Michael Galli / Richard Krutop (Q28) 21-18, 21-18 (0:42)
Match 11: Jack Delehanty / Phil St. Pierre (Q21) def. Shane Donohue / Dan Sempkoswki (Q44) 22-20, 21-16
Match 14: Adrian Carambula / Mike Morales (Q20) def. Ryan Gano / Andrew Klein (Q45) 21-16, 21-18 (0:44)
Match 15: Gregory Hunter / Tony Yates (Q36) def. Erik Laverdiere / Brad Vallett (Q29) 21-11, 21-11 (0:35)
Match 18: John Coon / Dave McKienzie (Q35) def. Jeff Schietzelt / Jason Stefon (Q30) 27-25, 21-14 (0:45)
Match 19: Kristopher Fraser / Todd Strassberger (Q19) def. Will Rohde / Chris Scrabis (Q46) 21-14, 21-7 (0:33)
Match 22: Eben Meyer / Bill Schultz (32, Q22) def. Jaren Barredo / Sonnie Chelf (Q43) by Forfeit
Match 23: Daniel Balanhese / Ed Lunnen (Q27) def. Danny Carter / Chris Patrick (Q38) 21-10, 21-10 (0:36)
Match 26: Ryan Ammerman / Phil Silva (Q26) def. Mike Buccarelli / Brad Diermeier (Q39) 21-13, 21-15 (0:41)
Match 27: Pavel Bodjanac / Tom Kohler (Q42) def. Affonso Canedo / Wayne Holly (Q23) 21-18, 16-21, 16-14 (1:00)
Match 30: BJ Cook / Paul McDonald (Q18) def. Michael Boosin / Nils Madsen (Q47) 21-5, 21-15 (0:34)
Match 31: Robert Brennan / Peter Weremay (Q31) def. Gray Davis / Adam Dusewicz (Q34) by Forfeit

Round 2
Match 33: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q1) def. Dameon Holmquist / Andreas Olesen (Q33) 21-14, 21-19 (0:36)
Match 34: Jeff Conover / Matt Osburn (Q16) def. Shane Nelson / Vince Zanzucchi (Q17) 21-19, 21-13 (0:38)
Match 35: Fernando Sabla / Lucas Wisniakowski (Q9) def. Oguz Degirmenci / Ethan Roseborough (Q24) 21-12, 21-15 (0:40)
Match 36: David Fischer / Matt Ogin (29, Q8) def. Hudson Bates / Mark Burik (Q40) 21-16, 21-19 (0:42)
Match 37: Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (28, Q5) def. Patric Santiago / Sean Symanski (Q37) 21-8, 21-10 (0:29)
Match 38: Ihor Akinshyn / Tim McNichol (Q12) def. Jack Delehanty / Phil St. Pierre (Q21) 21-8, 21-16 (0:32)
Match 39: Chris Luers / Adam Minch (Q13) def. Adrian Carambula / Mike Morales (Q20) 18-21, 21-14, 15-8 (0:47)
Match 40: Joey Dykstra / Mark Van Zwieten (27, Q4) def. Gregory Hunter / Tony Yates (Q36) 21-18, 21-17 (0:41)
Match 41: John Coon / Dave McKienzie (Q35) def. Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (Q3) 17-21, 21-16, 15-13 (0:59)
Match 42: Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (31, Q14) def. Kristopher Fraser / Todd Strassberger (Q19) 21-13, 21-13 (0:41)
Match 43: Eben Meyer / Bill Schultz (32, Q22) def. Kevin Gregan / Ivan Mercer (Q11) 22-20, 16-21, 15-9 (1:01)
Match 44: Kyle Denitz / Casey Patterson (Q6) def. Daniel Balanhese / Ed Lunnen (Q27) 21-19, 21-17 (0:43)
Match 45: Brian Corso / Jesse Rambis (Q7) def. Ryan Ammerman / Phil Silva (Q26) 21-14, 21-15 (0:38)
Match 46: Joe Cash / Tyler Lesneski (24, Q10) def. Pavel Bodjanac / Tom Kohler (Q42) 21-14, 22-20 (0:40)
Match 47: Guy Hamilton / Dan Madden (Q15) def. BJ Cook / Paul McDonald (Q18) 23-21, 21-13 (0:46)
Match 48: Jon Mesko / John Moran (26, Q2) def. Robert Brennan / Peter Weremay (Q31) 21-16, 21-17 (0:50)

Round 3
Match 49: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q1) def. Jeff Conover / Matt Osburn (Q16) 21-12, 21-13 (0:33)
Match 50: David Fischer / Matt Ogin (29, Q8) def. Fernando Sabla / Lucas Wisniakowski (Q9) 21-15, 21-18 (0:45)
Match 51: Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (28, Q5) def. Ihor Akinshyn / Tim McNichol (Q12) 21-19, 21-15 (0:41)
Match 52: Joey Dykstra / Mark Van Zwieten (27, Q4) def. Chris Luers / Adam Minch (Q13) 21-14, 16-21, 15-12 (0:55)
Match 53: Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (31, Q14) def. John Coon / Dave McKienzie (Q35) 21-11, 21-16 (0:45)
Match 54: Eben Meyer / Bill Schultz (32, Q22) def. Kyle Denitz / Casey Patterson (Q6) 21-14, 16-21, 16-14 (0:59)
Match 55: Joe Cash / Tyler Lesneski (24, Q10) def. Brian Corso / Jesse Rambis (Q7) 26-24, 21-18 (0:54)
Match 56: Jon Mesko / John Moran (26, Q2) def. Guy Hamilton / Dan Madden (Q15) 21-13, 21-14 (0:48)

Winner's Bracket
Round 1
Match 1: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Eben Meyer / Bill Schultz (32, Q22) 21-8, 21-13 (0:40)
Match 2: Eric Fonoimoana / Albert Hannemann (16) def. Jason Lee / Austin Rester (17) 21-16, 14-21, 15-13 (1:14)
Match 3: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (9) def. Joe Cash / Tyler Lesneski (24, Q10) 21-10, 21-18 (0:40)
Match 4: Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (8) def. Billy Allen / AJ Mihalic (25) 21-19, 21-13 (0:37)
Match 5: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (5) def. Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (28, Q5) 21-15, 21-16 (0:36)
Match 6: Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (21) def. Canyon Ceman / Will Strickland (12) by Forfeit
Match 7: Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (13) def. Mike Morrison / Ty Tramblie (20) 21-18, 21-17 (0:52)
Match 8: Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (4) def. David Fischer / Matt Ogin (29, Q8) 21-12, 21-16 (0:41)
Match 9: Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) def. William Chenoweth / Justin Phipps (30) 21-16, 21-19 (0:51)
Match 10: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (14) def. Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (19) 21-13, 21-11 (0:52)
Match 11: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) def. Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q1) 21-18, 21-10 (0:41)
Match 12: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Joey Dykstra / Mark Van Zwieten (27, Q4) 21-18, 21-17 (0:47)
Match 13: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) def. Jon Mesko / John Moran (26, Q2) 21-13, 21-16 (0:47)
Match 14: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (10) def. Ran Kumgisky / Scott Lane (23) 21-18, 21-18 (0:42)
Match 15: Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (18) def. John Mayer / Kevin Wong (15) 21-19, 21-16 (0:38)
Match 16: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (31, Q14) 23-21, 21-14 (0:48)

Round 2
Match 17: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Eric Fonoimoana / Albert Hannemann (16) 21-11, 27-25 (0:57)
Match 18: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (9) def. Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (8) 23-21, 10-21, 15-11 (1:08)
Match 19: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (5) def. Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (21) 21-14, 21-13 (0:42)
Match 20: Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (4) def. Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (13) 20-22, 21-18, 15-7 (1:03)
Match 21: Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) def. Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (14) 14-21, 21-19, 15-11 (1:07)
Match 22: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) def. Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) 23-21, 21-19 (1:04)
Match 23: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) def. Brent Doble / Matt Olson (10) 25-27, 25-23, 15-7 (1:15)
Match 24: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (18) 21-16, 21-17 (0:39)

Round 3
Match 25: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (9) 21-11, 21-16 (0:43)
Match 26: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (5) def. Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (4) 21-15, 19-21, 15-13 (1:06)
Match 27: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) def. Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) 19-21, 21-15, 15-11 (1:03)
Match 28: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) 15-21, 21-19, 15-13 (1:01)

Round 4
Match 29: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (5) def. Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) 21-15, 21-13 (0:38)
Match 30: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) 21-17, 21-16 (0:52)

Contender's Bracket
Round 1
Match 31: Jason Lee / Austin Rester (17) def. Eben Meyer / Bill Schultz (32, Q22) 21-17, 21-11 (0:38)
Match 32: Joe Cash / Tyler Lesneski (24, Q10) def. Billy Allen / AJ Mihalic (25) 23-21, 11-21, 15-13 (0:58)
Match 33: Canyon Ceman / Will Strickland (12) def. Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (28, Q5) 21-13, 22-20 (0:41)
Match 34: Mike Morrison / Ty Tramblie (20) def. David Fischer / Matt Ogin (29, Q8) 21-16, 21-14 (0:40)
Match 35: Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (19) def. William Chenoweth / Justin Phipps (30) 21-17, 21-13 (0:43)
Match 36: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q1) def. Joey Dykstra / Mark Van Zwieten (27, Q4) 22-20, 21-17 (0:55)
Match 37: Jon Mesko / John Moran (26, Q2) def. Ran Kumgisky / Scott Lane (23) 21-15, 21-18 (0:36)
Match 38: John Mayer / Kevin Wong (15) def. Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (31, Q14) 21-19, 21-17 (0:43)

Round 2
Match 39: Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (18) def. Jason Lee / Austin Rester (17) 18-21, 21-15, 15-13 (1:08)
Match 40: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (10) def. Joe Cash / Tyler Lesneski (24, Q10) 21-19, 26-24 (0:48)
Match 41: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Canyon Ceman / Will Strickland (12) 21-16, 21-18 (0:46)
Match 42: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (14) def. Mike Morrison / Ty Tramblie (20) 23-21, 21-18 (1:02)
Match 43: Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (19) def. Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (13) 11-21, 21-19, 15-12 (1:16)
Match 44: Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (21) def. Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q1) 18-21, 25-23, 15-8 (1:08)
Match 45: Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (8) def. Jon Mesko / John Moran (26, Q2) 21-18, 21-13 (0:46)
Match 46: John Mayer / Kevin Wong (15) def. Eric Fonoimoana / Albert Hannemann (16) 21-12, 21-18 (0:47)

Round 3
Match 47: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (10) def. Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (18) 21-17, 16-21, 15-8 (1:03)
Match 48: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (14) 21-14, 22-20 (0:48)
Match 49: Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (19) def. Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (21) 21-10, 21-13 (0:41)
Match 50: Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (8) def. John Mayer / Kevin Wong (15) 21-17, 20-22, 15-6 (1:06)

Round 4
Match 51: Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (4) def. Brent Doble / Matt Olson (10) 19-21, 21-11, 15-11 (0:56)
Match 52: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (9) 21-15, 21-15 (0:46)
Match 53: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) def. Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (19) 23-21, 18-21, 15-8 (1:08)
Match 54: Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) def. Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (8) 21-10, 21-19 (0:32)

Round 5
Match 55: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (4) 21-17, 21-14 (0:46)
Match 56: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) def. Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) 21-19, 21-18 (0:54)

Round 6
Match 57: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) def. Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) 21-19, 21-18 (0:53)
Match 58: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (7) 21-16, 21-17 (0:52)

Semifinals
Match 59: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) def. John Hyden / Brad Keenan (5) 21-17, 21-19 (0:51)
Match 60: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) 21-14, 21-18 (0:49)

Finals
Match 61: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (11) 23-21, 24-22 (1:13)

Men's AVP Brooklyn Open Tournament Champions 2007 >> Phill Dalhausser/Todd Rogers

         Phil Dalhausser                                                            Todd Rogers

Women's Entrys:

Women's AVP $140,000 Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23rd-26th, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed
Chara Harris Brooke Langston Q1
Whitney Pavlik Kelly Wing Q2
Erin Byrd Stephanie Chapek Q3
Kealani Kimball Rosalinda Masler Q4
Angie Hall Lauren Mills Q5
Paige Davis Kim McGiven Q6
Kristi Martin Laurel Riechmann Q7
Laura Ratto Colleen Smith Q8
Bonnie Levin Kirstin Olsen Q9
Lisa Marshall Marla O'Hara Q10
Hedder Ilustre Andrea Peterson Q11
Keegan Featherstone Ashley Groothuis Q12
Jennifer Bowman Sheila Shaw Q13
Jennifer Corral Elena Salvador Q14
Sara Fredrickson Allie Griffin Q15
Maggie Philgence Vladia Vignato Q16
Raquel Beson Kimberly Vicknair Q17
Becca Smith Rachel Smith Q18
Lynne Brinkman Carol Hamilton Q19
Delavane Diaz April Oberhelman Q20
Cameo Neeman Ginger Schuster Q21
Ania Ruiz Negron Yarleen Santiago Q22
Jocelyn Decker Heidi Miller Q23
Christina Hinds Joanna Papageorgiou Q24
Janna Ferrovecchio Beth Kennedy Q25
Melanie Ghiz Aleeza Miller Q26
Tristy Bittikofer Linda Lang Q27
Marie McGoldrick Clair Syvertsen Q28
Angie Akers Brooke Hanson
Jennifer Boss April Ross
Nicole Branagh Elaine Youngs
Keao Burdine Brittany Hochevar
Annett Davis Jenny Johnson Jordan
Dianne DeNecochea Barbra Fontana
Carrie Dodd Tatiana Minello
Sara Dukes Chrissie Zartman
Jennifer Fopma Holly McPeak
Ashley Ivy Heather Lowe
Angela Knopf Catie Mintz
Jenelle Koester Stacy Rouwenhorst
Jenny Kropp Jenny Pavley
Angela Lewis Priscilla Lima
Suzana Manole Beth Van Fleet
Nancy Mason Logan Tom
Misty May-Treanor Kerri Walsh
Michelle More Suzanne Stonebarger
Alicia Polzin Jennifer Snyder
Paula Roca Sarah Straton
Julie Romias Lisa Rutledge
Janelle Ruen Saralyn Smith
Tyra Turner Rachel Wacholder
Cindie Valeriano Aleksandra Wolak

Women's Results

Women's $140,000 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23-26, 2007
1 Misty May-Treanor Kerri Walsh 1 $28,000.00 520.0
2 Nicole Branagh Elaine Youngs 2 $21,000.00 468.0
3 Annett Davis Jenny Johnson Jordan 4 $13,300.00 390.0
3 Jennifer Boss April Ross 5 $13,300.00 390.0
5 Dianne DeNecochea Barbra Fontana 6 $8,500.00 312.0
5 Angie Akers Brooke Hanson 7 $8,500.00 312.0
7 Carrie Dodd Tatiana Minello 8 $6,500.00 260.0
7 Michelle More Suzanne Stonebarger 16 $6,500.00 260.0
9 Tyra Turner Rachel Wacholder 3 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Jenny Kropp Jenny Pavley 12 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Ashley Ivy Heather Lowe 13 $3,600.00 208.0
9 Jennifer Fopma Holly McPeak 15 $3,600.00 208.0
13 Nancy Mason Logan Tom 9 $2,200.00 156.0
13 Angela Lewis Priscilla Lima 10 $2,200.00 156.0
13 Paula Roca Sarah Straton 11 $2,200.00 156.0
13 Janelle Ruen Saralyn Smith 20 $2,200.00 156.0
17 Alicia Polzin Jennifer Snyder 14 $900.00 104.0
17 Jenelle Koester Stacy Rouwenhorst 18 $900.00 104.0
17 Chara Harris Brooke Langston 19, Q1 $900.00 104.0
17 Angela Knopf Catie Mintz 21 $900.00 104.0
17 Suzana Manole Beth Van Fleet 22 $900.00 104.0
17 Julie Romias Lisa Rutledge 23 $900.00 104.0
17 Sara Dukes Chrissie Zartman 25 $900.00 104.0
17 Ania Ruiz Yarleen Santiago 32, Q22 $900.00 104.0
25 Keao Burdine Brittany Hochevar 17 $500.00 52.0
25 Kealani Kimball Rosalinda Masler 24, Q4 $500.00 52.0
25 Laura Ratto Colleen Smith 26, Q8 $500.00 52.0
25 Angie Hall Lauren Mills 27, Q5 $500.00 52.0
25 Erin Byrd Stephanie Chapek 28, Q3 $500.00 52.0
25 Kristi Martin Laurel Riechmann 29, Q7 $500.00 52.0
25 Cindie Valeriano Aleksandra Wolak 30 $500.00 52.0
25 Becca Smith Rachel Smith 31, Q18 $500.00 52.0
33 Paige Davis Kim McGiven Q6 $.00 24.0
33 Bonnie Levin Kirstin Olsen Q9 $.00 24.0
33 Keegan Featherstone Ashley Groothuis Q12 $.00 24.0
33 Jennifer Bowman Sheila Shaw Q13 $.00 24.0
33 Jennifer Corral Elena Salvador Q14 $.00 24.0
33 Maggie Philgence Vladia Vignato Q16 $.00 24.0
33 Jocelyn Decker Heidi Miller Q23 $.00 24.0
33 Whitney Pavlik Kelly Wing Q2 $.00 0.0
41 Lisa Marshall Marla O'Hara Q10 $.00 18.0
41 Hedder Ilustre Andrea Peterson Q11 $.00 18.0
41 Sara Fredrickson Allie Griffin Q15 $.00 18.0
41 Raquel Beson Kimberly Vicknair Q17 $.00 18.0
41 Lynne Brinkman Carol Hamilton Q19 $.00 18.0
41 Delavane Diaz April Oberhelman Q20 $.00 18.0
41 Cameo Neeman Ginger Schuster Q21 $.00 18.0
41 Janna Ferrovecchio Beth Kennedy Q25 $.00 18.0
41 Melanie Ghiz Aleeza Miller Q26 $.00 18.0
41 Tristy Bittikofer Linda Lang Q27 $.00 18.0
41 Marie McGoldrick Clair Syvertsen Q28 $.00 18.0
41 Christina Hinds Joanna Papageorgiou Q24 $.00 0.0

Women's $140,000 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 23-26, 2007

Qualifier Bracket
Round 1
Match 2: Maggie Philgence / Vladia Vignato (Q16) def. Raquel Beson / Kimberly Vicknair (Q17) 18-21, 21-14, 15-11 (1:06)
Match 3: Bonnie Levin / Kirstin Olsen (Q9) def. Christina Hinds / Joanna Papageorgiou (Q24) by Forfeit
Match 4: Laura Ratto / Colleen Smith (26, Q8) def. Janna Ferrovecchio / Beth Kennedy (Q25) 21-16, 16-21, 15-12 (0:54)
Match 5: Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (27, Q5) def. Marie McGoldrick / Clair Syvertsen (Q28) 21-11, 21-11 (0:31)
Match 6: Keegan Featherstone / Ashley Groothuis (Q12) def. Cameo Neeman / Ginger Schuster (Q21) 18-21, 21-12, 15-13 (0:55)
Match 7: Jennifer Bowman / Sheila Shaw (Q13) def. Delavane Diaz / April Oberhelman (Q20) 21-10, 21-8 (0:32)
Match 10: Jennifer Corral / Elena Salvador (Q14) def. Lynne Brinkman / Carol Hamilton (Q19) 16-21, 22-20, 15-11 (1:00)
Match 11: Ania Ruiz / Yarleen Santiago (32, Q22) def. Hedder Ilustre / Andrea Peterson (Q11) 18-21, 21-10, 17-15 (0:55)
Match 12: Paige Davis / Kim McGiven (Q6) def. Tristy Bittikofer / Linda Lang (Q27) 21-13, 21-12 (0:44)
Match 13: Kristi Martin / Laurel Riechmann (29, Q7) def. Melanie Ghiz / Aleeza Miller (Q26) 21-10, 21-11 (0:32)
Match 14: Jocelyn Decker / Heidi Miller (Q23) def. Lisa Marshall / Marla O'Hara (Q10) 21-16, 21-18 (0:40)
Match 15: Becca Smith / Rachel Smith (31, Q18) def. Sara Fredrickson / Allie Griffin (Q15) 21-13, 21-19 (0:36)

Round 2
Match 17: Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19, Q1) def. Maggie Philgence / Vladia Vignato (Q16) 21-19, 21-18 (0:41)
Match 18: Laura Ratto / Colleen Smith (26, Q8) def. Bonnie Levin / Kirstin Olsen (Q9) 21-15, 21-13 (0:35)
Match 19: Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (27, Q5) def. Keegan Featherstone / Ashley Groothuis (Q12) 21-16, 21-9 (0:30)
Match 20: Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (24, Q4) def. Jennifer Bowman / Sheila Shaw (Q13) 21-18, 21-18 (0:38)
Match 21: Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (28, Q3) def. Jennifer Corral / Elena Salvador (Q14) 21-18, 21-13 (0:35)
Match 22: Ania Ruiz / Yarleen Santiago (32, Q22) def. Paige Davis / Kim McGiven (Q6) 21-19, 19-21, 15-13 (0:58)
Match 23: Kristi Martin / Laurel Riechmann (29, Q7) def. Jocelyn Decker / Heidi Miller (Q23) 21-15, 21-13 (0:34)
Match 24: Becca Smith / Rachel Smith (31, Q18) def. Whitney Pavlik / Kelly Wing (Q2) by Forfeit

Winner's Bracket
Round 1
Match 1: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Ania Ruiz / Yarleen Santiago (32, Q22) 21-11, 21-9 (0:29)
Match 2: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) def. Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (17) 21-19, 21-14 (0:42)
Match 3: Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (9) def. Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (24, Q4) 21-16, 19-21, 15-8 (0:54)
Match 4: Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (8) def. Sara Dukes / Chrissie Zartman (25) 21-11, 21-18 (0:37)
Match 5: Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) def. Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (28, Q3) 21-14, 21-13 (0:40)
Match 6: Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (12) def. Angela Knopf / Catie Mintz (21) 21-15, 21-10 (0:40)
Match 7: Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (20) def. Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (13) 22-24, 21-19, 15-11 (0:55)
Match 8: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) def. Kristi Martin / Laurel Riechmann (29, Q7) 21-13, 21-9 (0:34)
Match 9: Tyra Turner / Rachel Wacholder (3) def. Cindie Valeriano / Aleksandra Wolak (30) 21-15, 21-14 (0:35)
Match 10: Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19, Q1) def. Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (14) 21-17, 21-17 (0:48)
Match 11: Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (11) def. Suzana Manole / Beth Van Fleet (22) 21-17, 22-20 (0:46)
Match 12: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (6) def. Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (27, Q5) 21-12, 21-19 (0:34)
Match 13: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) def. Laura Ratto / Colleen Smith (26, Q8) 21-12, 21-16 (0:31)
Match 14: Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (10) def. Julie Romias / Lisa Rutledge (23) 21-19, 17-21, 15-13 (0:59)
Match 15: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (15) def. Jenelle Koester / Stacy Rouwenhorst (18) 21-19, 21-12 (0:46)
Match 16: Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) def. Becca Smith / Rachel Smith (31, Q18) 21-13, 21-10 (0:38)

Round 2
Match 17: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) 21-14, 21-8 (0:33)
Match 18: Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (8) def. Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (9) 23-21, 21-17 (0:50)
Match 19: Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) def. Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (12) 21-15, 21-16 (0:46)
Match 20: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) def. Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (20) 21-13, 21-15 (0:36)
Match 21: Tyra Turner / Rachel Wacholder (3) def. Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19, Q1) 21-14, 21-8 (0:35)
Match 22: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (6) def. Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (11) 21-13, 21-13 (0:39)
Match 23: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) def. Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (10) 24-22, 21-19 (0:49)
Match 24: Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) def. Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (15) 21-14, 21-14 (0:37)

Round 3
Match 25: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (8) 21-12, 21-14 (0:40)
Match 26: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) def. Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) 21-13, 21-16 (0:45)
Match 27: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (6) def. Tyra Turner / Rachel Wacholder (3) 21-15, 21-15 (0:45)
Match 28: Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) def. Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) 21-18, 20-22, 15-11 (1:09)

Round 4
Match 29: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) 21-16, 21-15 (0:41)
Match 30: Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) def. Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (6) 21-12, 21-17 (0:46)

Contender's Bracket
Round 1
Match 31: Ania Ruiz / Yarleen Santiago (32, Q22) def. Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (17) 20-22, 21-13, 15-12 (1:00)
Match 32: Sara Dukes / Chrissie Zartman (25) def. Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (24, Q4) 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 (1:07)
Match 33: Angela Knopf / Catie Mintz (21) def. Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (28, Q3) 21-14, 24-22 (0:38)
Match 34: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (13) def. Kristi Martin / Laurel Riechmann (29, Q7) 21-16, 21-10 (0:30)
Match 35: Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (14) def. Cindie Valeriano / Aleksandra Wolak (30) 21-11, 21-12 (0:34)
Match 36: Suzana Manole / Beth Van Fleet (22) def. Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (27, Q5) 21-18, 21-15 (0:41)
Match 37: Julie Romias / Lisa Rutledge (23) def. Laura Ratto / Colleen Smith (26, Q8) 21-17, 21-9 (0:37)
Match 38: Jenelle Koester / Stacy Rouwenhorst (18) def. Becca Smith / Rachel Smith (31, Q18) 21-18, 21-14 (0:33)

Round 2
Match 39: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (15) def. Ania Ruiz / Yarleen Santiago (32, Q22) 21-10, 21-11 (0:31)
Match 40: Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (10) def. Sara Dukes / Chrissie Zartman (25) 21-16, 19-21, 18-16 (1:05)
Match 41: Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (11) def. Angela Knopf / Catie Mintz (21) 21-12, 21-16 (0:36)
Match 42: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (13) def. Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19, Q1) 21-12, 14-21, 15-9 (0:44)
Match 43: Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (20) def. Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (14) 21-16, 8-21, 16-14 (0:41)
Match 44: Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (12) def. Suzana Manole / Beth Van Fleet (22) 21-12, 21-17 (0:38)
Match 45: Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (9) def. Julie Romias / Lisa Rutledge (23) 21-14, 14-21, 15-12 (0:43)
Match 46: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) def. Jenelle Koester / Stacy Rouwenhorst (18) 32-30, 21-19 (0:51)

Round 3
Match 47: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (15) def. Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (10) 21-15, 21-17 (0:50)
Match 48: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (13) def. Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (11) 22-20, 20-22, 16-14 (1:12)
Match 49: Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (12) def. Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (20) 21-15, 17-21, 15-11 (0:54)
Match 50: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) def. Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (9) 21-17, 20-22, 15-13 (1:06)

Round 4
Match 51: Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) def. Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (15) 21-14, 27-29, 15-12 (1:17)
Match 52: Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (8) def. Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (13) 21-14, 21-11 (0:37)
Match 53: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) def. Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (12) 21-13, 21-19 (0:39)
Match 54: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) def. Tyra Turner / Rachel Wacholder (3) 14-21, 31-29, 18-16 (1:26)

Round 5
Match 55: Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) def. Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (8) 21-14, 17-21, 15-12 (1:02)
Match 56: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) def. Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (16) 18-21, 21-16, 15-7 (1:00)

Round 6
Match 57: Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) def. Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (6) 21-16, 21-10 (0:45)
Match 58: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) def. Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (7) 21-17, 21-16 (0:42)

Semifinals
Match 59: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Jennifer Boss / April Ross (5) 21-11, 21-12 (0:39)
Match 60: Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) def. Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (4) 21-11, 30-28 (0:52)

Finals
Match 61: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Nicole Branagh / Elaine Youngs (2) 21-18, 21-16 (1:04)

2007 Women's AVP Brooklyn Open Tournament Champions >>Misty May/Kerri Walsh

Misty May Kerri Walsh

My 2007 Photos:

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open

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AVP07BrooklynOpenFridayMain

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AVP07BrooklynOpenSaturdayMainPart1

AVP07BrooklynOpenSaturdayMainPart2

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Last Year's 2006 Photos
AVP Brooklyn Open Coney Island NY 2006 Friday 2 Gallery

Click here or on the picture above to view the gallery

AVP Brooklyn Open Coney Island NY 2006 Saturday 1 Gallery

Click here or on the picture above to view the gallery

Video:
Check out the Volleychicks,Beth VanFleet and Suzana Manole at the 2007 Coney Island AVP event on PressPassTV!!!
Learn more about these up and coming women of the AVP at Volleychick.com

Click here or on the picture to play the video

-Watch the Brooklyn Open Finals in streaming video right now on your computer!!!

Watch Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh
battle Rachel Wacholder and Jen Boss!
Click here or on Misty May-Treanor to launch the video player!

Watch Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger
face Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal.
Click here or on Stein Metzger to launch the video player!

Articles 2007:

AVP returns to the Big Apple
Kiraly probable for Brooklyn with strained calf
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
Get ready for one of the biggest events on the East Coast, when the AVP continues its swing to the Big Apple and lands in Coney Island.
That means sightseeing can go on for one full week, with some players and staff staying on the Atlantic Coast rather than going back home to California.
That's good news for husband and wife, Casey Jennings and Kerri Walsh.
"Kerri and I have been enjoying all the sights," said Jennings. "We have a couple of things scheduled. We're gonna drive over to New York on Monday. We love New York."
But the big promise New York holds is the probable return of Karch Kiraly (calf) to action during his final year on the AVP Crocs Tour. He has not played in a match since the Seaside Heights Open opened the month of July.
If Kiraly comes back, Kevin Wong will once again pair up with his original partner. That leaves John Mayer a man out.
Mayer said he expects to return with Matt Prosser for the Brooklyn Open next week.
"I'm hoping we can play next weekend in New York," said Mayer. "I think Karch will be back and this was just a good opportunity [to pair with Wong] and I had to give it a try. But Matt's awesome."
The 2007 stop in Brooklyn will only be the second time the tour has hit up the borough. In Brooklyn's inaugural event in 2006, Mike Lambert-Stein Metzger took the crown for the men, while Walsh and Misty May-Treanor grabbed the women's title.
Metzger and Lambert have won four tournaments in 2007, but their last was in Chicago, which opened the ongoing seven-week stretch of travel. They are looking to get back on track and defend their title on Coney Island.
If Kiraly returns, he too will have some defending to do.
Although he didn't take the 2006 Brooklyn title, Kiraly owns both the 1993 and 1994 AVP New York Open titles. He might like to get back in the winner's circle after coming close during the Tampa Open in June.
But other teams will also try to crack the top teams on the men's side of the draw. When Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer finished second in Boston, they accounted for the third straight new team in 2007 to enter the final aside from the usual top three teams: Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers, Lambert-Metzger and Jake Gibb-Sean Rosenthal.
John Hyden and Brad Keenan started things off in Chicago and Dax Holdren and Sean Scott took note and followed that up with their first finals appearance in Manhattan Beach.
But who is going to do it next?
They can take note from the women's side, as Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh finally came together to stop the imposing momentum of May-Treanor and Walsh in Boston, foiling their plans for an 11th title in 2007.
Youngs and Branagh will keep at it for the remainder of the season, hungry for their fourth title of 2007.
Come back to avp.com all weekend from Thursday, Aug. 23, to Sunday, Aug. 26, to see how things pan out.

Karch TV special to air Monday night
Program will focus on retiring legend's life, beach career
AVP
LOS ANGELES — Beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly will be honored in a tribute titled "Karch Kiraly ... The King of the Beach" that will air August 20 on FSN West at 10:30 p.m. PT following the Angels-Yankees game and be streamed on avp.com.
Kiraly, the "Michael Jordan of beach volleyball," will retire from the AVP Tour after this season. Kiraly will be appearing on "Angels Live," FSN West's pre- and postgame shows to promote the special. He'll also make an appearance in the broadcast booth with announcers Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler.
"Karch Kiraly ... The King of the Beach" will focus on both Kiraly's life and his successes on the sand, including his years growing up in Santa Barbara, Calif., learning the game from his father, Dr. Laszlo Kiraly, a Hungarian immigrant. The program follows his rise to stardom on the indoor courts and his adjustment to returning to the sand. His personal life, including his relationship with his wife, Janna, and their sons Kristian and Kory, will also be featured. AVP stars both past and present (including current star player and former partner Mike Lambert and current AVP Tour pro Dax Holdren) were interviewed for this special, as well as Steve Timmons (1984 and 1988 Olympic teammate), Mike Dodd (beach legend) and his parents Laszlo and Tony Kiraly.
Kiraly has won 148 beach titles — the most all-time — and has captured at least one tournament in 24 of the 27 seasons he has played, a career spanning four different decades. He has claimed titles in 24 different states with 13 different partners. In domestic events, he has finished lower than ninth place only four times and has been in the semifinals more than 80 percent of the time. Kiraly is the only volleyball player in Olympic history to win three gold medals, having been part of the United States' gold medal indoor teams in 1984 and 1988 and winning the beach volleyball gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with Kent Steffes.
Throughout his career, Kiraly has earned countless accolades including: AVP Best Defensive Player (2002), AVP Best Offensive Player (1990, 1993, 1994), AVP Comeback Player of the Year (1997), AVP Most Valuable Player (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998), AVP Sportsman of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998) and most recently AVP Outstanding Achievement (2004). The FIVB has named Kiraly "Best Player in the World" twice, in 1986 and 1988. He was inducted into the 2005 AVCA Hall of Fame class.

Difficult decision made for Smith
Fontana and DeNecochea back in the groove
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
Sinjin Smith was never forced to make the decision.
As circumstances played out early in his career, he paired first with Karch Kiraly and then with Randy Stoklos. Aside from a little bit of overlap, the choice was essentially made for him.
"Fortunately I didn't have to make that decision," Smith said of not having to pick one of the other. "It would have been a very tough decision to make."
In his third year as a pro, and with 11 beach tournaments to his credit, Smith hooked up with his indoor teammate at UCLA to play in a Parks and Rec event in Santa Cruz — they won. Smith and Kiraly would play in a total of 28 events and take first in 21. He finished second twice, with two thirds and three fifth-place finishes.
But commitments would intervene, and for Kiraly, that was the U.S. national indoor team. Both he and Smith were members of the squad but circumstances led to Smith's departure and he returned to the beach.
Kiraly played intermittently with Smith through the early 80s, but ultimately the national team became the priority and Kiraly went on to produce two of his three Olympic gold medals: 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul.
Smith hooked up with Stoklos in July 1982 and hit on the right combination again as they also won their first tournament together in Santa Barbara.
But the potential conflict of partners never really materialized as careers took their own turns.
"[Stoklos and I] played together until Karch was available, and then I'd tell Stokie to take a back seat so Karch and I would play together," Smith said. "That didn't last too long because Stokie knew he could win with me and thought he could win with other people and gave me the option that you play with me all the time or I'll play with somebody else.
"I decided to play with Randy all the time because he was someone I knew I could win with and not knowing when Karch would be available."
Smith and Stoklos went on to become the best team on the beach, winning a record 114 tournaments together.
He said he could have had similar success with Kiraly if they had stayed together, but also noted the game began to change.
"When I was playing with Karch, blocking over really wasn't a part of the game. It came in when I played with Stokie, the blocking over part," Smith said. "Randy was clearly a better blocker than Karch. Karch had other skills and assets than Randy had."
Smith said he'd play with Phil Dalhausser today given the evolution of the game, but he added a choice between Kiraly or Stoklos would depend on style.
"If it was a game with no blocking, I'd choose Karch. If it was a game with blocking over I'd choose Randy," Smith said. "It is funny, it just happened that way."
In the groove: Barbra Fontana and Dianne DeNecochea got back together this past weekend for the Boston Open and returned to familiar territory.
By reaching the semifinals, they placed third for the seventh time this season. Fontana also had a third-place finish in Chicago with Alicia Polzin, but DeNecochea could do no better than fifth while playing with Logan Tom.
"We're doing well on the court together, we play well together and we have good chemistry," Fontana said. "It's nice to be back and be in full stride."
Versatility: As for Tom, she played with Holly McPeak before hooking up with DeNecochea, and for Boston she played with Nancy Mason.
Tom's best finishes this season are a second with McPeak in Louisville and a fifth this past weekend with Mason. In just her second year on tour, she's been forced to play a variety of styles.
"A little hybrid, I do whatever they want. I'm the basic utility player," Tom said. "I enjoy playing defense so I missed that with Holly. But I love blocking and I missed that with Di. Now with Nancy, I do the majority of blocking, especially against big teams but she'll step up there and block too, which I love."

Coney nets volleyball event
BY DENISE ROMANO
NY Daily News
Tuesday, August 21st 2007, 4:00 AM
Ready, set, spike!
The AVP Brooklyn Open is coming to Coney Island this week for the second year in a row. The volleyball tournament will take place in a temporary, 4,000 seat stadium set up on the beach.
"We are very proud to come to Brooklyn and are excited to be here," said Chris Brahe, vice president of property sales of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. He noted that his company, owned by Bruce Ratner is pairing up with AVP (American Volleyball Player) for the event.
"This will allow us to start doing business in Brooklyn before the Atlantic Yards Arena opens in 2009," he said. "This way we don't have to wait two years."
The four-day event consists of several volleyball games taking place simultaneously as part of the tournament. Brooklyn is a stop on the AVP Crocs tour this summer and the whole event will be broadcast live on NBC Sports.
Coney Island seemed to be the perfect place in New York to hold the tournament, officials said.
"We are delighted to be part of the rebirth of the area as it begins to regrow," Leonard Armato, commissioner of the AVP and a Brooklyn native, said.
"This is the ultimate beach experience and I hope it is even better this year," he said.
Pro-volleyball partners Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, who are having a very successful season, are excited to return to Coney Island once again.
"I like those Nathan's hot dogs and I like the fact that we are actually on a beach," Dalhausser said.
"We are usually on a parking lot or a tennis stadium filled with sand."
Rogers said he liked the energy.
"I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of the crowd," Rogers said, adding that he won third place at the tourney last year. "The crowd was also very diverse, which was nice because you don't see that a lot in other places."

U.S. Army Soldiers to be Sworn in at the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife
Special ceremony scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 2 at Lindner Family Tennis Center before the women’s finals
CINCINNATI, August 22, 2007 – Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open and the AVP Crocs Tour announce that the U.S. Army will swear in future soldiers during a special ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 2, at Lindner Family Tennis Center before the women’s finals at the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife.
The Oath of Enlistment will be administered by Capt. Jason Shick of the Kings Mill Army Recruiting Company. Assisting with the ceremony will be Sgt. 1st Class Albert Atkins and Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Herold.
“It’s not every day that civilians have the opportunity to witness a group of men and women from their own community make the commitment to serve in the U.S. Army,” said Capt. Shick. “The Oath of Enlistment is the final step people take in joining the Army. It is an honor to be part of it.”
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Herold will lead about 10 local future soldiers to the staging area where they will raise their right hands and swear to support and defend the United States of America. Take the time to thank them for their selfless service before the women’s finals begin.
Event Schedule & Times
Thursday, Aug. 30 - Day Session (Qualifier) – 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:00 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Day Session - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Night Session - 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Day Session - 9 a.m. to approx. 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Night Session – 6:15 p.m. to approx. 10:30 p.m., (Men’s final at 8 p.m.)
Sunday, Sept. 2 - Day Session 10 a.m. to approx. 4 p.m. (Women’s final at 2:30 p.m.)
Tickets
Tickets for the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open, held over Labor Day weekend Aug. 30-Sept. 2, can be purchased through avp.com/Cincinnati, Tickets.com and at all Meijer store locations in Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Dayton and Columbus. Prices range from $9-$75 with special discounts and various packages also available.
Online Information
For updated 2007 event information including tickets, sponsorships, hospitality, schedules and general announcements visit the website at www.avp.com/Cincinnati.
About the AVP
AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. AVP operates the industry's most prominent national touring series, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, which was organized in 1983. Featuring more than 150 of the top American men and women competitors in the sport, AVP is set to stage 18 events throughout the United States in 2007. In 2004, AVP athletes successfully represented the United States during the Olympics in Athens, Greece, winning gold and bronze medals, the first medals won by U.S. women in professional beach volleyball. For more information, please visit www.avp.com.
About Reach Event Marketing
Reach Event Marketing (REM) is a full-service event marketing company that specializes in organizing, marketing and promoting regional and national events including the AVP Crocs Tour Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open, AVP Louisville Open, Prep Classic and i-wireless High School Tour. REM offers strategic marketing expertise at the grassroots level in many areas including the selling of advertising, sponsorship and hospitality packages, ticket sales management, and promotion. In addition to event marketing the company also publishes Hacks High School Sports Magazine. For more information, please visit www.reacheventmarketing.com.

One team not minding the gap
Branagh-Youngs have separated from the chasers
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are secure in the seedings atop the women's side of the draw, but they're no longer the lock they were when projecting a winner.
With 10 wins, a second and a third in 12 events, their record in 2007 has no peer. Yet the last few weeks have shown that May-Treanor and Walsh have at least one team poised to keep the season from being a complete runaway.
That would be Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, who won last week in Boston for their third title of the year, the only multiple winners on the women's side other than May-Treanor and Walsh.
Youngs and Branagh defeated May-Treanor and Walsh in the final to hand them their first loss in a championship match in a year and are just one of two teams to take matches on the AVP Crocs Tour from the women's top duo this season. April Ross and Jennifer Boss defeated May-Treanor and Walsh in Hermosa Beach while Youngs and Branagh dropped them in the semifinal in the season-opener in Miami.
One tournament could be considered an aberration, but Youngs and Branagh extended May-Treanor and Walsh to three games in Manhattan Beach this month, which included a second-game forfeit when Youngs suffered cramps in the quadriceps of both of her legs.
Fatigue has become a factor, but it's playing equally for both teams and has also affected Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner, and Boss and Ross. All four teams have been racking up the frequent-flyer miles with numerous trans-Atlantic trips.
Youngs has battled a left calf injury since the Long Beach Open last month but believes her injuries may have helped her team. She said that she's been working on giving Branagh more room on the set to allow more space for her partner to hit.
While the victory last week has buoyed their confidence, Youngs said they still must execute on each point to win.
"If you get by Kerri's blocking, you've got to worry about Misty. I go up and try and hit it as hard as I can and hit it high so (Walsh) doesn't block me straight down," Youngs said. "If I can do that, you're looking good and hopefully you hit it hard enough that Misty can't play it as well. She might dig it but they can't transition it back at us with a great set if we put some heat on it."
Branagh said Misty and Kerri are still the team to beat.
"They're a great team; they're incredible," Branagh said. "It's tough no matter who we play. It doesn't matter whether we're playing Rachel and Tyra, Jen and April. They're all good teams."
Fool me once: Youngs capped last week's women's final with an ace on championship point. Walsh said it wasn't a total surprise.
"I saw that serve (in Manhattan Beach). Elaine is pretty cagey back there and I just should have been aware of that," Walsh said. "That was terrible."
Remember when: Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger are the defending champions while May-Treanor and Walsh will be looking to defend their Brooklyn crown. The city of New York also hosted a Parks and Rec event in 1983, with Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos taking the title, while Holly McPeak and Lisa Arce won a WPVA tournament in 1996.
Bracketology: Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have reclaimed the No. 1 seed on the men's side of the draw with Lambert and Metzger dropping to No. 2. They are followed by Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb, Fred Souza and Anthony Medel, and John Hyden and Brad Keenan to round out the top five.
May-Treanor and Walsh are again the top seed on the women's side of the draw, with Youngs and Branagh in the No. 2 slot with Turner-Wacholder, Jenny Johnson Jordan-Annett Davis, and Boss-Ross completing the top five.
Still out: Karch Kiraly will sit out the Brooklyn Open as he tries to recover from a strained left calf. His partner Kevin Wong will play with John Mayer.
Set your clocks: Play in Thursday's qualifier begins at 8:00 a.m. ET and concludes at approximately 6:00 p.m. The main draw competition will begin on Friday at 9:00 a.m. and continue until approximately 6:30 p.m. The men's final is scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET with play on the women's side continuing until 6:30 p.m. The women's final is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Multimedia: The men's and women's finals will both stream live on avp.com. The Mosaic video player will also provide coverage from four courts on Friday and Saturday.
NBC will provide live coverage of both the men's and women's finals (2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday for the men and Sunday for the women). A repeat of the Charleston Open women's final will air on FSN on Saturday, Aug. 25, at noon ET.
Up next: The AVP Crocs Tour heads to Ohio for the Cincinnati Open and the conclusion of the regular season, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. The postseason will begin with Gods and Goddesses of the Beach in Las Vegas, Sept. 6-8 and conclude with Best of the Beach in San Francisco, Sept. 14-16.

Straight From The Bleachers:
AVP Promises to Grow in Second Year on Coney Island
by John Torenli (sports@brooklyneagle.net), published online 08-23-2007
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The surprisingly damp, cool weather that has hit our borough this week is expected to move on and give way to the 90-plus degree temperatures more familiar to the month of August.
The change in climate couldn’t come at a better time for the second annual visit from the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Crocs Tour, which officially kicks off on Coney Island this evening.
“We are thrilled to bring another exciting AVP Brooklyn Open event to New York,” said Brooklyn native, tour commissioner and CEO Leonard Armato.
In partnership with Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, which is determined to pave the way for the Nets’ arrival in Downtown by sponsoring and promoting sports-oriented events throughout our borough, the AVP Brooklyn Open will run from Thursday to Sunday adjacent to the amusement park along the famed boardwalk.
More than 150 of the top professional beach volleyball athletes, including defending women’s champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, the No. 1 ranked team in the world, will compete in the tournament, which will be televised live on NBC Sports.
“The involvement of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment in the promotion of this event is very significant for the AVP and its participation continues to demonstrate the growing popularity of beach volleyball and the success of the AVP,” added Armato.
“Our organizations will continue to work hard to make sure that this is one of the premiere stops on the AVP Crocs Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.”
After hosting Thursday’s qualifying round, the temporary 4,000-seat facility by the sea figures to heat up throughout the weekend on 13 outer courts as well as the main center-court area. “After the success of last year’s inaugural AVP Brooklyn Open, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is thrilled to continue our relationship with the AVP to bring the thrill of pro beach volleyball to one of the most celebrated spots in Brooklyn,” said Brett Yormark, President and CEO of Nets Sports and Entertainment.
“We are striving to make this tournament an historic event for the borough and to put on another great show for current and future volleyball fans on the beach. This is also an important opportunity for Brooklyn once again to be showcased on NBC in a significant way.”
“Coney Island is one of the most popular beaches on the Eastern Seaboard, meaning it’s perfect for a popular sport like professional beach volleyball,” Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz added. “Again this year, all eyes will be on Coney and the world class competitors in the AVP Brooklyn Open, an event we could rightfully call ‘Beauty and the Beach’ — it’s definitely a match made in Brooklyn!” Tickets for the three sessions are available by calling (718) 702-5246 or at the event box office on the day of event. General admission seats are $20. More information is available at www.avp.com/Brooklyn.
AVP, which was organized in 1983, is set to stage 18 events throughout the United States this year. In 2004, AVP athletes successfully represented the United States during the Olympics in Athens, winning gold and bronze medals, the first won by U.S. women in professional beach volleyball.

Twin sisters qualify on walkover
Kelly Wing pulls out with post-concussion syndrome
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — With qualifying under way in the Brooklyn Open, those moving on are out to prove that if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere.
The pace of play has been crisp with four teams on the women's side already advancing into the main draw, which begins Friday. Top seed Chara Harris-Brooke Langston, No. 5 Angie Hall-Lauren Mills, No. 8 Laura Ratto-Colleen Smith, and twin sisters No. 18 Becca and Rachel Smith.
Eight teams from both the men's and women's sides will qualify for 32-team main draw.
The Smiths advanced in a walkover when Kelly Wing pulled out of the tournament with post-concussion syndrome, an injury she suffered in the 6-on-6 tournament in Manhattan Beach.
Vincent Robbins and Adam Roberts, the No. 1 seed on the men's side, defeated Dameon Holmquist and Andreas Olesen, 21-14, 21-19, in early action while No. 42 Pavel Bodjanac and Tom Kohler pulled off an early upset by ousting No. 23 Affonso Canedo and Wayne Holly, 21-18, 16-21, 16-14, in an hour-long match.
Other upsets on the men's side included No. 36 Gregory Hunter and Tony Yates eliminating No. 29 Erik Laverdiere and Brad Vallett, 21-11, 21-11; and No. 35 John Coon and Dave McKienzie defeating Jeff Schietzelt and Jason Stefon, 27-25, 21-14.

Smith, Ratto overcome subway
Pair arrives just seven minutes before start of play
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — It was time for newly-formed partnerships to put their pairings to the test during Thursday's qualifying for the 2007 Brooklyn Open.
Only one of the new pairs survived the qualifiers with a bid into Friday's main draw — No. 8 Laura Ratto and Colleen Smith.
Smith and Ratto moved on after defeating No. 9 Bonnie Levin and Kirstin Olsen in the final round of the qualifier, 21-15, 21-13, giving Smith her first career main draw appearance. That earned the San Diego natives a huge dog pile from all the others who have already made it into main draws.
"I've been waiting all year for this," Smith said. "I played in about three events last year, but I couldn't financially commit to [playing in more events]."
Ratto earned her own dog pile during the Dallas Open in April, when she and Angie Hall made it into the main draw.
The new partnership of Smith and Ratto is progressing nicely considering that they almost missed out on this tournament twice.
Staying in New York for the weekend, the pair decided to catch the subway to Coney Island, and arrived just seven minutes before the start of play at 8 a.m.
"We took the subway here and it took us like an hour and 40 minutes," Ratto said. "So we thought we were going to have plenty of time, but we realized we were stuck because it wasn't an express; it stopped at every stop."
The up and down season they've been having was also a factor for both players.
Ratto paired up with five different players before teaming up with Smith for Brooklyn, while Smith cycled through six partners before joining up with Ratto.
Ratto was ready to throw in the towel for the 2007 season, especially after sustaining an injury to her foot in a car crash earlier this year.
"I'd definitely like to play with Colleen again," Ratto said. "I did the player shuffle this year too, so I was a little frustrated. .... It's been kind of a trying season so I decided I was done before Boston and then this kind of came up last minute."
And the connection that led to the women pairing up? Their San Diego roots.
Another San Diego team barely missed out on qualifying and a second dog pile on the weekend, as No. 6 Paige Davis and Kim McGiven dropped their final game on Thursday to the surprise team of No. 22 Ania Ruiz and Yarleen Santiago.
Ruiz and Santiago pulled off two upsets to make their way into the main draw, including an early 18-21, 21-10, 17-15 victory over No. 11 Hedder Ilustre and Andrea Peterson. They followed that with a narrow 21-19, 19-21, 15-13 win over Davis and McGiven.
Had McGiven come out of that match victoriously, she also would have made her first main draw since she started competing in AVP tournaments after graduating from Santa Clara University two months ago.
Despite the late upset, McGiven and Davis haven't given up hope of competing together again.
"I met her in San Diego a couple of months ago, that's how we met; just playing against each other in groups of training," Davis said. "I guess we were both looking for a partner and thought we'd try it out for the last two and maybe see what happens for next season."
Added McGiven: "Paige has great energy. It's really fun to play with her and I'm so excited for these last few tournaments."
While the transition from collegiate indoor volleyball is difficult for many, McGiven is taking to it naturally, after having spent much of her youth on the beaches of San Diego and around the beach volleyball community.
"I think the transition's been a little easier just because I started playing when I was 16," McGiven said. "It's mostly pickup, but I play a lot of co-ed [beach volleyball] and go out with the guys."
According to Davis, that's the best way to immerse oneself in the sport. Practicing against men is the best way to recreate a block from the taller women, like Kerri Walsh.
Davis-McGiven and Levin-Olsen all leave New York in 33rd place.
Eight total teams moved on to Friday's main draw. The other six include: No. 1 Chara Harris-Brooke Langston, No. 3 Erin Byrd-Stephanie Chapek, No. 4 Kealani Kimball-Rosalinda Masler, No. 5 Hall-Lauren Mills, No. 7 Kristi Martin-Laurel Riechmann and twin sisters and eighteenth-seeded Becca and Rachel Smith.
Smith and Smith entered the main draw after one round of play, by way of No. 2 Whitney Pavlik and Kelly Wing's forfeiture.

McNichol works toward beach dream
New Yorker sacrifices for his sporting passion
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — During the week, Tim McNichol is a soft-spoken waiter at Carmine's, an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But by week's end, he is a beach volleyball-playing dynamo.
McNichol, a native of Lindenhurst, Long Island, and resident of Brooklyn, is one of the few AVP regulars currently living within the confines of New York City. He and partner Ihor Akinshyn have played in five tour events this season, making trips to Miami, Tampa, Seaside Heights and Boston.
But Brooklyn is by far the biggest on a personal level. McNichol recently moved to the Williamsburgh section of the borough, which is only a 10-minute drive from Coney Island, the venue for the AVP Brooklyn Open.
"We love being here," said McNichol, 31, of he and Akinshyn, who is a resident of Mahwah, N.J. "It's great to be able to represent your hometown."
But being the local boy has its drawbacks, as well. McNichol and Akinshyn, seeded 12th in the Brooklyn qualifier, defeated No. 21 Jack Delehanty-Phil St. Pierre, 21-8, 21-16, in the first round Thursday morning and after the match McNichol was inundated with media requests.
The local television station, the New York Daily News and the New York Sun were all beckoning for his attention. McNichol and Akinshyn were tardy for their next match against No. 5 Braidy Halverson-Dane Jensen and might not have warmed up quite enough in a 21-9, 21-15 loss.
"We had a little bit of pressure today," McNichol said. "We had a decent amount of press — it was a little distracting."
It might not have been the bulge of print, radio and television reporters Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees faces before and after every game, but for a qualifier on the AVP Tour, it's a handful. But McNichol wasn't upset because of it, just disappointed that he and Akinshyn couldn't duplicate their performance last year in Brooklyn where they played their way into the main draw.
"We had a home-court advantage," Akinshyn said. "We could have used it a little more."
But Jensen and Halverson were impressed — not just by the supporters for McNichol and Akinshyn, either, but also by their play.
"The team we played was really good," Jensen said. "A local team and they had some skills and some fans — it was fun."
McNichol and Akinshyn haven't discussed whether or not they will make the trip next week to Cincinnati, the next stop on the AVP Crocs Tour. That's the problem with McNichol's current arrangement. Because of work obligations and his choice to live in New York City, he can't make nearly as many AVP tournaments as he'd like. Six of the 18 events are on the West Coast, but he compensates by playing in a multitude of local tourneys with Akinshyn.
"You have to commit to it," said Akinshyn, who works as an information securities analyst for Medco Health Solutions, the largest online pharmacy in the world. "It's not natural and organic like it is in California."
And then there is the financial commitment, as well. Every AVP event costs $50 per person to enter and that's not including money for flights, rental cars or cabs and hotel rooms. McNichol has only made $175 total in his three-year AVP career. Akinshyn, who has been playing on the tour since on and off since 2000 has earned $325.
"Fees is only the small part," said Akinshyn, 39.
But it hasn't deterred McNichol. He started late playing volleyball as a high-school student at Holy Trinity in Hicksville, Long Island, and played club volleyball at Siena College in Albany, N.Y. He didn't much like the indoor game, not even attempting to get a scholarship to a Division I college. Instead he honed his beach skills at Robert Moses on Long Island.
"I always dreamed of playing on the beach," McNichol said.
But he didn't get the bug to make it more than just a hobby until three years ago, around the same time he started pairing with Akinshyn.
"I started to truly believe it was a possibility," McNichol said.
He found enough time to play 18 tournaments with Akinshyn over the past two years. From May to September 2006 he played in a volleyball tournament every weekend with no breaks. In the offseason, McNichol works out at Velocity Sports Training in midtown Manhattan and practices beach volleyball at Chelsea Pier, which has indoor sand courts.
"It takes a lot of hard work and commitment," McNichol said. "We have to really take care of ourselves. We play through pain all the time."
There is, of course, an inevitable goal. McNichol and Akinshyn are 6-5 this season and their best finish has been 25th. They've only made one main draw, though: last year in Brooklyn.
"We want to be regular main draw players," McNichol said. "I consistently dream about playing with and beating the best players in the world."

Older team enjoys time in Brooklyn
No Cinderella stories for local pairs
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Nils Madsen and Mike Boosin don't look much like the other volleyball players at the AVP Brooklyn Open this weekend. Their hair is gray and there are a few wrinkles spread across their faces.
"It's fun being the oldest guys out there," said Boosin, 40.
At 50, Madsen was the oldest men's player competing in the qualifier. He and Boosin — playing in their first AVP tournament — fell to B.J. Cook and Paul McDonald, 21-5, 21-15, on Thursday morning. But for at least a few minutes it looked like the elder statesmen might take a game from the No. 18 team.
"We basically do it just for fun," said Madsen, a native of Denmark who grew up in Finland. "As long as we tease these younger guys, it's fun."
The local pair — Madsen lives on Staten Island and Boosin is from Woodmere, L.I. — met two months ago at a tournament and figured they would wing it. Not that they suffer from a lack of experience.
Madsen competed in the World Masters beach volleyball competition with Finland for players 45 and older, and Boosin is a chiseled athlete who competes in triathlon and ironman events across the country. Boosin's girlfriend, Cindie Valeriano, will be a wild card in the main draw Friday with partner Aleksandra Wolak.
"I figured since we're gonna be here already, we might as well play," Boosin said.
Some of the other locals found more success in Brooklyn. Joining Valeriano (Woodmere, N.Y.) and Wolak (Jersey City, N.J.) in the main draw are Matt Ogin, a Turnersville, N.J., native, and David Fischer, who beat No. 9 Fernando Sabla-Lucas Wisniakowski, 21-15, 21-18. No. 12 Tim McNichol (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Ihor Akinshyn (Mahwah, N.J.) played for the main draw, but fell to No. 5 Braidy Halverson-Dane Jensen, 21-19, 21-15.
"We had a home-court advantage — we could have used it a little more," Akinshyn said.
Most of the other locals were AVP neophytes. No. 42 Pavel Bodjanac (West Nyack, N.Y.) and Tom Kohler (East Brunswick, N.J.) won their first-ever tournament match in the first round before falling to No. 10 Joe Cash-Tyler Lesneski, 21-14, 22-20.
"We got a taste now — I wanna go to Cincinnati," said Kohler of the AVP Crocs Tour's next stop.
The partners play for Great American Volleyball on the Jersey Shore, but have taken vastly different paths to get there. Bodjanac is 38 and moved to New York from California in 1991. Kohler is a 21-year-old Ramapo College (N.J.) student.
Kohler's former East Brunswick HS teammates, No. 36 Tony Yates and Greg Hunter, won their first AVP match in Seaside Heights last month and won another one in Brooklyn on Thursday over No. 29 Erik Laverdiere-Brad Vallett, 21-11, 21-11, before falling in the second round.
Queens native Mark Burik won his first AVP Tour match with partner Hudson Bates over No. 25 Yariv Lerner-Marcus Santos.
No. 28 Clair Syvertsen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Marie McGoldrick (Rockaway, N.Y.) were the final seed on the women's side and fell in the first round to No. 5 Angie Hall-Lauren Mills, 21-11, 21-11. Hall and Mills ended up making it all the way to the main draw. Both went to the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association State Championship with St. Savior's HS in Brooklyn and earned Division I scholarships in the same borough at St. Francis College.
Like many of the locals, there were no delusions of grandeur. There weren't any Cinderella stories Thursday afternoon in Coney Island, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable experience.
"It's a nice, professional level with a pro atmosphere," McGoldrick said of the AVP. "We competed. It was fun to compete at this level."

Older team enjoys time in Brooklyn
No Cinderella stories for local pairs
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Nils Madsen and Mike Boosin don't look much like the other volleyball players at the AVP Brooklyn Open this weekend. Their hair is gray and there are a few wrinkles spread across their faces.
"It's fun being the oldest guys out there," said Boosin, 40.
At 50, Madsen was the oldest men's player competing in the qualifier. He and Boosin — playing in their first AVP tournament — fell to B.J. Cook and Paul McDonald, 21-5, 21-15, on Thursday morning. But for at least a few minutes it looked like the elder statesmen might take a game from the No. 18 team.
"We basically do it just for fun," said Madsen, a native of Denmark who grew up in Finland. "As long as we tease these younger guys, it's fun."
The local pair — Madsen lives on Staten Island and Boosin is from Woodmere, L.I. — met two months ago at a tournament and figured they would wing it. Not that they suffer from a lack of experience.
Madsen competed in the World Masters beach volleyball competition with Finland for players 45 and older, and Boosin is a chiseled athlete who competes in triathlon and ironman events across the country. Boosin's girlfriend, Cindie Valeriano, will be a wild card in the main draw Friday with partner Aleksandra Wolak.
"I figured since we're gonna be here already, we might as well play," Boosin said.
Some of the other locals found more success in Brooklyn. Joining Valeriano (Woodmere, N.Y.) and Wolak (Jersey City, N.J.) in the main draw are Matt Ogin, a Turnersville, N.J., native, and David Fischer, who beat No. 9 Fernando Sabla-Lucas Wisniakowski, 21-15, 21-18. No. 12 Tim McNichol (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Ihor Akinshyn (Mahwah, N.J.) played for the main draw, but fell to No. 5 Braidy Halverson-Dane Jensen, 21-19, 21-15.
"We had a home-court advantage — we could have used it a little more," Akinshyn said.
Most of the other locals were AVP neophytes. No. 42 Pavel Bodjanac (West Nyack, N.Y.) and Tom Kohler (East Brunswick, N.J.) won their first-ever tournament match in the first round before falling to No. 10 Joe Cash-Tyler Lesneski, 21-14, 22-20.
"We got a taste now — I wanna go to Cincinnati," said Kohler of the AVP Crocs Tour's next stop.
The partners play for Great American Volleyball on the Jersey Shore, but have taken vastly different paths to get there. Bodjanac is 38 and moved to New York from California in 1991. Kohler is a 21-year-old Ramapo College (N.J.) student.
Kohler's former East Brunswick HS teammates, No. 36 Tony Yates and Greg Hunter, won their first AVP match in Seaside Heights last month and won another one in Brooklyn on Thursday over No. 29 Erik Laverdiere-Brad Vallett, 21-11, 21-11, before falling in the second round.
Queens native Mark Burik won his first AVP Tour match with partner Hudson Bates over No. 25 Yariv Lerner-Marcus Santos.
No. 28 Clair Syvertsen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Marie McGoldrick (Rockaway, N.Y.) were the final seed on the women's side and fell in the first round to No. 5 Angie Hall-Lauren Mills, 21-11, 21-11. Hall and Mills ended up making it all the way to the main draw. Both went to the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association State Championship with St. Savior's HS in Brooklyn and earned Division I scholarships in the same borough at St. Francis College.
Like many of the locals, there were no delusions of grandeur. There weren't any Cinderella stories Thursday afternoon in Coney Island, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable experience.
"It's a nice, professional level with a pro atmosphere," McGoldrick said of the AVP. "We competed. It was fun to compete at this level."

A new sister act joins the tour
Twins Rachel, Becca Smith hope to emulate Lindquists
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — Call it Sister Act II.
Katie and Tracy Lindquist have played their familial ties to their advantage with eight years of success on the tour, and Rachel and Becca Smith are ready to follow that blueprint.
Tapping an even closer connection, the Smiths are identical twins. They hope to apply the skills they learned in the beach volleyball not-so-hotbed of Somerset, Mass., and make the sport a regular gig.
On Thursday, they qualified for the main draw for the first time in their careers.
"We've pretty much been a team since the start," Becca Smith said. "My dad got us started in beach volleyball, because he saw it on TV and we were indoor players, and he thought it would be nice to put two of them together."
Both played indoors at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth before transferring to Bridgewater, a Division III school, where Rachel was a nationally-ranked track and field athlete in the heptathlon.
After hurting her shoulder during a national meet, Rachel ultimately ditched the grueling seven-sport discipline to devote her attention to playing on the beach.
Like the Lindquists, neither Smith is tall, with both hitting the tape at 5-foot-8. But admiring more then just the Lindquists' playing style, the Smiths would like to emulate how they act on the court.
"Our only downfall is the sister-sister thing," Becca Smith said. "I don't know how Lindquist and Lindquist does it — Not fighting on the court."
Rachel Smith said there is little they won't say to each other during a match.
"If we were with a partner that we weren't so close to, then we'd be less apt to say something. We don't hide anything," she said. "The good side is we have been together for so long that we know how we want each other to play."
The Smiths, 22, share the chores on the court pretty evenly, as neither is a dominant blocker, a la the Lindquists, and both also look to work in the same profession as the Lindquists to facilitate a flexible schedule.
Becca graduated from Bridgewater with a degree in math and wants to teach high school in Florida, while Rachel needs some credits to finish her degree in biochemistry, but hopes to follow her sister's footsteps.
The Smiths won their first match last weekend in Boston, and had to win only one match to qualify here Thursday after their second-round opponent — Whitney Pavlik and Kelly Wing — were forced to forfeit following a concussion that Wing suffered earlier this month at the 6-on-6 tournament in Manhattan Beach.
The Smiths said their father — despite getting them into the sport — doesn't come out much to see them in action, but that he's quick to provide encouragement.
"He said before the last tournament, 'I know you girls can do it. I know you can beat that Mindy May,'" Becca Smith said.
Cashing in: Joe Cash was without Matt Henderson in Brooklyn but advanced through qualifying anyway with friend Tyler Lesneski.
It's the second time into the main draw for Cash, who also qualified this season in Tampa with Henderson. But he hasn't begun to ponder a switch and remains committed to Henderson, who will be playing this weekend in another event in Virginia Beach.
Cash said that he and Henderson will play next weekend in Cincinnati and hope to climb the ladder.
"I want to finish this season strong. It's a triple-point tournament so hopefully we can go there and set ourselves up for next year," Cash said. "Ever since Tampa, that is when we started to take it a little more serious. It was just exciting to be a part of that atmosphere and we want to get there again."

Metzger, Lambert begin title defense
No. 2 seed needs to slow Dalhausser-Rogers down
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — Friday's main draw will feature 32 teams of each gender, with no team receiving a first-round bye. But there are a handful of teams making their first main draw appearance as partners in 2007.
While Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert are the defending champions after winning the 2006 Brooklyn Open, they're going to have to work a little bit harder to get back there in 2007. Lambert and Metzger have the No. 2 seed entering the tournament, and they need to slow down the momentum of top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers to get back on top.
Thursday's highlights: Rachel and Becca Smith successfully qualified for the first time in their young careers. Adam Roberts and Vincent Robbins qualified as the top seeds, while David Fischer played with his sixth partner this season and qualified.
Match of the day: No. 22 Eben Meyer and Bill Schultz eliminated No. 6 Kyle Denitz and Casey Patterson, 21-14, 16-21, 16-14.
Upset of the day: No. 42 Pavel Bodjanac and Tom Kohler ousted Affonso Canedo and Wayne Holly, 21-18, 16-21, 16-14.
Start/finish: Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday with competition beginning at 9:30. Play will conclude at approximately 6:00 p.m. ET.
Weather forecast: A high of 84 degrees under partly cloudy skies is expected Friday.
Match to watch: No. 15 Jennifer Fopma and Holly McPeak will play No.18 Jenelle Koester and Stacy Rouwenhorst.
The same is true for the reigning female champs, No. 1 Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. After trying all season, No. 2 Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh finally knocked off the No. 1 team in a final at the Boston Open last week.
On Friday, all four teams will set out on their journey to get on top and stay there. There is now more pressure to do so with only one more regular season tournament remaining after this weekend in Brooklyn.
The men's side of the draw continues its frenzied pace this weekend for the second straight week with the final set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET. The women get another lengthy weekend, concluding with their final on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Eight teams are coming in from the each of the qualifiers on Thursday, and three of those women's teams are making their first main draw appearance together during the 2007 season.
They include No. 32 Ania Ruiz and Yarleen Santiago, who will be first put to the test by May-Treanor and Walsh. Similarly, No. 31 Becca and Rachel Smith start their main draw careers against Branagh and Youngs.
No. 26 Laura Ratto and Colleen Smith are the third and final new duo to enter the main draw. They tip things off in a match against No. 7 Brooke Hanson and Angie Akers — who returns after sitting out last week with a back injury.
"I haven't quite had time to think about it, but I'm really excited and we want to come out aggressive," Colleen Smith said.
The men top the women with four new qualifying teams in Friday's main draw. They include No. 32 Eben Meyer and Bill Schultz, a pair of New York natives.
The other three are No. 24 Joe Cash-Tyler Lesneski, No. 29 David Fischer-Matt Ogin, and No. 31 Jonathan and Joaquin Acosta.
No. 30 William Chenoweth and Justin Phipps didn't have to go through the qualifying bracket to secure their bid into the main draw, but they are playing for the first time together here in Brooklyn.
Friday begins with play at 9 a.m., with half of the men's teams kicking off play in the winner's bracket. The remaining 16 teams will start play at around 9:45.
Because the women have a little more breathing room than their male counterparts, only five pairs will start play at 9 a.m. Women's matches will continue every 45 minutes with the final wave of the first round tentatively scheduled for 11:15 a.m.

Robbins, Roberts get back on track
No. 1 qualifying seed ends two-tournament drought
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — If anyone blinked, they may have missed it as Thursday's qualifying round proceeded briskly and was over by early afternoon.
"I called my wife at home [in California] and she's not even at work yet," Vincent Robbins said.
Fortunately for Robbins, it was a pleasant phone call as he and partner Adam Roberts, the top seed on the men's side, advanced to Friday's main draw.
"It's a good feeling to be done and get some rest," Robbins said.
No. 2 Jon Mesko-John Moran, No. 4 Joey Dykstra-Mark Van Zwieten, No. 5 Dane Jensen-Braidy Halverson, No. 8 David Fischer-Matt Ogin, No. 10 Joe Cash-Tyler Lesneski, No. 14 Joaquin and Jonathan Acosta and No. 22 Eben Meyer-Bill Schultz also advanced.
Seeded 22nd, Meyer and Schultz were not initially granted a first-round bye as the other seven men's qualifiers were, but they were handed a pass in their first match anyway when Jaren Barredo and Sonnie Chelf forfeited.
Robbins and Roberts set aside some disappointing finishes recently to get back to the main draw. After not qualifying in their last two tournaments, Robbins made it for the seventh time this season and third with Roberts.
Roberts' parents live in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Robbins said the two went down there to work out.
"In Manhattan, I cramped, which I never do. That was pretty bad and we ended up playing an 'I' formation and Adam passed all the balls," Robbins said. "In Boston, we lost a close one to [Jeff] Carlucci and [Chris] Seiffert — they're on fire right now."
Robbins and Roberts first eliminated Dameon Holmquist and Andreas Olesen, 21-14, 21-19, and then got past Jeff Conover and Matt Osburn, 21-12, 21-13.
"We took care of business like we needed to," Robbins said. "We had a couple of off weeks, so we cleaned that up."
Robbins said they were partially helped by the draw.
"You put yourself in position to be the No. 1 seed for a reason," Robbins said. "I won't say that we had an easy road, because we played a tough team, but it helps to be the one seed. There is no mystery about that."
Robbins and Roberts will play Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong on Friday.
Fischer played with his sixth different partner in 2007 and qualified for the sixth time this season. He and Ogin ousted Hudson Bates and Mark Burik, 21-16, 21-19, and then topped Fernando Sabla and Lucas Wisniakowski, 21-15, 21-18.
Fischer gave the credit to his partner, whom he'd never played with before.
"The teams we played said that Matt blocks way too many balls," Fischer said. "He is involved in way too many plays."
Fischer has won one match this season in the main draw but feels that he and Ogin stand a good chance of doing so on Friday.
"Matt blocks a lot of balls and plays in ways that teams didn't expect. There is a honeymoon period where any mistake is blown over because it is not a habitual mistake," Fischer said. "A new team is a dangerous team and I think we match up well. Teams won't know who to serve."
Fischer and Ogin will face Anthony Medel and Fred Souza.
Jensen and Halverson have been together for five tournaments and converted Thursday, their third successful qualifier. After suffering a quick exit last week in Boston, Jensen and Halverson put it back together and said they capitalized on the minor details.
"We came out and played hard," Jensen said. "The transition stuff was better. Some of the things that we cleaned up. Those off plays and converting. In the close games, winning the little points."
Jensen said he and Halverson are evolving.
"It is still a brand-new partnership," Jensen said. "We know where we like each other's sets. Where to play behind the block, knowing each other's tendencies."
Jensen-Halverson will play John Hyden-Brad Keenan. Cash-Lesnaski face Ty Loomis-Hans Stolfus, Mesko-Moran take on Matt Fuerbringer-Casey Jennings, the Acostas play Mike Lambert-Stein Metzger, Meyer-Schultz square off against Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers, while Dykstra-Van Zwieten will be matched up with Dax Holdren-Sean Scott.

April Ross loves New York
Californian goes shopping and eats in Chinatown
By April Ross
NEW YORK — It's amazing how much there is to do in New York. Despite it being so expensive, I'd have to say it's my favorite tour stop. Along with 90 percent of the players, I decided not to go back to California after Boston and hitched a ride with Brad's parents to New York as I just didn't think I could handle another time change. We checked into the Embassy Suites (I look forward to sleeping in their beds all year), went to see Superbad (superfunny), and then got to sleep.
On Monday, we got up early to take advantage of the free breakfast. It's unparalleled, and we're always up for saving money (it's ingrained in the beach volleyball player's psyche). Then I dragged Brad around the city from shop to wonderful shop; we came across Anthropologie, which had two stories and I was sure it couldn't get any better. Then we got to Macy's and I discovered it had SEVEN stories! I could have spent a full twenty-four hours in there, but I only got two hours, and made it out with two new pairs of shoes none the less. After Macy's, we had to jump on the subway back to our hotel to get ready for dinner in Chinatown, where we were meeting Whitney Pavlik and Kelly Wing, who were supposed to play in the qual this weekend. We ate at Mr. Tang's. The food was pretty good, but the beer was better. We decided the night was early (Monday night is the equivalent to a Saturday in the life of a beach volleyer) and went for dessert and some wine in Little Italy. It was a picture perfect evening, and I have the photos to prove it.
Tuesday it poured, but we were determined to take in more of the city. Without the luxury of an umbrella, we braved the rain and walked through Central Park to the Met, but at the last minute decided not to peruse the art and walked in the rain around the city until we got so sick of it we trekked back to the hotel and made it a movie day, which is what we should have done in the first place. The rest was much needed.
Wednesday was the day I was waiting for. Brad and I had some obligations in the morning and early afternoon to help promote the event in Coney Island, but that night we had tickets to Phantom of the Opera for Brad's birthday. It was my second time. The first time I went, however, was when I younger and couldn't comprehend the story or understand the songs. I really could have sworn it was in a foreign language. This time I was much more impressed. There's a reason why it's the longest running show on Broadway. It was amazing!
Today was pretty cool, too. A bunch of the women's AVP players were invited to the New York Mercantile Exchange for breakfast and to ring the opening bell (we all put a finger on the button that triggered the bell). For our efforts, we received honorary name tags like the trader's wear. I promised I would wear mine if Jen and I make the final. Jen and I then met up with Jake and Rosie for a trip to the NBC.com studio in Connecticut to do an interview about the Beijing Olympics. Somewhere along the way, Jake and I got challenged to a match against Jen and Rosie, so when we got back to New York we decided to make it happen and used it as practice. Jake and I won. Yes, the last call of the game was controversial, but the ball was clearly out. Even the old guy who came over to watch us agreed it was out. I think we're going to pitch a co-ed exhibition tour idea to Leonard, there's no way he'll be able to turn it down.
Can't wait for tomorrow!

Straight From The Bleachers:
Brooklyn’s Volleyball King
by John Torenli (sports@brooklyneagle.net), published online 08-24-2007
Armato Hoping To Build AVP Legacy On Coney Island
Brooklyn native Leonard Armato has seen it all during his career as an agent for NBA greats like Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. He has also handled lucrative endorsement deals for the likes of Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul and Heather Locklear. Now, Armato is hoping to spread volleyball fever to Coney Island, where he is staging this weekend’s Second Annual AVP Brooklyn Open with promotional help from Bruce Ratner’s Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. While BSE handles the local sponsorships, tickets, hospitality and concessions for the tournament, Armato, the AVP’s commissioner, continues to push what he believes will be one of the bigger sporting events in our borough in years to come. Armato had the following exclusive Q&A with the Eagle this week:
Q. Talk a little bit about your Brooklyn roots, the neighborhood you grew up in and schools you attended.
A. I lived on 66th Street and New Utrecht Avenue as a little boy. My parents would take me to Coney Island and transform a polka-dotted diaper into a cool bathing suit for me. My father graduated Columbia University and moved us away so he could accept a teaching job.
Q. How did you get involved with volleyball, and describe the importance of staging this event in Brooklyn?.
A. Eventually, my dad ended up with a professorship at the University of Southern California and we moved to Manhattan Beach. I began playing beach volleyball when I was in high school because all my friends were doing it. At the time, everyone just played for the love of the game and the infectious beach lifestyle. Many years later, when I had become a sports agent for the likes of Ronnie Lott, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Ahmad Rashad, Oscar De Le Hoya and Shaq, things had changed.
Corporate america saw beach volleyball as a powerful vehicle for communicating with its customers. But the sport had a long way to go to be respected and accepted ouside of Southern California. So when we acquired the Tour back in 2001 we set out to grow it nationally. To that end, we increased visibility on NBC from four hours to 15 hours. We secured 50+ hours on FSN (Fox Sports Net).
We partnered with Bob Bowman and MLBAM to enhance our web site. We increased our number of events from seven to 18, covering nearly every major market.
Brooklyn and the greater New York area is particularly significant in that this is the number one sports and media market in the world. As Frank Sinatra says, ‘If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere’
Q. What improvements or changes do you expect from this event, compared to the inaugural staging of the tournament on Coney Island?
A. We expect the second year of this event to be even more successful than the inaugural event. Both sponsor and ticket sales are ahead of last year’s schedule. There will be more fun-filled “experiential” opportunities for the fans as well. Apparently, there’s more celebrity interest in the event this year.
Q. Do you think volleyball has a place among other mainstream sports in this country?
A. The goal of the AVP Crocs Tour is to become one of the most respected, popular and successful sports properties. That may be a bold statement, but volleyball is one of the original American sports and extremely popular around the world. Beach volleyball is the aspirational form of the sport. The AVP Crocs Tour boasts world-class athletes who are educated, articulate and accessible to fans as well as role models.
Q. What types of crowds do you expect?
A. We had great (delighted) crowds at Brooklyn last year and we expect an even bigger turnout this year.
Q. How did you lure the bigger stars in the sport to this event?
A. We already have big stars in this sport. Our challenge is to make them household names. It is an important priority for us. The Olympics next year will help with that.
Q. Do you see this event becoming a regular summer happening on Coney Island?
A. We anticipate coming to Coney Island for many years to come with the support of our wonderful partners (Nets owner) Bruce Ratner, (Nets president) Brett Yormark, (Nets vice president of property sales) Chris Brahe and the rest of the Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment team.
The AVP Brooklyn Open will run through this weekend on Coney Island. Tickets are available by calling (718) 702-5246 or at the event box office on the day of event. General admission tickets are $20. More information is available at www.avp.com/Brooklyn.

Zimet's success unites family
Eyal starts off with bang in Brooklyn main draw
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Eyal Zimet left his feet, stretched his arms up as much as he could and hoped to just get a finger on Mike Lambert's kill. What resulted was an emphatic block on one of the best players in the world and, though Zimet and partner Mike DiPierro fell to the second-seeded team of Lambert and Stein Metzger, it was a reminder of the potential Zimet has on the AVP Tour.
"That's a great feeling," Zimet said after he and DiPierro, the 18th-seeded team in the Brooklyn Open, defeated No. 17 Jason Lee-Austin Rester on Friday afternoon. "It pumped me up, for sure."
Zimet, in his first full year on the tour, hasn't taken the usual path to the main draw of an AVP event. He grew up in Israel and moved to Honolulu to play Division I volleyball at the University of Hawaii. Zimet's mother grew up in Lakeland, N.J., and met his father on a trip to Israel. Zimet's parents have lived overseas for 30 years and he has dual citizenship.
"Where I grew up, volleyball was huge," Zimet said.
His father had played and two cousins were members of the Israeli national team. There was already a tradition of players from Israel making the long trek to play college ball in Hawaii, too. Yuval Katz, a former NCAA National Player of the Year in Honolulu, got Zimet's ear and convinced him it would be a great opportunity.
"He was telling me that it's a great place to play," Zimet said.
And Zimet certainly made the most of it. At Hawaii, he led the Warriors to an NCAA men's volleyball championship in 2002 as the team captain. His only experience then was the indoor game, until he landed a job on the show Lost, which is filmed in Hawaii. Zimet was Matthew Fox's stand-in and stunt double for the ABC drama's first 2 ½ seasons while majoring in Computer Science at the University of Hawaii.
"Whoa, is that how they do that?" Zimet said his reaction was when he first started on the show. "An opportunity like that doesn't always fall in anybody's lap."
It was there that Zimet started to play volleyball on the beach as a hobby. He loved the game but never thought of the sand as a possible destination for his post-college volleyball career. He knew it was much easier on his balky knees, but he didn't make the commitment to the AVP — including living part of the time in California — until this season.
Now, Zimet has already achieved one of his goals: becoming a regular in the main draw instead of going through what he calls the "cut throat" qualifier. He and new partner Mike DiPierro have played in the last four tournaments together, coming in 17th twice and ninth in Chicago. They have a chance to match that again in Brooklyn. At 30, Zimet is hardly a rookie, but he has proven to be one of the up and coming players on the AVP Crocs Tour.
"I don't look at it that way," he said. "Beach volleyball is still new to me. I think I have a lot of stuff to improve on."
An uncommon result of his play on the AVP Tour, especially on the East Coast, is the presence of a multitude of family members. Most of Zimet's mother's side of the family is still living in New Jersey and his grandfather, Morris Monesson, lives in Maryland. 30 relatives made the trip to see him at the Seaside Heights Open and about 10 came to see him in Brooklyn.
For Monesson, 82, it's almost as big a commitment to come see Zimet as it is for his grandson to play on the AVP Tour. But after driving from Maryland to Penn State to see Zimet and Hawaii win the national championship, it's become something of a tradition.
"I've been following him throughout," Monesson said. "I try to get to every match I can. He says I'm a good-luck charm."
Zimet says Monesson is like his mascot, and luck or not, Zimet is playing some of his best volleyball in Brooklyn. After Zimet-DiPierro beat Lee-Rester, 18-21, 21-15, 15-13 in 68 minutes, Zimet ran down a line of his relatives sitting on the sidelines, high-fiving every one.
"It's huge," Zimet said. "I wish they could come every tournament. It's a family reunion."
And the family could one day soon see this former television stand-in perform another stunt: cracking the upper echelon of the AVP Tour.

Shaw learning beach game on the fly
Indoor star at Wisconsin is enjoying her August in sun
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — For the second time in as many tournaments, Sheila Shaw has been one of the top 15 qualifying seeds with Jennifer Bowman, nearly making it into the main draw.
That is a major feat for many and an even bigger feat for Shaw, who just graduated from the University of Wisconsin. She never played organized beach volleyball until her first AVP tournament in Boston last weekend.
"I thought about playing beach a little bit, but I didn't know where to start or who to contact," Shaw said. "I thought, 'I can't just go out there and play, I'd get killed!' But thankfully things worked out and now I'm in the scene and I kinda know how it works and it's a ton of fun."
Thursday started out well for Bowman and Shaw who stormed out to an early 21-10, 21-8 victory over No. 20 Delavane Diaz and April Oberhelman, but they could not come up with the next winning combination to enter the main draw. No. 4 Kealani Kimball and Rosalinda Masler moved past the new pair in a narrow 21-18, 21-18 sweep to close out the last round of qualifying play.
Shaw sees this as a good start to her beach career, having grown up in Wisconsin without any beaches nearby. If all goes well, she and Bowman will likely pair back up for the 2008 season.
"It's starting to make a little more sense and we're starting to get used to each other," Shaw said. "Things are flowing a little better; it's just a couple of little errors that are deciding the game."
But until then, Shaw is going to get back to the indoor game after Cincinnati next weekend, as the middle blocker for a Parisian-based European team.
After graduation, Shaw picked up an agent to help her find the opportunity to play indoors in Europe and it was by chance that she started playing with Bowman. Shaw knew Bowman's sister from training for the USA indoor volleyball team. And then things just started to fall in place.
But the transition is not an easy one to make.
"It's really different — it's more controlled and the scheme of the game is all different," she said.
"In my opinion it's a whole other sport," added Paige Davis, who is playing with another beach freshman in Kim McGiven.
"I think your skills and your base are the same, but I think it's mentally tougher because there's only two of you," Davis continued. "It's like football and baseball — they're just so different."
All things aside, Shaw said she is still excited to get back into the beach game after the indoor season ends in Paris next June.
"I want to get started as soon as possible," Shaw said about the beach. "I'm addicted. Once you start, you can't stop."
Both Bowman-Shaw and Davis-McGiven finished in 33rd place this weekend at the Brooklyn Open.
Reality check: Joe Cash said he was just looking to have some fun in New York when he teamed with friend Tyler Lesneski and entered the Brooklyn Open.
With regular partner Matt Henderson in Virginia Beach to play in another tournament, Cash figured it would be quick work and then a trip south to join Henderson. But he and Lesnaski qualified here and then won a contender's bracket match Friday, 23-21, 11-21, 15-13, over Billy Allen and A.J. Mihalic.
But a motivated Brent Doble and Matt Olson ended the run with a 21-19, 26-24 victory. Cash will play next week in Cincinnati with Henderson.
Rachel and Becca Smith said it was a surreal experience to qualify for their first tournament when they advanced to the main draw of the Brooklyn Open.
That feeling quickly became reality Friday, when they lost to Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, 21-13, 21-10, and then 21-18, 21-14 to Jenelle Koester and Stacy Rouwenhorst to exit the tournament with a 25th-place finish.

First-timers get an education
Main draw newbies take on AVP elite in Brooklyn
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Yarleen Santiago and Ania Ruiz got a quick lesson in the caliber of players on the AVP Tour on Friday morning at the Brooklyn Open. Making its first appearance in the main draw, the No. 32-seeded team had the unenviable task of taking on Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, better known as the world's best team.
"It was awesome to play them, but they whooped our butts," Santiago said. "It was embarrassing, though. We were glad that it was early in the morning and there weren't too many people here yet to see it."
May and Walsh easily dispatched the neophyte duo, 21-11, 21-9, in an economical 29 minutes. But the beating served Santiago and Ruiz well.
"After getting our [butts] whooped by Kerri and Misty, we now understand what it takes to play on this tour," Ruiz said.
They put that lesson to use in a 20-22, 21-13, 15-12 victory over No. 17 Keao Burdine-Brittany Hochevar in the first round of the contender's bracket, becoming the lowest seed in either draw to remain in contention by mid-day Friday.
Along the way, they picked up some fans, too. For their match against Burdine and Hochevar. five fans — who were unknown to Puerto Rico natives Santiago and Ruiz — came out to cheer for them.
"It was awesome," said Santiago, who played women's college volleyball at the University of Arkansas. "They were like, 'Go Puerto Rico!'"
Another low-seeded pairing also drew big crowds Friday. No. 30 Cindie Valeriano and Aleksandra Wolak — competing in their first main draw thanks to a wild card — played competitively in a 21-15, 21-14 loss to No. 3 Rachel Wacholder-Tyra Turner in front of one of the largest crowds of the day.
Valeriano grew up in nearby Queens and currently lives on Long Island, while Wolak, a native of Poland, lives in Jersey City, N.J. Both happen to be huge fans of Wacholder and Turner.
"You have to tell yourself these aren't gods, they're people just like me," Valeriano said.
Turner thought it was kind of cool that her opponents were big fans, but was even more impressed with how they played.
"I think they're awesome," Turner said. "Your first game you usually just want to get on and off the court. ... I wouldn't be surprised if they win their next match."
But Valeriano and Wolak fell in the first round of the contender's bracket to No. 14 Alicia Polzin-Jennifer Snyder, 21-11, 21-12. It still was far from being a bad day for a first-time main draw team.
The other first-timers were three Smiths: twins Becca and Rachel along with Colleen — not related — who teamed with Laura Ratto. On the men's side, Matt Ogin, William Chenowith, Justin Phipps, Joaquin and Jonathan Acosta, Eben Meyer and Bill Schultz were all in the main draw for the first time.
Schultz and Meyer were the lowest seed, which means they had to take on No. 1 Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers. They bowed out, 21-8, 21-13, and lost to No. 17 Austin Rester-Jason Lee in the first round of the contender's bracket.
"It definitely adds fuel to the fire," said Schultz of making the main draw. "Especially when you get a kill on Todd Rogers and a block on Phil Dalhausser."
For the Smith twins from Rhode Island, it was their last chance to qualify for an AVP event this season. They didn't make the main draw in Boston last weekend and won't be making the trip to Cincinnati next week. That made the 21-13, 21-10 first-round loss to No. 2 Nicole Branagh-Elaine Youngs easier to take.
"Our goal was just to make double digits," Becca Smith said.
Added Rachel: "We had nothing to lose."

Misty cruises on three hours sleep
Canceled flight doesn't stop focused No. 1 seed
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — Friday was a day of trials and tribulations for a handful of the top-seeded players during the Brooklyn Open. But the top eight seeds still reliably moved on in the winner's bracket.
Yet top-seeded Misty May-Treanor almost didn't make it as her Thursday flight from St. Louis to New York was canceled at the last minute, leaving her frantically trying to find a way to still make the tournament.
"I'm just lucky to be here. I was in St. Louis visiting my husband [Matt Treanor of the Florida Marlins] and I had a flight that was supposed to leave at 11:45 in the morning and get me to JFK at 3:15 p.m.," May-Treanor said. "We pulled out of the gate and pulled back in, and then they said they shut down all traffic at JFK."
"Well, I need to get here for the tournament," May-Treanor thought amid all the cancelations.
Instead of giving up, May-Treanor found an alternate flight to Philadelphia and drove with her father to New York. Although she had planned on arriving in the city by 3:15 p.m. ET, she didn't make it here until almost 12 hours after that scheduled time.
In order to make her 8 a.m. morning match, May-Treanor woke up at 6:30 to ensure she had enough time for the match.
"I feel like an all-nighter in college studying," May-Treanor said. "It's kind of a zoning feeling; I don't know much that's going around me. I can see the ball and I know that I'm playing. But I pushed through."
You wouldn't believe she was running on fewer than three hours of sleep from watching her matches, as May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh stormed through their only two of the day.
They sent qualifiers and 32nd-seeded Ania Ruiz and Yarleen Santiago into the contender's bracket in a quick 21-11, 21-9 sweep.
"I wish I could have called and said, 'Let's take the weekend off, I think someone's trying to tell us something,'" Walsh said. "But no, she's worked really hard to get here, and we're going to make it worth her while. She focuses when she needs to and hopefully she'll have a long day of rest today and be ready to go tomorrow. She's a trooper."
Ruiz and Santiago bounced back from that loss to upset No. 17 Brittany Hochevar and Keao Burdine. Their weekend ended there, however, after a 21-11, 21-10 loss to No. 15 Jennifer Fopma and Holly McPeak in the contender's bracket.
Meanwhile, May-Treanor and Walsh continued on with a 21-14, 21-8 overpowering of No. 16 Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger.
Even though Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh topped May-Treanor and Walsh in the Boston Open final, Youngs still has had her own hurdles to overcome in order to get to where she is.
After forfeiting one game of the Manhattan Beach Open women's final because of a sprained left calf, Youngs has been taking extra precautions to keep herself healthy.
"It's good — I gotta just stay on top of it," said Youngs about her calf this weekend. "Last week [in Boston] was really helpful — I didn't even know if I was going to be able to play going into it. What happened was we had a really good physical therapist there, and if he wasn't there, I don't know if I would have played, honestly."
Youngs and Branagh were able to overcome EY's injury. They downed Fopma and McPeak, 21-14, 21-14, in the final round of the day to secure a spot in Saturday's winner's bracket.
Similarly, Angie Akers has been bothered by a sprained back. The pain was substantial enough to sideline her in Boston.
"[My back] feels great, I just needed about a solid week of rest to let it fully heal up, and it's good to go," Akers said. "I stayed away [from a ball], but I went to the tournament in Boston, and it's hard being there and not playing.
"But it was interesting too to watch [partner Brooke Hanson] because she's always behind me, so I can never really see what she's doing."
Like the other top seeds, Hanson and Akers easily swept into Saturday play with two quick victories on Friday.
The three teams still in the winner's bracket are joined by No. 8 Carrie Dodd-Tati Minello, No. 5 Jen Boss-April Ross, No. 4 Annett Davis-Jenny Johnson Jordan, No. 3 Tyra Turner-Rachel Wacholder and No. 6 Dianne DeNecochea-Barbra Fontana.

Rogers, Dalhausser keep improving
Jump serve gives top men's team another weapon
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — It's not exactly what the tour wanted to hear — on the men's side anyway.
Todd Rogers is scoring points with his jump serve.
It's always been a part of his repertoire, but partnered with Phil Dalhausser, Rogers has more routinely opted to leave the jump serve in his pocket and go with a floater to let Dalhausser control the net.
Conditions have been right over the last couple of weeks, though, and Rogers has been putting his jump serve to use.
"When it is this windy, you might as well go for it," said Rogers, who began using it with greater frequency last weekend in Boston.
While the wind was not quite as intense as it was in New England, it steadily blew on a cloudless afternoon at Coney Island and helped Rogers and Dalhausser breeze through three matches Friday that included a 21-11, 21-16 victory over Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis.
"Todd was creating a lot of points on his jump serve, which is a surprise to me, but any points we get off his serve is a bonus," said Dalhausser, who has teamed with Rogers to win eight titles on the AVP Crocs Tour this season, including the last two.
"He gives me the go-ahead to go for it, so he'll usually just keep [his serve] in. Plus he has a good float serve and good placement. I guess he was feeling it and serving into the wind so he got two or three in a row. That was nice."
Aaron Wachtfogel-Scott Wong and Stein Metzger-Mike Lambert also stayed in the winner's bracket as only two of the top four seeds advanced without a loss. No. 3 Sean Rosenthal-Jake Gibb and No. 4 Anthony Medel-Fred Souza fell into the contender's bracket Friday.
Wachtfogel-Wong will play Lambert-Metzger, while Dalhausser-Rogers face John Hyden and Brad Keenan on Saturday morning with a berth in the semifinals on the line.
"We battle with them so much," Hyden said of his three-game match with Souza and Medel. "We screw up once and they screw up once."
Medel hit a ball out late in the match and Keenan blocked Souza on matchpoint for the victory.
"It's a matter of who makes that last error," Hyden said.
Rosenthal and Gibb survived on guts. Rosenthal has been slowed by a left ankle strain, but the duo — who lost to Wachtfogel and Wong to fall into the contender's bracket — then bounced back to eliminate Nick Lucena and Mark Williams, 21-10, 21-19.
Rosenthal suffered the injury Thursday afternoon while conducting a volleyball clinic. An X-ray taken at Coney Island Hospital was negative, but Rosenthal said Friday that he was considering having an MRI.
Rosenthal and Gibb first defeated William Chenoweth and Justin Phipps and then downed Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge before losing a three-setter to Wachtfogel and Wong.
"It's not great," Rosenthal said of his ankle.
Mike Dodd, who coaches Gibb and Rosenthal, said the injury was not serious and occurred more on top of the foot than higher in the ankle. He said it was painful, but playing on it shouldn't cause any more damage.
"This thing is fresh. At the start of the day, we weren't even considering playing," Dodd said. "It is a test of character and it is a good thing for these guys. They will really have to make things happen."
In late contender's bracket action, Casey Jennings-Matt Fuerbringer, Sean Scott-Dax Holdren and Souza-Medel all survived.
All eight of the men's qualifiers were eliminated Friday though Vincent Robbins-Adam Roberts, Jon Mesko-John Moran, and Joe Cash-Tyler Lesneski all won first-round contender's bracket matches before exiting.

Men's final highlights Saturday play
No. 1 seed faces tough challenge from Hyden-Keenan
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — Only two days remain in the 2007 Brooklyn Open, and Saturday holds the conclusion of men's play in the middle of the afternoon.
Friday's highlights: All eight top seeds on the women's side remained in the winner's bracket. On the men's side, No. 1 Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers and No. 2 Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger advanced without a loss.
Match of the day: No. 11 Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong defeated No. 3 Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, 19-21, 21-15, 15-11.
Upset of the day: No. 20 Janelle Ruen and Saralyn Smith dropped No. 13 Ashley Ivy and Heather Lowe, 22-24, 21-19, 15-11.
Start/finish: Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. ET on Saturday with competition beginning at 9:30, while the men's final is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Play will continue in the women's draw until approximately 6:30 p.m.
Weather forecast: A high of 93 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of precipitation is expected Saturday. Winds are estimated to be 10-20 mph out of the southwest.
Match to watch: No. 11 Wachtfogel and Wong will play No. 2 Lambert and Metzger.
The women will complete all but the semis and the final on Saturday, and things begin at 9 a.m. ET in both the winner's and contender's brackets.
All top eight seeds are still in contention for the women, including No. 1 Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who finished second last weekend in Boston and nearly missed their first match on Friday when May-Treanor's original flight to New York was canceled.
"We gotta win and eat and get ready for tomorrow," said Walsh on Friday. "We're going to be working hard and working on stuff we need to improve from last weekend like passing and siding out and just focus one game at a time."
Four matches kick off the day for the women at 9 a.m. On the contender's side of things, No. 15 Jennifer Fopma and Holly McPeak open up the day with an early match against No. 10 Angela Lewis and Priscilla Lima.
The other opening contender's match on Saturday morning is between No. 11 Paula Roca-Sarah Straton and No. 13 Ashley Ivy and Heather Lowe.
The other two opening matches take place in the winner's bracket at 9:00. May-Treanor and Walsh face off against No. 8 Carrie Dodd-Tati Minello, while No. 5 Jen Boss-April Ross play No. 4 Annett Davis-Jenny Johnson Jordan.
In the following hour, the women close out that round with four matches, two from the winner's bracket and two from the contender's.
No. 3 Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder pick up at 10 a.m. against No. 6 Dianne DeNecochea-Barbra Fontana, while No. 7 Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson take on last weekend's winners, No. 2 Elaine Youngs-Nicole Branagh.
In the men's draw, all matches begin at 9 a.m., including the two winner's bracket semis.
No. 1 Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers take on No. 5 John Hyden-Brad Keenan, while No. 11 Aaron Wachtfogel-Scott Wong play No. 2 Mike Lambert-Stein Metzger. Wachtfogel and Wong are the lowest seed still alive in the winner's bracket.
"They're kind of hit and miss," Dalhausser said of Hyden and Keenan. "It's really on Brad. If he's siding out well, they're a tough team to beat, because Brad absolutely hammers his jump serve. They could be on and get into the semis or be off and get a ninth."
Still alive in the contender's bracket are the likes of No. 2 Jake Gibb-Sean Rosenthal and No.6 Dax Holdren-Sean Scott.
The men's final is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, with the women closing out play for the rest of the day. If all goes according to schedule, play will conclude around 6:30 p.m., with two rounds of play left for Sunday.

Little Room for Shorter Players on the Beach
By AIMEE BERG
New York Times
Published: August 25, 2007
Finding attractive players has never been a problem in professional beach volleyball, as is evident at the A.V.P. Brooklyn Open tournament on Coney Island, where world and Olympic champions will compete through Sunday. But it takes more than ripped abs and skimpy swimsuits to help fans appreciate the game.
In 2001, the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour implemented two radical changes. It converted to rally scoring, so that teams no longer needed to be serving to score a point, and it shrank the court by 21 percent, to 16 meters by 8 meters from 18 by 9.
As expected, rally scoring made matches more competitive but also shorter, fitting into one-hour time slots for TV. More controversial was the smaller court size, which many players opposed.
“The predominant comment was, ‘This is stupid. It’s too hard to put the ball away,’ ” said the beach-volleyball great Sinjin Smith, who lobbied hard for the smaller court. “I also heard, ‘It will be a big-man’s game. The blocker will be too dominant. It will eliminate the small player.’ ”
Six years later, the small player has not completely vanished, but there are more taller athletes — particularly on the men’s side. Taller players on a smaller court have given rise to blocking specialists, who are increasingly in demand.
One of the smaller players, who are often sought for their quickness and back-court defensive play, is the 6-foot-2 Todd Rogers, who won the 2007 F.I.V.B. world championship with one of the tallest players in the game, the 6- 9 Phil Dalhausser.
“When I played with Dax Holdren, I was a regular 6-2 guy,” Rogers said of his former partner in the larger-court era, who was 6-3.
Referring to his next partner, the 6-5 Sean Scott, Rogers added: “As soon as I started playing with Sean Scott in 2002, I was a little guy. Now, with Dalhausser, I’m a really little guy.”
Players of Rogers’s stature are becoming increasingly rare.
In the past six years, only two players shorter than 6-2 have won a men’s A.V.P. event.
Before 2001, the tallest player to win a men’s A.V.P. event was the 6-7 Mike Whitmarsh, a 1984 N.B.A. draft pick of the Portland Trail Blazers and a 1996 Olympic silver medalist in beach volleyball. In the six years since the changes, more than half the A.V.P. men’s tournaments have been won by a team that included a player who was at least 6-7.
The new era also saw a dramatic change in the way athletes scored points.
“On the larger courts, serving was the most common way to score, followed by defense and blocking,” Rogers said. “Now, with the smaller courts, blocking is the most prevalent, ahead of defense and serving.”
Blocks outnumber aces by 2 to 1 this season on the men’s tour.
As blockers became specialists, it altered the way playing partnerships were formed.
“In the past, it was, ‘What ball-control player can I latch onto?’ ” said Karch Kiraly, 46, who is playing his 29th and final season. “Now it’s, ‘What intimidator at the net can I latch onto?’ ”
Dalhausser, for one, does not mind specializing.
“All the big guys who want to play ‘D’ for some reason — I don’t get it,” Dalhausser said. “I feel stupid back there. I do a lot of guessing. I’ll guess a guy’s going to shoot the line and he cuts the ball at an angle, and I’ve already taken two steps to the line. You kinda look dumb back there.”
Yet it has not prevented two tall players from teaming up.
Last weekend, Elaine Youngs (6-0) and Nicole Branagh (6-1) upset the three-time world champions and 2004 Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to win an A.V.P. event in Boston.
“We’re tall-tall, but we move well,” Youngs said. “We both play defense and are great at serving.”
But when two full-time blockers, the 6-5 Sean Scott and the 6-8 Matt Fuerbringer, teamed up, the partnership was not effective and was ultimately dissolved.
“I don’t think we knew what our best game was,” Scott said. “We had a tough time deciding when to do what.”
Rogers predicted more tall players would continue to experiment by playing with taller partners, but he pointed out, “you still have to be able to dig the ball.”
The 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Holly McPeak agreed.
“There’s still room for smaller players, but we have to be that much better at putting the ball away and siding out to be able to hold our own,” McPeak said.
Rogers said he had been more successful on the smaller court with a taller partner, “but I think something’s been lost. Some of these big guys can cover half the court now just by falling down.”
Kiraly added: “It’s ironic that one of the proponents of change made it so that far fewer Sinjins will come up. Sinjin’s idea has made the next Sinjin less likely — meaning a great ball-control player who’s only 6-2 or 6-3 that can be part of a dominant team in beach volleyball.”
Rogers said, “I’m probably the last.”

Lee no flop in Cuervo contest
Cheerleader and Brooklynite take home title
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Alicia Lee started playing poker in Atlantic City, N.J., about two years ago and within seven months she won her first tournament in New Jersey. Now she'll have a chance to take her game out west, to the poker capital of the world: Las Vegas.
And the AVP will pick up the tab.
Lee, 26, and Chad Cantelmo, 21, were chosen as the Brooklyn Open's Cuervo Ultimate Beach Girl and Guy on Saturday afternoon in between games of the men's final.
The pair will go to Las Vegas from Sept. 6 to Sept. 8 at the AVP Las Vegas Gods and Goddesses of the Beach tournament and compete against winners from 15 other AVP tournaments. The victors of that will get a photo spread in either Maxim or Cosmopolitan magazine and a modeling contract.
"Hopefully, I'll bring home a win for Philly," said Lee, who lives in nearby Morristown, N.J., and is both a model and an NFL cheerleader.
She was talking about winning the Ultimate Beach Girl contest, but she could have been referring to the poker table, too.
Cantelmo is a local boy from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, about a five-minute drive from Coney Island, the venue for the Brooklyn Open. He is a student at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., majoring in finance and is an alumnus of Xaverian High School in Brooklyn.
It's Cantelmo's second straight year attending the Brooklyn Open, and he lists Mike Lambert as his favorite AVP player. Instead of plying his trade at the poker table when he heads to Vegas next month, he might get in a little blackjack. Planning to be a stock broker after graduation, he's clearly not afraid of a little gambling.
Both already rolled the dice by competing in Brooklyn's Ultimate Girl and Guy contest. Lee made the trip to Coney Island because her boyfriend is a huge volleyball fan. As a model, entering the looks competition was only natural.
Cantelmo came because of the excitement and proximity. He only entered the draw when the Cuervo Girls begged him.
"They persuaded me," Cantelmo said, pointing toward the yellow bikini-clad beauties.
Now he'll reap the benefits.

Medel pops the question to Lewis
Californian surprises girlfriend with beach proposal
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — Love is in the air for two of the AVP's top players — Angela Lewis and Anthony Medel — who've been dating for more than a year and a half and have been friends now for three years.
About a week and a half ago, just before the Boston Open on Aug. 14, Medel asked Lewis the biggest question of her life. And she said yes without any hesitation whatsoever.
"We'd been talking about it a little bit and looking at rings, but I still thought it was far off, like after the season or at the beginning of the year," Lewis said of the proposal. "I didn't know when he was going to do it and I didn't think it was going to be that fast. I was totally surprised."
But her parents knew. Lewis said that one night over dinner in Reno, Nev., Medel causally asked her dad permission for Lewis' hand in marriage.
The pair has not yet made a permanent decision on the date or the wedding itself, but they both are coming to an agreement about what they like and what they would consider for the big day.
"We are just starting to talk about [the date] and our best options," Lewis said. "Weather-wise, we don't know if we want to have it fast or at the end of the year, but we do want to do it before season starts next year.
"There's definitely a million thoughts, but we want something kind of intimate and a little bit smaller and very elegant," she continued. "We don't want something where people might feel all stiff and uptight. So we were thinking if we're on the beach, maybe we'll be barefoot."
The tentative arrangements fit perfectly with their beach lifestyle and the way in which Medel proposed to his new fiancée.
"It was special, but it was very simple and intimate," Lewis said. "It wasn't all fancy and he didn't have some big balloon or anything. We were just out on the beach in front of our house barefoot. We were just walking and I didn't know what was going to happen. It was very sweet. It was so romantic because he got on his knee and was almost in the water."
The two are beyond excited and are looking to cap the year off on a high note.
As for Lewis' ring?
"It's a medium band and a princess cut and it's beautiful," Lewis said. "It's very simple, clean and elegant. It's perfect."
Long distance: Things are a little different for married couples who don't travel on the tour together.
Misty May-Treanor and her husband Matt Treanor of the Florida Marlins got to spend their first "weekend" together since July 1, in between the AVP Brooklyn and Boston Opens.
"It's so exciting to see him," May-Treanor said. "I hate to say thi,s but I didn't want to leave. ... After Boston, I flew to Florida and then I got on a flight with [the Marlins] and flew to St. Louis. I got to see him play an awesome game."
During their time together in St. Louis, Misty and Matt were even able to find some time to play tourist at the Anheiser Busch factory and see the Budweiser Clydesdales. May-Treanor said the best part was that she was finally able to take a well-deserved break from beach volleyball.
"It was so nice," she said. "I was able to get a couple of workouts in; I didn't touch a ball, but I think it was good to take some time off of volleyball."
And for the record, during the two games Matt played during the Marlins' series against the Cardinals, he went a combined 4-for-9 at the plate.
Perhaps having Misty at his road games is a good luck charm for the Marlins' back-up catcher.

Weather affects last two tour stops
Fog, wind aplenty in Brooklyn
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — The AVP Tour has seen all kinds of unpredictable weather this season. There's been plenty of rain, humidity and wind — especially in Boston last weekend. But not many of the players have seen the kind of fog that rolled in from the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.
The fog was so thick that one could'nt even see KeySpan Park, the neighboring ballpark for the New York Mets Class A Short-Season affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones. The world-famous Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island's famous — and soon to be defunct — AstroLand Park was completely obscured.
"I was telling everyone to serve a sky ball — no one would see it coming down," said Mike Lambert after he and partner Stein Metzger defeated Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong in their first match Saturday morning.
The fog was dense, but it didn't affect play too much. No. 1 Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers were upset in their 9 a.m. match by No. 5 Brad Keenan-John Hyden and Dalhausser didn't blame the loss on the conditions. He said the humidity, not necessarily the fog, was something to overcome, though it usually takes its toll more on smaller players. The ball gets wet from sweat and the vapor in the air, making it slippery.
"It affects hand-setting," Dalhausser said.
The big man, like many of the other players on the tour, said that Boston's wind was much more difficult to play in. The wind was heavy in Brooklyn this weekend, but it couldn't compare to the gale-force winds farther north.
"It might have been the worst wind I've ever played in," Dalhausser said.
Of course, it didn't seem to affect him and Rogers too much — they won the Boston Open, beating Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings in the final. Rogers went to a jump serve in New England, something he doesn't usually break out. Instead he serves up floaters to let the 6-foot-9 Dalhausser control the net. Rogers stuck with the jump serve this weekend in Coney Island.
"When it is this windy, you might as well go for it," he told avp.com on Friday.
Wind can certainly affect a volleyball match, but Boston and Brooklyn have hardly had the worst weather on the AVP Tour this season. The Tampa Open on the first weekend of June was a killer. Tropical Storm Barry came through the area and halted play for two hours of Saturday play. Atlanta and Charleston also had rain delays.
"This has been a year full of rain," Dalhausser said.
The precipitation doesn't just cause players to change their styles — it can cause injuries, as well. The rain wets and compacts the sand, making it harder and more shallow.
"And then you're playing indoor," Tyra Turner said.
Turner said she and Holly McPeak counted an AVP-record 11 sprained ankles and owes most of that to the barrage of rain.
"[In the AVP], we've just had rain — dumping rain," Turner said.
The tour has also seen searing heat in Glendale, Ariz., this year, as well. But some players don't mind that.
"It's beach volleyball, after all," Turner said.
Turner and partner Rachel Wacholder prefer the heat, not necessarily the overbearing kind, but enough to feel like you're on a beach. Turner says her ideal conditions are "a cool breeze, warm around 75 [degrees] and deep sand."
But other players don't necessarily feel the same way. Lambert says overcast skies and low humidity is perfect for him.
"The best game is a Saturday afternoon, clear skies, sun setting on Court 1 with all the fans together," he said. "That's what volleyball is all about."
Aaron Wachtfogel didn't have an ideal weather condition in mind, but he definitely didn't mind the fog that rolled onto Coney Island on Saturday morning. It burned off by about noon and turned into cold skies — and 90-degree heat. Wachtfogel was OK with that.
"I like the fog," he said. "There's fog every morning in California. It reminds me of growing up on the beach."
He and partner Scott Wong, seeded 11th, are the hottest team on the tour — and that's not weather related. They advanced to their first men's final and fell 23-21, 24-22, to Dalhausser-Rogers in arguably the most entertaining AVP final of 2007. Last weekend, they finished fifth and are playing their best volleyball with the postseason around the corner.
Odds are that it hasn't had much to do with the weather either.
"I like our game on the beach, in a parking lot, in the snow," Wong said. "I don't see [weather conditions] as bad or good. If it was raining on one side of the court and sunny on the other, then it would be different. It would suck to be on the rainy side."

Vinsanity sweeps through Brooklyn
Nets superstar Vince Carter takes in AVP men's final
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Vinsanity took over the AVP on Saturday. New Jersey Nets basketball superstar Vince Carter was in the house on Coney Island to take in the Brooklyn Open's men's final between No. 1 Phil Dalhausser-Todd Rogers and No. 11 Scott Wong-Aaron Wachtfogel.
Carter, an eight-time NBA All-Star, played volleyball in high school in Daytona Beach, Fla., and the Nets are planning to move to the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn sometime by 2009. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, which has ties to the Nets, was a promoter for the AVP event. It was a natural fit.
"I've actually never been to one of these," said Carter, who won a gold medal with the U.S. men's basketball team in the 2000 Summer Olympics. "But I've seen them on TV."
Carter hung out on the stage with AVP emcee Chris "Geeter" McGee before taking a front-row seat next to Nets owner Bruce Ratner for one of the most exciting men's finals of 2007. During a stoppage in the action, the hoops star signed official AVP volleyballs and hurled them — and hit some of them volleyball style, too — into the stands.
His volleyball experience has made Carter appreciate the talents and athleticism of players on the AVP Tour.
"[Volleyball] helped my second jump and my ability to move from side to side," said Carter, who went to the University of North Carolina. "You don't understand how hard it is to play on the beach until you do it. ... You have to condition your forearms [for digs]. I have a great appreciation for it."
Carter played varsity hoops as a freshman, but he only began playing volleyball at Mainland HS — which is also Phil Dalhausser's alma mater — as a favor to coach Lenny Carr, who was a friend of his. It made his already busy schedule even more difficult to manage as a youth — he went from playing in the band to volleyball season to basketball season.
"I caught a lot of flack for it," Carter said about his decision to play volleyball.
But it's hardly something he regrets. He did have a few embarrassing moments, though. At the start of his volleyball career, Carter — known for his ferocious slam dunks — would jump too high to kill sets and the ball would hit him in the head.
He shook that off, became one of the best high school players in Florida and enjoyed it. In fact, if things didn't work out in basketball, he wouldn't have ruled out trying to make volleyball a career on the AVP Tour.
"It's definitely possible," he said. "If the passion is there, then yeah. But right now my passion is with basketball."
In commemoration: The AVP paid its own tribute to the men who lost their lives in the Deutsche Bank fire earlier this week.
Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson put on FDNY Engine 24, Ladder 5 t-shirts during the final match of the day to support the unit and remember Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia of the company. Akers' father, Kevin Harris, was a firefighter in Fort Wayne, Ind., and when she heard the FDNY wanted to honor their fallen brothers this weekend, she jumped at the chance.
"I was like, 'Please pick me,'" said Akers, who also wore a red ribbon on the left side of her bikini top. "Anything to give [firefighters] their props."

Team Gorgeous finally emerges
Duo breaks through with wins over No. 3, No. 9 seeds
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — The Cinderella story is quickly becoming a weekend trend after Saturday's action in the women's draw. That's most notably the case for No. 16 Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger, who knocked off the tournament's No. 3 seed in the contender's bracket.
Two different teams were able to finally find the chemistry and consistency they've sought in past tournaments, but they've had to wait this deep into the season to see any results.
More and Stonebarger were firing on all cylinders during the contender's bracket of the Brooklyn Open, when they knocked out third-seeded Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder in three grueling games, the longest match of the day.
"It feels so good — that was such an awesome game," Stonebarger said. "That's the biggest win we've probably ever had. They played great, but we really meshed this weekend and we've been trying to do that all season. It's unfortunate it took this long."
Turner and Wacholder's loss in that match gave them a ninth-place finish, their lowest all season.
Stonebarger and More's success was not a fluke, as they had to beat another quality team to get to the match against Wacholder and Turner.
Earlier on, they knocked out No. 9 Nancy Mason and Logan Tom, 21-17, 20-22, 15-13.
"We feel a lot better, it's been a very inconsistent year," More said. "But we were just hoping to finish strong these last two tournaments. We've learned a lot this year. Although it kind of sucks that we had to learn it the hard way, but I guess it's part of growing as a player."
The story ends here, as More and Stonebarger dropped their final match of the weekend to No. 7 Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson, 18-21, 21-16, 15-7. Akers-Hanson proceeded to drop their next match in the final round of play on Saturday to No. 4 Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, good enough for a fifth-place finish.
"I'm really happy for [More and Stonebarger], because they've had a really tough year," Akers said. "I know what that's like. It gets to be very mentally tough."
The seventh-place finish is Stonebarger and More's season-best. During the 2006 season, the duo set career records by taking two fifths.
How do they plan on topping this weekend during the final regular-season tournament of the year?
"We're hoping to make a run in Cincinnati," Stonebarger said.
Like More and Stonebarger, Holly McPeak is finally starting to get back into her groove from past seasons, this time with partner Jen Fopma.
Fopma and McPeak's biggest match of the day was their 21-15, 21-17 sweep of No. 10 Angela Lewis and Priscilla Lima earlier on Saturday morning. They leave Brooklyn with a 13th-place finish.
"It's nice to beat them because they're usually pretty consistent," Fopma said of Lewis and Lima. "We knew that we had to go after them, go after our serves, and it worked out great."
Again, the Cinderella story ended in ninth place for Fopma and McPeak, who lost a heart-breaking 21-14, 27-29, 15-12 match to No. 5 Jen Boss and April Ross. Boss and Ross are still alive and ready for Sunday's final four.
But McPeak is still optimistic about finishing out the season and her final year on tour — the 2008 season — strong.
"That was a disappointing loss," McPeak said of the match against Boss-Ross. "But at the same time, it's a sign that we're doing something right."
"I'm happy because I feel like I'm playing my game of volleyball. I feel like myself again after the last two tournaments and I'm confident."
Both McPeak and Fopma said that, after two tournaments together, they most likely will end the season together for the final tournament in Cincinnati.
"The season was really frustrating because I had six different partners, and you never really get that chemistry," Fopma said. "That's why I hope we stick together for the last tournament."

Wong, Wachtfogel come up short
Rogers, Dalhausser win their fourth straight AVP open
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — When you get your shot, you take it and Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong let theirs pass.
On a day when Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers looked utterly beatable, Wachtfogel and Wong outplayed the best men's team on tour but ultimately left too many scoring opportunities on the court.
That allowed Dalhausser and Rogers to escape town with a 23-21, 24-22 victory in the Brooklyn Open on Saturday for their ninth title this season on the AVP Crocs Tour and fourth in their last four AVP appearances.
Wachtfogel and Wong committed 11 errors to Dalhausser and Rogers' seven and had nine service errors to their opponent's two.
"I just wished I could have capitalized on one or two more opportunities and we could have won," said Wachtfogel, who received medical attention after the match when he cramped severely in both legs and required fluids. "We could have beat the world champions."
It was the first appearance in a final for both Wong and Wachtfogel and they advanced through the winner's bracket of the tournament with a veteran's edge and never once acted as if they didn't belong.
Just three weeks ago, Wachtfogel and Wong lost 21-13, 21-9 to Dalhausser and Rogers, but they have since found their stride. In their last four tournaments, they've steadily improved, placing ninth and then seventh in successive tournaments before finishing fifth in Boston last week.
"We played them in Manhattan (Beach) and we smoked them," Dalhausser said. "The turnaround from Manhattan to here is quick. One point, two points goes their way in each game and they win this tournament."
Rogers, who suffered a back injury after lifting a bag of balls Monday, was noticeably slowed throughout the day and played the final through no small efforts by the training staff.
Playing in the final also was a source of pride for Rogers, who recruited both Wachtfogel and Wong to play at UCSB, though Wong opted for Pepperdine while Wachtfogel starred at Pacific.
"Those guys showed a lot of guts," said Rogers, who described the final as his toughest match in Brooklyn. "I was impressed."
Wachtfogel and Wong gave the No. 1 team everything they could handle in a first game that initially looked like a runaway.
Dalhausser and Rogers raced out to a 6-1 lead, but Wachtfogel and Wong proceeded to chip away at the deficit to forge a tie at 12. From there it was tight, and despite being down 19-16 after a Rogers poke shot, Wong fought off game point to tie the game at 20 with a shot in the corner.
Wong then blocked Rogers to forge game point, but Dalhausser had a quick putback and Wong hit a shot wide as Dalhausser and Rogers took the first game.
The second game was close from the first serve and after Dalhausser was called for two hits on a set to fall behind, 7-6, Rogers argued with the referees and drew a yellow card.
Wong and Wachtfogel then went up 12-9 after Wong converted a dig by Wachtfogel before a Rogers cut shot, an ace by Dalhausser and a net violation by Wong tied the score at 12. Both sides then traded points to send the game into overtime before Dalhausser scored off Wong's block and Wachtfogel hit a shot out to end the match.
"We had a lot of chances, first game and second game. It is always one of those things, coulda, shoulda, woulda," Wong said. "The great thing is we had a lot of opportunities. If we converted, we'd still be playing right now."
Wachtfogel and Wong advanced to their first final with a solid 21-17, 21-19 semifinal victory over John Hyden and Brad Keenan.
"We were just tired. You notice that your feet are not getting to the ball when you hit, you start missing serves," said Hyden.
Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to the final with a straight-set victory over Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger in the other semifinal, 21-14, 21-18. After an easy first game victory, Metzger and Lambert kept pace in the second and took an 18-17 lead before Dalhausser scored three straight points and Rogers finished with a shot to the back line.
"I missed a couple of digs down the stretch and Phil became real effective at the net and touched the last three balls," Metzger said.
Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings had a line on their second straight final four, but ran up against an unusually motivated Dalhausser and Rogers in a contender's bracket match.
Dalhausser and Rogers lost their first match of the day in the morning fog, 21-15, 21-13, to Keenan and Hyden that saw Rogers launch an underhand, skyball serve into the bleachers and another barely past the service line late in the match.
With elimination in the balance in their succeeding match, Rogers and Dalhausser quickly dispatched Fuerbringer and Jennings, 21-16, 21-17.
While Jennings was active in the match, Fuerbringer had a hard time with Dalhausser and placed the blame for the loss on his shoulders.
"The big guy outplayed me in this one and that is kind of the difference," Fuerbringer said. "So I've got to find a way to bring my A game."
Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb took an early exit Saturday morning, losing 21-19, 21-18, to Fuerbringer and Jennings. Rosenthal was slowed by a strain to his left foot and while neither player blamed the ankle for the loss, Rosenthal said he had scheduled an MRI.
"We're in the middle of Olympic qualifying, so it's better to be safe," Rosenthal said.

Four left standing for Sunday
All but one of AVP's top five advance to women's semis
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — Three matches remain in the 2007 AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman and Wakefield.
And they are the biggest women's matches of the weekend.
Play starts later than usual, at noon eastern time for all four remaining teams, with the final match of the weekend set for 2:00 p.m. ET.
Saturday's highlights: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won their ninth AVP title of the season with a 23-21, 24-22 victory over Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong while Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and Elaine Youngs-Nicole Branagh advanced to the semifinals.
Match of the day: Wachtfogel and Scott Wong eliminated Dax Holdren and Sean Scott with a 21-19, 21-18 victory.
Upset of the day: No. 16 Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger shocked No. 3 Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder, 14-21, 31-29, 18-16.
Record watch: With a victory Sunday, May-Treanor will tie Holly McPeak for second on the domestic career wins list with 53 behind Karolyn Kirby's 61.
Start/finish: Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday with the two women's semifinals beginning at noon. The women's final is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET.
Weather forecast: A high of 85 degrees under partly cloudy skies is expected Sunday with a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Winds are estimated at 5-10 mph out of the northwest.
Match to watch: Youngs and Branagh will play Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan in one of the semifinals.
After taking the final in Boston last weekend, No. 2 Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh are poised to make a run through the final for the second straight time.
"It's a new week, and we're gonna have a bigger bulls-eye on our back," Youngs said. "And I think people, because we've been in so many finals this year, are gonna be coming after us a little bit harder.
"But I think if we keep playing the way that we are, we're gonna be fine," Youngs continued. "We're playing at a really good, solid level; confident, steady and aggressive and all those good things at this point in the season. We follow it up with another win — that's what we do."
The day begins with top-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh taking on No. 5 Jen Boss and April Ross on center court.
At the same time, Youngs and Branagh face No. 4 Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan.
The No. 3 seed, Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner, are absent from the final four after taking an early tumble into ninth place on Saturday.
The winners of both those matches will meet at 2 p.m. for the final, which again will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on avp.com. A share of third place awaits the two losers of the semifinals round.
Brooklyn's winners get to split $28,000, while the second place team shares $21,000. This is the last tournament that will feature double Crocs Cup points, with triple points awaiting the participants of next weekend's Cincinnati Open.

May-Treanor, Ross will meet again
VOLLEYBALL: Sailors alums face off today in Brooklyn Open semis. Local men again fall short of final.
NEW YORK — There’s not really a lot of novelty anymore when April Ross faces Misty May-Treanor.
Sure, the two players on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour both went to Newport Harbor High. But when Ross and partner Jen Boss face May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh this morning in the semifinals of the Brooklyn Open, it’ll already be the sixth time this season their paths have crossed on the AVP Tour.
May-Treanor is 4-1 against the Costa Mesa resident Ross domestically and 2-0 internationally on the Federation Internationale de Volleyball tour. However, after Ross and Boss beat May-Treanor and Walsh in Hermosa Beach in May, May-Treanor and Walsh went on to record 39 straight victories on tour before losing last weekend’s final at the Boston Open to Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs.
Saturday, the top-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh swept through their competition at the Brooklyn Open. They defeated No. 8-seeded Carrie Dodd and Tatiana Minello, 21-12, 21-14, then got by No. 4 Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 21-16, 21-15 to advance to the semis.
Fifth-seeded Boss and Ross lost their first match of the day to Davis and Johnson Jordan, 21-13, 21-16. But they battled through the contender’s bracket for a 21-14, 17-21, 15-12 win over Dodd and Minello, then topped No. 6-seeded Dianne DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana, 21-16, 21-10.
On the men’s side, Costa Mesa resident Mike Lambert did the best among locals. But Lambert and partner Stein Metzger, the No. 2 seeds who had gotten through the winner’s bracket unscathed, lost in the semifinals to top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, 21-14, 21-18. Lambert and Metzger finished tied for third and split $13,300.
Estancia High grad Matt Fuerbringer and partner Casey Jennings, the No. 7 seeded team, lost a tough match in the winner’s bracket to Lambert and Metzger, 15-21, 21-19, 15-13. Fuerbringer and Jennings then eliminated Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, 21-19, 21-18.
But Fuerbringer and Jennings, who split up as a team at the start of the year before reuniting this summer, fell a match short of the semis by losing to Dalhausser and Rogers, 21-16, 21-17. They finished tied for fifth, splitting $8,500.
No. 3-seeded Gibb and Rosenthal finished tied for seventh, splitting $6,500.
Dalhausser and Rogers won their fourth straight AVP tournament, defeating No. 11-seeded Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong, 23-21, 24-22, in the final.

Lukralle, Lange named Super Fans
16-year-olds make more than 100 promotional banners
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
NEW YORK — The 2007 AVP Brooklyn Open is a big experience for players and fans alike.
But for Sam Lukralle, 16, and Amanda Lange, 16, of Long Island, the tournament was more than just an exciting experience — it was a lot of hard work.
The girls were named the AVP Super Fans after entering in a banner-making contest, which asked fans in the Northeast to make as many online banners as possible to notify other fans to tune into NBC for AVP matches.
"We made over 100," Lange said.
After winning the Super Fan award, Lange got to experience blogging for avp.com this weekend.
Lange and Lukralle are more than just average fans. They each got into volleyball in seventh grade and have played high school varsity indoor volleyball since they were freshmen.
The pair has already met their favorite team on tour, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Lukralle named Logan Tom as her favorite individual player, while Lange said that she's a big fan of Sean Scott.
When asked why the No. 1 women's team is her favorite, Lukralle responded, "Every time they're on the court, they bring a lot of energy and they're just fun to watch."
Such enthusiasm for the sport has already influenced the girls' own volleyball careers, as they've dabbled in beach volleyball over the past two summers. Indoors, Lukralle is her school's libero, while Lange plays utility and fills whatever role is asked of her.
"We also play for Long Island Academy," Lukralle said of their club volleyball involvement.
So how does it feel to attend the Brooklyn Open as the ultimate fans?
"I love it," Lange said. "This is our second tournament — [we went] last year and then this year. I hope to go to another, but they're just kinda far. It takes us a while to get to this one."
Lukralle and Lange fit in well with the enthusiastic sentiments that are sweeping the country for professional beach volleyball. It all shows on their bathing suits, as they were sporting black and yellow AVP bikinis.
Let's stick together: Even though Will Strickland was unable to get to the Brooklyn Open on time and had to forfeit his first match, he and Canyon Ceman were still able to compete together in the tournament — from the contender's bracket.
The pair put together their best showing during last weekend's Boston Open, when they finished in seventh place.
"In our first tournament together in Long Beach, we had a nice win over Matt [Fuerbringer] and Casey [Jennings] and then we kind of didn't play well the next day," Strickland said. "But I think each tournament we're doing better and [Boston] was our best tournament so far as far as consistency."
Ceman said that he would be happy to play with Strickland again next year.
"I think this team has a lot of potential," Ceman said. "Billy's going to be a powerful force in the future. And I'm happy to be grooming him to get there and hopefully we'll play for a while."
And Strickland agreed that this year's feelings are mutual.
"I'm enjoying playing with Canyon a lot," Strickland said. "I think we have a positive energy going into it, so it's going good."
Cut shots: Saturday's Brooklyn Open title was the 18th AVP victory for Phil Dalhausser and the 27th for his partner, Todd Rogers. ... Dalhausser and Rogers' nine domestic titles during the 2007 season is the most for a men's team since Jose Loiola and Kent Steffes took 12 over the course of the 1997 season. ... The final was the first ever for both Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong.

Too much excitement for one girl
The Superfan blogs from Brooklyn
By Amanda Lange / AVP Super Fan
August 27
Hey everyone! It's Amanda reporting to you from the thirdrd and final day of Coney Island at the woman's final.
With a later start beginning at 12:00 p.m., May and Walsh blew through Jen Boss and April Ross in the semifinals to advance to the final. Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs faced Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan for a spot in the finals.
The first match was easily taken by Nicole and EY, but Annett and Jenny really stepped their game up in the second match. Gamepoint was constantly moving back and forth, keeping the match exciting and very unpredictable. Winning by two points, EY and Nicole advanced.
The stadium really filled with a great Brooklyn energy as the final rolled around. Everyone was on their feet and ready for some intense volleyball action. I was surprised to see that a lot of serves were missed, especially Nicole Branagh's. In fact, gamepoint was given to May and Walsh as Branagh served the ball into the net.
There were also a few unexpected aces on both sides. The match progressively grew more and more intense though, as both teams upped their game and longer, more exciting rallies emerged. Point by point, May and Walsh pulled away, leaving a not-so-close final, as gamepoint for the second match came around sooner than you knew it. The crowd went wild as Kerri and Misty finished the last point, taking first place. They definitely succeeded in "taking revenge" for the loss they had on the last tour stop against Nicole and EY.
This entire AVP experience was so overly incredible. Its such a exciting and enjoyable experience that it's hard to imagine not having fun. If you're not smiling, than your mouth is open in amazement from a great play or a hard spike as you actually hear the ball pound to the ground. If anyone has never been to an actual tour stop and you want to experience action-packed, fun-filled, friendly, exciting and intense volleyball firsthand, I highly recommend getting to the nearest possible tour stop.
Or you can always just sit in your regular old house on your computer and keep reading stuff like this. =P
Cheers AVP fans! I look forward to next summer and see you at the beach! It's been great!
-Amanda
August 25
What up, AVP fans? This is Amanda coming at you with Day 2 of the Brooklyn, Coney Island tour stop. I started the day bright and early only to find that there were four games going on at once, all of which I wanted to see.
In the main center court, there was Dalhausser and Rogers vs. [Brad]Keenan and [John] Hyden. I chose, though, to position myself in between the outside courts, where I was surrounded by courts on all angles and could watch the other three games going on. I began with the Scott-Holdren vs. [Fred] Souza and [Anthony] Medel game. It started off close, and both teams were firing the ball down at each other. Both teams, which never cease to amaze me with their power and strong effort they put into each play, influenced some long and intense rallies. Sean and Dax started pulling ahead though, so I ran over to the Gibb-Rosenthal vs. [Matt] Fuerbringer-[Casey] Jennings game. The game was really close with back and forth points going both ways, but the result was Gibb and Rosenthal being knocked out.
As that ended, I made my way over to the Lambo-Metzger vs. Wachtfogel-Wong match. It was an exciting game, but Wachtfogel and Wong were sent over to the contender's bracket. It was such an action-packed morning that made we wish I could be four places at once, but that was only a warm-up to the excitement the finals would later bring.
Playing in the semifinals was Phil-Todd vs. Lambert-Metzger. It was a really close game, and Phil took a few shots to the head while blocking but still came out on top.
In the finals were the top mens team of Dalhausser and Rogers against Wachtfogel and Wong. This was the first final ever for Wachtfogel and Wong, and you could tell that their nerves were high as they were aced on the first point of the match. But hey, who could blame 'em? Expecting to blow away the competition, Phil and Todd were given a huge run for their money as Wachfogel and Wong fought point by point keeping up.
They played an overall incredible game of volleyball, keeping their heads high and determined to beat the dominating Dalhausser and Rogers. It was no doubt that Wachtfogel and Wong, as the underdogs, were being favored by the crowd, for with every point they scored, the crowd went absolutely wild. What really hands down killed them though was missed serves. There was one point where three serves were consecutively missed by Wachfogel and Wong, which tied up and than gave the lead to Todd and Phil.
It was a great and exciting game, especially in game two when game point just kept switching sides as the teams were neck and neck and tried to pull away by two points to win. Phil and Todd won, but im sure we'll be seeing future finals including Wachfogel and Wong, where they can possibly take their revenge, if they play like they did this tour stop.
It was another great day and I cant wait tomorrow until the women's finals!
August 24
Hey AVP fans!
This is Amanda giving you a warm welcome from Coney Island. Brooklyn, N.Y.! What an exciting day it has been!
In case you aren't aware, yesterday while helping out at the youth clinic, [Sean] Rosenthal took a bad fall during a demo and injured his left ankle. My friend, Sam, who is here with me, was actually there at the clinic yesterday and witnessed the fall first-hand.
I spoke to [Rosenthals's] partner, Jake Gibb, earlier today and he confirmed Sean's ankle wasn't broken but said it wasn't in the best shape either. Despite the injury, Sean was ripping balls down all day giving it his all.
Speaking of Sean and Jake, an exciting match I just watched was that of Gibb-Rosenthal and [Aaron] Wachtfogel-[Scott] Wong. It went to three games with action packed rallies, and Wachtfogel and Wong came out on top, knocking Gibb and Rosenthal into the contender's bracket. Gibb and Rosenthal worked their way through it though, and are still alive in the competition and should bring the heat tomorrow.
Another team surviving the contenders bracket was Dax Holdren and Sean Scott. I watched them in one of the last matches of the day take on Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis. I must say, it's really exciting to watch Sean Scott play, not just because of those abbs (hehe) but also because he brings a great energy onto the court. Together with Dax, the team creates long and intense rallies that keep you on the edge of you seat. I love watching Sean put the ball away and Dax always seems to be digging up those hard-hit balls, keeping the rally going. They took the match in two games and are moving on into tomorrow.
[Misty] May-[Treanor] and [Kerri] Walsh won all their matches today as well as [Phil] Dalhausser and [Todd] Rogers. So far, here on Day 1 [of the main draw], it has been an awesome and action-packed day. With the men's finals ahead, tomorrow should be a promising day filled with intensity and excitement!

Brooklyn terrific, Russia interesting
Ross satisfied with NYC, now competing in St. Petersburg
By April Ross
August 28
New York was a great stop, in my opinion, for several reasons. For one, it doubled as a mini-vacation. I must confess that Jen and I did not practice until Thursday afternoon, so Brad and I got to act like tourists for a couple days. Secondly, Jen and I got a third-place finish, which, considering who we had to play in the cross over (May-Treanor-Walsh) is respectable.
We lost our first match on Saturday morning to JJJ-Davis. As a result of the atypical tournament format, we were forced to play three more matches that day, including two close three gamers, in order to make it to Sunday. Ironically, in our fourth match of the day, we played one of our best all season.
And thirdly, with that finish we managed to secure a berth in the Vegas Invitational, one of my top goals I wanted to accomplish from the beginning of the season. Also, for Jen and I, it was the stop that completes what was at times a grueling and tiresome regular AVP season. But alas, our job is not done. We left NYC on Sunday afternoon and headed to Russia for another FIVB event in our attempt to qualify for the Olympics.
In true fashion, it was another adventuresome puddle jump for us. As we were sitting on the runway at JFK, the captain informed us there were thirty-nine planes ahead of us waiting to take off, and as we only had three hours to make our connection in London. We grew anxious at this information. Thankfully, we made up time on the way and only arrived twenty-five minutes later than scheduled, but then we got stuck in traffic on a bus while trying to change terminals inside the London airport. It resembled the 405 at rush-hour. Again, things worked out, and we even had time to grab some food before easily making it to our next fight. However, someone didn't get the memo because they assumed there was no way we were going to make the connection and they canceled our reservation and withheld our bags. Luckily, we got our seats back, but the bags never made it and we're still waiting for them in Russia.
My advice: don't fly through London, EVER. Once we got to our final destination — the Park Inn, St. Petersburg — they were sold out and couldn't find a room for us, so we ended up staying in a small out-of-the-way hotel for the night. Jen slept naked since she only has one set of clothes, and I borrowed her toothbrush. Our trip went on.
We went to the site today to practice; it's centered around an old fortress where the royal family used to live, with cannons on top and the whole bit. The center court is on one side of the fort next to the water, and the side courts are across the fort on the other side. There are little floating cafés on the waterway next to the side courts, which is good because the food provided for the players looked a little questionable to me today. There is a huge old-fashioned wooden ship next to the courts as well; you can almost picture battles being waged here. My only real complaint is the weather. It is cold (like winter in Southern California: cold, windy and rainy).
As far as Russia in general, this is by far the most foreign place I've ever been. Usually I am able to decipher other languages at least a little, but here they use a different alphabet so it may as well be Chinese. I can't understand anything. What compounds this is the fact that Russians speak far less English than the people in all the other countries we've visited so far this year. To its credit, though, St. Petersburg is beautiful. The old extravagant architecture, statues and memorials scattered throughout the city, waterways and bridges and the Baltic Sea, it is easy on the eyes.
Tomorrow we start the tournament off against Japan. If we win, which we should, we'll have one of the Austrian teams. It's a thirty-two team draw using the same format as the AVP. We're the No. 4 seed so at least we're used that position as we've been the four or five seed all year on the AVP. Jen and I are both pretty fired up to play. Now that the AVP season is over for us, the whole Olympic thing is starting to really sink in. However, there is still a part of me that wishes we were in Cincinnati. It was one of the most fun tournaments for me last year, even though I was back in the quali and ended up taking a seventeenth. The night matches were awesome, and the player party wasn't bad either, haha.
Well, I gotta get some sleep. Good luck to all the teams back home! I'll keep everyone updated with another blog a little later.
August 24
NEW YORK — It's amazing how much there is to do in New York. Despite it being so expensive, I'd have to say it's my favorite tour stop. Along with 90 percent of the players, I decided not to go back to California after Boston and hitched a ride with Brad's parents to New York as I just didn't think I could handle another time change. We checked into the Embassy Suites (I look forward to sleeping in their beds all year), went to see Superbad (superfunny), and then got to sleep.
On Monday, we got up early to take advantage of the free breakfast. It's unparalleled, and we're always up for saving money (it's ingrained in the beach volleyball player's psyche). Then I dragged Brad around the city from shop to wonderful shop; we came across Anthropologie, which had two stories and I was sure it couldn't get any better. Then we got to Macy's and I discovered it had SEVEN stories! I could have spent a full twenty-four hours in there, but I only got two hours, and made it out with two new pairs of shoes none the less. After Macy's, we had to jump on the subway back to our hotel to get ready for dinner in Chinatown, where we were meeting Whitney Pavlik and Kelly Wing, who were supposed to play in the qual this weekend. We ate at Mr. Tang's. The food was pretty good, but the beer was better. We decided the night was early (Monday night is the equivalent to a Saturday in the life of a beach volleyer) and went for dessert and some wine in Little Italy. It was a picture perfect evening, and I hav the photos to prove it.
Tuesday it poured, but we were determined to take in more of the city. Without the luxury of an umbrella, we braved the rain and walked through Central Park to the Met, but at the last minute decided not to peruse the art and walked in the rain around the city until we got so sick of it we trekked back to the hotel and made it a movie day, which is what we should have done in the first place. The rest was much needed.
Wednesday was the day I was waiting for. Brad and I had some obligations in the morning and early afternoon to help promote the event in Coney Island, but that night we had tickets to Phantom of the Opera for Brad's birthday. It was my second time. The first time I went, however, was when I younger and couldn't comprehend the story or understand the songs. I really could have sworn it was in a foreign language. This time I was much more impressed. There's a reason why it's the longest running show on Broadway. It was amazing!
Today was pretty cool, too. A bunch of the women's AVP players were invited to the New York Mercantile Exchange for breakfast and to ring the opening bell (we all put a finger on the button that triggered the bell). For our efforts, we received honorary name tags like the trader's wear. I promised I would wear mine if Jen and I make the final. Jen and I then met up with Jake and Rosie for a trip to the NBC.com studio in Connecticut to do an interview about the Beijing Olympics. Somewhere along the way, Jake and I got challenged to a match against Jen and Rosie, so when we got back to New York we decided to make it happen and used it as practice. Jake and I won. Yes, the last call of the game was controversial, but the ball was clearly out. Even the old guy who came over to watch us agreed it was out. I think we're going to pitch a co-ed exhibition tour idea to Leonard, there's no way he'll be able to turn it down.
Can't wait for tomorrow!

AVP appreciates Brooklyn's passion
City offers diverse people, food, fan support
By Marc Raimondi / Special to avp.com
NEW YORK — Aaron Wachtfogel got the complete New York City experience this weekend. He took the subway from a loft on Manhattan's Lower East Side to Coney Island every day for the AVP Brooklyn Open.
"I've taken the F train from the 2nd Avenue station every morning," the Redondo Beach, Calif., native said. "I put my iTunes on and just cruise. It's entertaining — I sit there, put some music on, watch people walk to the beach. You get to see a bunch of different kinds of people."
Wachtfogel and his partner Scott Wong were the beneficiaries of the rabid Big Apple sports fan base Saturday afternoon in their first men's final against the top-seeded team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers. The sold-out Brooklyn crowd got behind the underdogs with chants of "Aaron" and "Wong" when either one would serve. When they scored points, the stadium court would erupt, the thousands in attendance slamming their yellow AVP thundersticks together.
"The fan support has been awesome," said Elaine Youngs after she and Nicole Branagh defeated Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis to advance to their third consecutive women's final against Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. "They have a really great beach volleyball fan base here. There are big sports fans here with the Yankees, Mets, Giants. [The fans] are great."
Johnson-Jordan and Davis appreciated Brooklyn's diversity. The borough is one of the most ethnically diverse in the country and neighboring Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States.
"We like all the different cultures in the area — it's kind of like Europe," said Davis, who, along with Johnson-Jordan, actually chose to stay in Brooklyn rather than Queens or Manhattan as most players did. "It was cool for us to see all the African-American people out."
New York City is a lot of things to a lot of different people. And so it was for the athletes competing in the AVP Brooklyn Open this weekend in Coney Island. The food was most talked about. Davis and Johnson-Jordan ate Italian, Greek and Japanese cuisine. Youngs and Branagh loved a Mediterranean place in Manhattan called "Il Puco" and made sure to get sushi one night.
Pizza, of course, is Brooklyn's most famous food, along with Nathan's hot dogs — the original Nathan's is only two blocks east of where the AVP venue is set up this weekend. But that kind of junk food isn't normally recommended for professional volleyball players who are competing in one of the biggest tournaments of the season.
That's why Wachtfogel didn't partake in Brooklyn's favorite delicacy this weekend.
"No not this time, but I was here three years ago and I lived off the stuff," Wachtfogel said. "It's the best in the world."
There were some complaints about "shelly" sand, and most of the players left Sunday with cuts on their legs and arms from rocks and glass, but they regarded playing in Brooklyn as a positive experience. The crowds were good and the fan support was definitely there.
"The promoters do a really good job," Mike Lambert said. "They sell tickets really well; they get sponsorships really well."
And the excitement of the AVP did the rest. The men's final captured the imagination of the Brooklyn fans. Wong and Wachtfogel took the AVP's best team, Dalhausser and Rogers, into extra points in two games. No other 2007 final had gone into extras.
For the fans, it'll be a weekend that no one will soon forget. For the athletes, it was a good time, another stop on the whirlwind AVP Tour. No matter the location, it's still all about wins and losses.
"I like Brooklyn — I love it right now," Wachtfogel said. "Last year, I didn't like it as much."

Top team gains measure of revenge
May-Treanor, Walsh take Brooklyn title
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — The true indicator of a champion is not the result after a victory, but the response after a loss.
For the merely good, a loss can create doubt and cause a crisis in confidence, but for the great, it will inspire.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have already shown they belong in the latter category, and Sunday provided further proof with a 21-18, 21-16 dismantling of Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in the Brooklyn Open women's final.
A week ago in Boston, the result was the opposite with Youngs and Branagh riding a strong serve to victory, but just as New York is separated by its rival town by more than simple geography, May-Treanor and Walsh redefined the distance between them and the pack.
It was their 11th title this season on the AVP Crocs Tour and a sweet 16 when combined with their five tournament titles on the FIVB circuit.
"I've had to hear it from everyone here in Brooklyn. 'What did you do last week?' I felt like I didn't have any response," Walsh said. "I felt like we had that win last week, so I've been really motivated to win this week. I always am but especially this week. Elaine came out fired up, and I wanted to shut her down, and Misty and I did that together."
Youngs had four aces in Boston but just one on Sunday while Walsh put up six blocks here with Youngs getting just one.
"Those girls don't like to lose probably more than anyone else on the tour, and that is why they are so successful. And we knew they would come out firing on all cylinders and they came out swinging," Youngs said. "I think they were more aggressive, and our block wasn't great. Give them credit — they were the aggressors today."
May-Treanor and Walsh jumped out quickly in the first game and opened a seven-point advantage on a block by Walsh to lead, 12-5, and continued to hold a significant edge until Branagh got rolling with a shot down the line and back-to-back ace serves to pull within one, 16-15.
But May-Treanor rifled a shot down the line, Walsh put up a block on Youngs and Branagh was charged with double-hitting her set, giving May-Treanor and Walsh the 19-15 lead. May-Treanor hit a shot to the corner to get to gamepoint and Branagh later hit a serve into the net to end the first game.
Youngs and Branagh again trailed throughout the second game, but held the deficit closer in the early going and were down by just three when Youngs scored with a kill to the corner to make the score 13-10.
But Walsh followed with a block and then scored an ace with a serve that split the defense and left Youngs and Branagh flat-footed. May-Treanor and Walsh eventually stretched the lead to six and converted on championship point as Walsh hammered home a winner.
"Kerri and I knew we had to limit our mistakes and break their serve and just stay with them," May-Treanor said. "We had to be ready to battle for as long as it would take. But the loss last week — we wanted to fix what happened last week and the outcome."
May-Treanor and Walsh had little trouble with April Ross and Jennifer Boss in one semifinal while Youngs and Branagh eased through a first game against Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis before enduring a marathon second to advance.
At center court, May-Treanor and Walsh eased through their match on a combination of their own crisp shots and errors by Boss and Ross. A string of points, two by May-Treanor followed by another two by Walsh, increased their lead to 12-4 and a May-Treanor cut shot later made it 18-8.
Ross served long at gamepoint and May-Treanor and Walsh took the first game, 21-11. The second game was a rerun of the first with May-Treanor and Walsh playing with efficiency and Boss-Ross struggling to find any rhythm.
May-Treanor and Walsh converted a 21-12 victory and the match.
"We really didn't do anything well," Ross said. "We didn't pass well; we didn't set well."
Boss and Ross left for St. Petersburg, Russia, after the match for an FIVB Olympic qualifier. Ross said their focus wasn't entirely on the match.
"We're really concerned right now with going internationally — we have to travel tonight," Ross said. "These are all things going through our minds, but we don't want to lose like that."
On the outer court, Youngs and Branagh had little difficulty with Johnson Jordan and Davis in the first game of their semifinal, recording an easy 21-11 victory. But the second game was nearly a complete reversal.
Tight from the outset, Johnson Jordan and Davis pressed the issue while consistently siding out and hitting their serve. Johnson Jordan and Davis reached gamepoint when Johnson Jordan hit a change-of-pace cut shot to take a 20-19 lead. But Youngs answered with a similar shot to tie the score at 20.
From there it was a sideout game. Johnson Jordan and Davis had gamepoint on six more occasions but could not convert. At 28-28, Youngs hit a crosscourt cut shot for a point and Branagh followed with a block of Davis for a 30-28 victory and the match.

Top teams solidify Crocs standing
New teams enter top 10 on men's side
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
NEW YORK — One tournament remains in the race for the Crocs Cup.
The Cincinnati Open represents the final opportunity for teams to stake a claim for the year-end trophy, and with triple points being awarded toward the honor, the standings can change rapidly.
The top teams on both the men's and women's draws have solidified their positions, though, by taking the titles at the penultimate event here at the Brooklyn Open.
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser earned their ninth victory this season when they defeated Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong in Saturday's final. On Sunday, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh captured their 11th AVP Crocs Tour crown this season with a victory over Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs on Sunday.
The victory increased May-Treanor and Walsh's point total to 5,958 points while Branagh and Youngs held on to the second position with 5,238 points.
Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner remain in third place on the women's side with 4,770 points.
Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan reached the semifinals here and are in fourth place with a total of 4,428 points while Jennifer Boss and April Ross, who also appeared in the semifinals, are fifth with 4,320 points.
Dianne DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana moved up to sixth with 3,384 points with Carrie Dodd and Tatiana Minello slipping to the seventh slot with 3,330 points.
Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson leapfrogged into eighth and now have 2,988 points. They passed Angela Lewis and Priscilla Lima, who fell to ninth with 2,844 points.
Katie and Tracy Lindquist are still in 10th with 2,304 points.
Youngs-Branagh, Wacholder-Turner, and Boss-Ross will not have a chance to improve on their totals as all three teams will be playing in St. Petersburg, Russia, in an FIVB Olympic qualifier.
On the men's side, Rogers and Dalhausser have 6,138 points while Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger remain in the second position with 5,256 points. Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb are running third with 5,022.
John Hyden and Brad Keenan used an appearance in the semifinals to move back into fourth with 4,068 points. Anthony Medel and Fred Souza dropped into fifth with 3,906 points.
Wachtfogel and Wong improved substantially and are now in sixth with 2,196 points while Dax Holdren and Sean Scott jumped to seventh with 2,088 points.
Newcomers to the top 10 include Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer, who now have 2,016 points which is good for the eighth position while Adam Jewell and Jose Loiola are running ninth with 1,980.

Volleyball Pros Take Time Out for Local Kids
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 08-27-2007
By Taylor Owen
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
CONEY ISLAND — As the qualifiers for the Association of Volleyball Professionals’ Brooklyn tournament faded away on Thursday, the empty center stadium became home to a free instructional class for area kids taught by top players.
The event was sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn, also the sponsor of the Brooklyn tournament. The athletes present were Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb, who make up the third ranked team in the league, and their Olympian coach Mike Dodd.
They were joined by 20 aspiring young volleyball players who came from around the tri-state area, including New Jersey and Connecticut.
Amanda, who came from Connecticut to be at the youth clinic, said she had come to last year’s event, and that “volleyball is definitely something that’s in my future.” Amanda was not alone in her enthusiasm for a pro-volleyball career, three other girls, Remy, Sam and Jen also said that they played volleyball regularly and hoped it counted in their futures as well.
Rosenthal and Gibb were enthusiastic about the clinic and the tournament. “We came last year and it was a huge success. We got to the finals, there was a great crowd, they had really good knowledge of the game,” said Gibb, “It’s close to Huntington beach, but its quickly becoming a big deal.”
Rosenthal added that he “liked the Brooklyn beaches because of the deep sand.”
The players and kids started by warming up, which meant hitting the ball around in a circle without having it drop. Then the groups split up by age and practiced passing, setting, approaching and plyometrics, which is a type of exercise that uses explosive movements to develop muscular power Sharon Sperber, the Hilton Garden Inn director of brand marketing, said that Hilton Garden Inn sponsored the youth clinic because it resonates with the company’s values. “The volleyball lifestyle fits well with the strategy of staying fit, and the youth clinic taps into the community encouraging fitness, things we endorse.”
David Klewan, AVP’s senior director of business operations and sponsorship activation, glowed about the Brooklyn location, “the Brooklyn tournament really exceeded expectations. We [AVP] are really proud to be part of the Brooklyn and Coney Island renaissance and look forward to long term growth in the area.”
Volleyball looks like its picking up quite a bit of steam in Brooklyn, even the free clinic garnered a few fans to just sit and watch. Emily Frankel, 10, of Coney Island was one of them. She said she’s a huge fan of beach volleyball and plays twice a week.

Williams recalls his Australian roots
UCLA grad placed fourth in 2004 Games for the Aussies
By Monique Moyal / Special to avp.com
Nineteen years ago, AVP professional beach volleyball player Mark Williams made the biggest journey of his life when he moved with his parents from Australia to the United States.
While the journey was made purely from an opportunistic standpoint on his father's behalf, little did Williams know that the move would open doors to eventually bring him back to his motherland.
"I came here when I was nine years old — basically my parents wanted to come over here, so I just tagged along," Williams said. "My dad actually came here and bought a stationary store, that's why we originally moved over here."
At nine years old, Williams was resilient enough to accept the move with open arms and experience exciting new opportunities he never had in Australia.
And he still remembers it quite vividly.
"It wasn't hard at all," Williams said. "I think when you're nine years old, everything's fun for you. Coming from Australia, I got to go to Disneyland, so I was excited to come to America."
After high school, Williams was accepted to play indoor volleyball for UCLA, where he lettered four seasons as an outside hitter. During that time, Williams was also able to play libero for the Australian Olympic team during the 2000 Sydney Games.
Even though he was born in and has represented Australia, he considers himself American rather than Australian.
"I consider myself American even though I was born in Australia just because I don't really remember zero to nine very well," Williams said.
"But, I had the opportunity when I was in college at UCLA to go down and play for the indoor national team during my summers, so I went down and actually made the team," Williams continued. "I was pretty stoked off that. Then when I got done at UCLA, I had the opportunity to play that summer after college on the AVP Tour and I had the opportunity with an Australian to play on the World Tour who had won a tournament and was a legend on that tour: Julien Prosser."
On the AVP Tour, Prosser had a solid partner for seven years and when they broke up, Prosser was left alone.
Stein Metzger and Carl Henkel were two players instrumental in bringing Williams and Prosser together.
"[Prosser] was good friends with Stein Metzger and Carl Henkel, and they said, 'Hey, there's this young kid who just graduated from UCLA. I think you should check him out,'" Williams said. "He called me, we had a conversation and he came to the States for a week basically just to train and see if it'd work out."
The rest is history. One week was all it took to convince Prosser to pick up Williams and the two went on to make the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in beach volleyball, where they took a fourth place for Australia.
The transition back and forth still remains an easy one for Williams, who has encountered a great deal of success for both the United States and Australia alike.
"Australia's pretty much like America," Williams said. "It's pretty similar because it's a Western culture. Just besides the accent, it's a beach culture. In Australia, you're at the beach all the time, so playing beach volleyball's not much different."

Regular season wraps up in Cincy
Triple Crocs points at stake in the Queen of the West
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
For both the men and the women, the AVP Crocs Tour stop in Cincinnati will be the sixth event in the city known as The Queen of the West.
The tour lands on the shores of the Ohio River for the second time in the 2007 season during the weekend of Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. The traveling road show visited Louisville, Ky., in May.
Because this is the last regular season tournament, Cincinnati marks the last time teams can enter the Thursday qualifying round and it will be the last time the mid-seeds will play in the AVP this season.
That means the stakes are higher than ever for those teams on the cusp of getting a bid into the two postseason tournaments. Crocs Cup points are tripled during the final AVP open of the 2007 season.
Four different names have been in the winner's circle in the past two Cincinnati events. Last season, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers took the title check, while John Hyden and Mike Lambert did so in 2005.
Dalhausser and Rogers will be looking to jump back on the winner's podium for the 10th time in 2007. While Lambert and Hyden are no longer partners this season, both have had their chances in 2007 finals with their recent partners and seek another chance to topple the dominant Dalhausser-Rogers.
The women's side features a similar scenario. Top-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh took the 2006 title, while former partners Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder snatched it up in 2005.
"Let's win it," said Walsh, who partnered with May-Treanor to win her 11th title on the AVP tour this season. "We want to finish the regular season on a very high note."
Last year's runner-up was Annett Davis-Jenny Johnson Jordan. They've been trying to break through all season, and after successfully doing so in the Chicago Open earlier this month, Davis and Johnson Jordan get their last attempt at another final this season.
The qualifying round of the 2007 AVP Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife begins on Thursday, Aug. 30. The final AVP regular season event will feature night sessions and it will be the first time a final is held under the lights.
The men's final is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, while the women wrap up the weekend at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2.
From there, the AVP goes to Las Vegas for the Gods and Goddesses of the Beach tournament, Sept. 6-8, and the year closes out with the AVP San Francisco Best of the Beach running from Sept. 14-16 on Piers 30 and 32 in San Francisco.

Photos:

AVP Brooklyn Open 2007 Photo Gallerys

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open: Qualifying

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open: Friday

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open: Saturday

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open: Men's Final

2007 AVP Brooklyn Open: Women's Final

Video:

AVP Brooklyn Open - Men's Matchpoint: 08/25/07

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AVP Brooklyn Open - Women's Matchpoint: 08/26/07

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AVP $200,000 Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open Aug 30th-Sept 2nd, 2007 presented by Herbalife

AVP Tour 2007 Event Coverage

AVP Cincinnati Open History:
2005 Champions: Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs defeated Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Mike Lambert and John Hyden defeated Jeff Nygaard and Dax Holdren.
2005 AVP Championship Series: Cincinnati was the Openning Event of the 2005 AVP Championship Series. The Women's finals pitted Elaine Youngs / Rachel Wacholder against Misty May-Trainer / Kerri Walsh. May-Treanor / Walsh entered the finals riding a 50 match winning streak. In a stunning third game, Wacholder / Youngs ended the streak and captured their first of three titles in 2005. Cincinnati was the sixth event of 2005 and 2004 MVP Mike Lambert playing with his third partner of the season, John Hyden. The new duo swept through the competition, dropping just one game in their run to the title.
Cincinnati Facts: 2005 was the AVP's fourth visit to Cincinnati, but first since 1998. 2005 was the first time that Karch Kiraly did not win event. Kiraly and Kent Steffes won in 1993 and 1994 and Kiraly and Adam Johnson won in 1998. The Women played in Cincinnati as part of the defunct WPVA from 1988 - 1990.

*These were the results for the last year the AVP Cincinatti Open was held in Ohio in 1998.
*Ian Clark finished 9th with his then partner Bill Boullianne

Men's AVP $50,000 Miller Lite Cincinnati Open
June 19-21, 1998
Finish Player Partner Seed Winnings
1 Adam Johnson Karch Kiraly 2 $10,000.00
2 Eduardo Bacil Stein Metzger 12 $5,700.00
3 Eduardo Garrido Andre Gomes 7 $4,040.00
3 Roberto Lopes Franco Neto 9 $4,040.00
5 Dax Holdren Todd Rogers 3 $2,496.00
5 Brian Lewis David Swatik 4 $2,496.00
5 Mark Kerins Kevin Martin 8 $2,496.00
5 Dan Castillo Brent Doble 14 $2,496.00
9 Kent Steffes Mike Whitmarsh 1 $1,030.00
9 Rob Heidger Troy Tanner 5 $1,030.00
9 Bill Boullianne Ian Clark 6 $1,030.00
9 Mark Paaluhi Henry Russell 10 $1,030.00
9 Aaron Boss Albert Hannemann 11 $1,030.00
9 Nick Hannemann Matt Unger 13 $1,030.00
9 Adam Jewell Lee LeGrande 15 $1,030.00
9 Wayne Seligson Bruk Vandeweghe 16 $1,030.00
17 Bryan Ivie Matt Lyles 17 $500.00
17 Scott Davenport Scott Friederichsen 18 $500.00
17 Mike Diehl Leland Quinn 19 $500.00
17 Lance Lyons Justin Perlstrom 20 $500.00
17 Mike Garcia Juan Rodriguez Ibarra 21 $500.00
17 Aaron Smith David Smith 22 $500.00
17 Paul Boyd Sean Scott 23 $500.00
17 John Anselmo Steve Simpson 24 $500.00
17 Paul Baxter Nathan Heidger 25 $500.00
17 Jeff Bellandi Pete Gray 26 $500.00
17 Carlos Machado Curtis Rollins 27 $500.00
17 David Fischer John Hribar 28 $500.00
17 Brett Bumgarner Mike Schroeder 29 $500.00
17 Chad Convis Collin Smith 30 $500.00
17 Jerry Graham Chris Magill 31 $500.00
17 Mark Addy Jon Cummings 32 $500.00

AVP Cincinnati Open Presented By Herbalife August 30th-Sept 2nd, 2007

What: Cincinnati Open
Where: Lindner Family Tennis Center
5460 Courseview Drive, Mason OH
When: August 30th -Sept 2nd 2007

Schedule:
All Session Pass
Get tickets to the entire Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife - all weekend events!
All times are EDT

Thursday, August 30, 2007
Men's and Women's Qualifier Competition
Gates open at 8:00 a.m.
Competition start time 8:00 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 6:00 p.m.
Free Admission

Friday, August 31, 2007 (DAY SESSION)
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 7:30 a.m.
Competition start time 8:00 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 7:00 p.m.

Friday, August 31, 2007 (NIGHT SESSION)
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 7:00 p.m.
Competition start time 7:30 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 1, 2007 (DAY SESSION)
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 9:00 a.m.
Competition start time 9:30 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 1, 2007 (NIGHT SESSION)
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at *5:30 p.m. (*NEW TIME)
Competition start time *6:00 p.m. (*NEW TIME)
Men's Finals 8:00 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 2, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 10:15 a.m.
Competition start time 10:45 a.m.
Women's Finals 2:30 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 4:00 p.m.
Ticket Info

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Men's Entries :

Men's AVP $200,000 Cincinnati Open
Aug 30th-Sept 2nd, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed
Mike Morrison Ty Tramblie Q1
Jeff Carlucci Chris Seiffert Q2
Scott Lane Jeff Minc Q3
Jon Mesko John Moran Q4
Vincent Robbins Adam Roberts Q5
Billy Allen AJ Mihalic Q6
Albert Hannemann Yanik Silver Q7
Gaston Macau Jason Wight Q8
Russ Marchewka Mike Placek Q9
Joe Cash Matt Henderson Q10
Braidy Halverson Dane Jensen Q11
Kyle Denitz Casey Patterson Q12
David Fischer Matt Ogin Q13
Seth Burnham Tony Pray Q14
Ivan Mercer Jesse Rambis Q15
Joaquin Acosta Jonathan Acosta Q16
Marcin Dybka Justin Phipps Q17
Danny Cook Keith Jones Q18
Lucas Black Matt Heagy Q19
Chris Luers Adam Minch Q20
Kevin Gregan Dan Madden Q21
Erik Gomez Vince Zanzucchi Q22
Chase Andrews Ed Lunnen Q23
Mark Donaldson Matt Szuter Q24
Zachary Franklin Flavien Thomas Q25
Dan Buehring Steven VanderWerp Q26
Jeffrey DeWit Brandon Porter Q27
Jason Harris Kevin Wong Q28
Chad Borton Richard Rainwater Q29
Eric Curnow LV Hanson Q30
Benjamin Shamrokh Adam VanOort Q31
Brandon Kelly Ronnie Mahlerwein Q32
Curtis Conser Brady Schuler Q33
Michael Boosin Patric Santiago Q34
Paul Baxter Dain Blanton
Canyon Ceman Will Strickland
Phil Dalhausser Todd Rogers
Mike DiPierro Eyal Zimet
Brent Doble Matt Olson
Eric Fonoimoana Kevin Wong
Matt Fuerbringer Casey Jennings
Jake Gibb Sean Rosenthal
Dax Holdren Sean Scott
John Hyden Brad Keenan
Adam Jewell Jose Loiola
Mike Lambert Stein Metzger
Jason Lee Austin Rester
Ty Loomis Hans Stolfus
Nick Lucena Mark Williams
Ryan Mariano Ed Ratledge
John Mayer Matt Prosser
Anthony Medel Fred Souza
Jeff Nygaard Jason Ring
Aaron Wachtfogel Scott Wong

Men's AVP $100,000 Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife
August 30-September 1, 2007

Qualifier Bracket
Round 1
Match 2: Brandon Kelly / Ronnie Mahlerwein (Q32) def. Curtis Conser / Brady Schuler (Q33) 23-25, 21-11, 15-11 (1:06)
Match 31: Benjamin Shamrokh / Adam VanOort (Q31) def. Michael Boosin / Patric Santiago (Q34) by Forfeit

Round 2
Match 33: Mike Morrison / Ty Tramblie (Q1) def. Brandon Kelly / Ronnie Mahlerwein (Q32) 21-15, 21-11 (0:37)
Match 34: Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (Q16) def. Marcin Dybka / Justin Phipps (Q17) 20-22, 21-18, 15-13 (1:12)
Match 35: Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) def. Mark Donaldson / Matt Szuter (Q24) 21-14, 21-7 (0:37)
Match 36: Gaston Macau / Jason Wight (Q8) def. Zachary Franklin / Flavien Thomas (Q25) 26-24, 21-18 (0:55)
Match 37: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) def. Jason Harris / Kevin Wong (Q28) by Forfeit
Match 38: Kyle Denitz / Casey Patterson (Q12) def. Kevin Gregan / Dan Madden (Q21) 21-15, 21-16 (0:44)
Match 39: David Fischer / Matt Ogin (Q13) def. Chris Luers / Adam Minch (Q20) 21-19, 21-14 (0:43)
Match 40: Jon Mesko / John Moran (Q4) def. Chad Borton / Richard Rainwater (Q29) 21-13, 21-10 (0:38)
Match 41: Scott Lane / Jeff Minc (Q3) def. Eric Curnow / LV Hanson (Q30) 21-12, 21-15 (0:42)
Match 42: Lucas Black / Matt Heagy (Q19) def. Seth Burnham / Tony Pray (Q14) 15-21, 23-21, 18-16 (1:13)
Match 43: Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (24, Q11) def. Erik Gomez / Vince Zanzucchi (Q22) 21-15, 21-19
Match 44: Billy Allen / AJ Mihalic (Q6) def. Jeffrey DeWit / Brandon Porter (Q27) 21-13, 21-8 (0:35)
Match 45: Dan Buehring / Steven VanderWerp (Q26) def. Albert Hannemann / Yanik Silver (Q7) 21-18, 21-19 (0:43)
Match 46: Joe Cash / Matt Henderson (Q10) def. Chase Andrews / Ed Lunnen (Q23) 21-17, 18-21, 15-5 (0:57)
Match 47: Danny Cook / Keith Jones (Q18) def. Ivan Mercer / Jesse Rambis (Q15) 21-19, 21-17 (0:47)
Match 48: Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (20, Q2) def. Benjamin Shamrokh / Adam VanOort (Q31) 21-16, 25-23 (0:48)

Round 3
Match 49: Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (Q16) def. Mike Morrison / Ty Tramblie (Q1) 21-17, 21-15 (0:48)
Match 50: Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) def. Gaston Macau / Jason Wight (Q8) 18-21, 21-15, 15-12 (1:08)
Match 51: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) def. Kyle Denitz / Casey Patterson (Q12) 21-12, 22-20 (0:38)
Match 52: Jon Mesko / John Moran (Q4) def. David Fischer / Matt Ogin (Q13) 21-14, 21-14 (0:42)
Match 53: Lucas Black / Matt Heagy (Q19) def. Scott Lane / Jeff Minc (Q3) 21-19, 21-17 (0:42)
Match 54: Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (24, Q11) def. Billy Allen / AJ Mihalic (Q6) 25-23, 16-21, 15-11 (1:07)
Match 55: Joe Cash / Matt Henderson (Q10) def. Dan Buehring / Steven VanderWerp (Q26) 21-16, 21-14 (0:39)
Match 56: Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (20, Q2) def. Danny Cook / Keith Jones (Q18) 21-17, 21-18 (0:48)

Round 4
Match 57: Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) def. Joaquin Acosta / Jonathan Acosta (Q16) 21-18, 21-18 (0:46)
Match 58: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) def. Jon Mesko / John Moran (Q4) 21-19, 21-16 (0:43)
Match 59: Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (24, Q11) def. Lucas Black / Matt Heagy (Q19) 21-15, 21-12 (0:37)
Match 60: Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (20, Q2) def. Joe Cash / Matt Henderson (Q10) 15-21, 21-14, 15-11 (1:00)

Winner's Bracket
Round 1
Match 1: Eric Fonoimoana / Kevin Wong (16) def. Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (17) 21-17, 21-19 (0:51)
Match 2: Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (9) def. Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (24, Q11) 21-17, 21-18 (0:40)
Match 3: Jason Lee / Austin Rester (21) def. Canyon Ceman / Will Strickland (12) 21-13, 21-12 (0:41)
Match 4: Jeff Nygaard / Jason Ring (13) def. Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (20, Q2) 21-14, 21-18 (0:52)
Match 5: Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (14) def. John Mayer / Matt Prosser (19) 21-18, 21-16 (0:41)
Match 6: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (11) def. Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) 21-17, 21-19 (0:43)
Match 7: Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) def. Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) 21-17, 21-19 (0:47)
Match 8: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) def. Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (18) 21-19, 21-19 (0:52)

Round 2
Match 9: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Eric Fonoimoana / Kevin Wong (16) 21-14, 21-14 (0:48)
Match 10: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) def. Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (9) 21-14, 19-21, 19-17 (1:18)
Match 11: Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (5) def. Jason Lee / Austin Rester (21) 21-14, 21-17 (0:45)
Match 12: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (4) def. Jeff Nygaard / Jason Ring (13) 21-15, 16-21, 15-13 (1:02)
Match 13: Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) def. Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (14) 21-17, 25-23 (0:51)
Match 14: Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) def. Brent Doble / Matt Olson (11) 22-24, 21-17, 28-26 (1:31)
Match 15: Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (7) def. Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) 21-14, 21-17 (0:42)
Match 16: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) 21-16, 21-16 (0:45)

Round 3
Match 17: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) 16-21, 21-18, 15-9 (1:08)
Match 18: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (4) def. Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (5) 21-12, 21-19
Match 19: Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) def. Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) 24-26, 21-18, 15-9 (1:17)
Match 20: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (7) 21-16, 21-18 (0:42)

Round 4
Match 21: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. John Hyden / Brad Keenan (4) 21-15, 21-14 (0:44)
Match 22: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) 21-17, 21-19 (0:47)

Contender's Bracket
Round 1
Match 23: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) def. Mike DiPierro / Eyal Zimet (17) 21-17, 21-17 (0:46)
Match 24: Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) def. Braidy Halverson / Dane Jensen (24, Q11) 21-19, 24-22 (0:55)
Match 25: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (11) def. Canyon Ceman / Will Strickland (12) 21-17, 22-24, 15-13 (1:11)
Match 26: Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (14) def. Jeff Carlucci / Chris Seiffert (20, Q2) 21-19, 21-12 (0:43)
Match 27: John Mayer / Matt Prosser (19) def. Jeff Nygaard / Jason Ring (13) 21-15, 21-19 (0:47)
Match 28: Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) def. Jason Lee / Austin Rester (21) 21-14, 16-21, 18-16 (1:02)
Match 29: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) def. Aaron Wachtfogel / Scott Wong (9) 26-24, 21-15 (1:03)
Match 30: Eric Fonoimoana / Kevin Wong (16) def. Paul Baxter / Dain Blanton (18) 21-23, 21-16, 15-13 (1:15)

Round 2
Match 31: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) def. Russ Marchewka / Mike Placek (23, Q9) 21-11, 21-17 (0:42)
Match 32: Brent Doble / Matt Olson (11) def. Adam Jewell / Jose Loiola (14) 21-16, 24-22 (0:46)
Match 33: John Mayer / Matt Prosser (19) def. Vincent Robbins / Adam Roberts (22, Q5) 17-21, 21-18, 16-14 (1:01)
Match 34: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) def. Eric Fonoimoana / Kevin Wong (16) 26-24, 21-18 (1:02)

Round 3
Match 35: Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) def. Anthony Medel / Fred Souza (5) 21-18, 21-12 (0:41)
Match 36: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) def. Brent Doble / Matt Olson (11) 21-18, 21-14 (0:43)
Match 37: Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (7) def. John Mayer / Matt Prosser (19) 21-16, 21-14 (0:41)
Match 38: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) def. Dax Holdren / Sean Scott (6) 21-17, 16-21, 15-11 (1:18)

Round 4
Match 39: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) def. Ryan Mariano / Ed Ratledge (15) 21-16, 21-19 (0:53)
Match 40: Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) def. Nick Lucena / Mark Williams (7) 21-18, 21-17 (0:45)

Round 5
Match 41: Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) def. Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal (3) 21-17, 17-21, 15-10 (1:10)
Match 42: John Hyden / Brad Keenan (4) def. Ty Loomis / Hans Stolfus (10) 24-22, 21-17 (0:54)

Semifinals
Match 43: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Matt Fuerbringer / Casey Jennings (8) 21-10, 21-17 (0:49)
Match 44: Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) def. John Hyden / Brad Keenan (4) 21-17, 21-12 (0:41)

Finals
Match 45: Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers (1) def. Mike Lambert / Stein Metzger (2) 21-12, 24-22 (1:12)

2007 Men's AVP Cincinnati Tournament Champions >>Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers

   .
                 Phil Dalhausser    Todd Rogers

Men's Results :

Men's AVP $100,000 Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife
August 30-September 1, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed Winnings Points
1 Phil Dalhausser Todd Rogers 1 $20,000.00 520.0
2 Mike Lambert Stein Metzger 2 $15,000.00 468.0
3 John Hyden Brad Keenan 4 $9,500.00 390.0
3 Matt Fuerbringer Casey Jennings 8 $9,500.00 390.0
5 Jake Gibb Sean Rosenthal 3 $6,000.00 312.0
5 Ty Loomis Hans Stolfus 10 $6,000.00 312.0
7 Nick Lucena Mark Williams 7 $4,650.00 260.0
7 Ryan Mariano Ed Ratledge 15 $4,650.00 260.0
9 Anthony Medel Fred Souza 5 $2,875.00 208.0
9 Dax Holdren Sean Scott 6 $2,875.00 208.0
9 Brent Doble Matt Olson 11 $2,875.00 208.0
9 John Mayer Matt Prosser 19 $2,875.00 208.0
13 Adam Jewell Jose Loiola 14 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Eric Fonoimoana Kevin Wong 16 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Vincent Robbins Adam Roberts 22, Q5 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Russ Marchewka Mike Placek 23, Q9 $1,700.00 156.0
17 Aaron Wachtfogel Scott Wong 9 $800.00 104.0
17 Canyon Ceman Will Strickland 12 $800.00 104.0
17 Jeff Nygaard Jason Ring 13 $800.00 104.0
17 Mike DiPierro Eyal Zimet 17 $800.00 104.0
17 Paul Baxter Dain Blanton 18 $800.00 104.0
17 Jeff Carlucci Chris Seiffert 20, Q2 $800.00 104.0
17 Jason Lee Austin Rester 21 $800.00 104.0
17 Braidy Halverson Dane Jensen 24, Q11 $800.00 104.0
25 Jon Mesko John Moran Q4 $.00 52.0
25 Joe Cash Matt Henderson Q10 $.00 52.0
25 Joaquin Acosta Jonathan Acosta Q16 $.00 52.0
25 Lucas Black Matt Heagy Q19 $.00 52.0
29 Mike Morrison Ty Tramblie Q1 $.00 24.0
29 Scott Lane Jeff Minc Q3 $.00 24.0
29 Billy Allen AJ Mihalic Q6 $.00 24.0
29 Gaston Macau Jason Wight Q8 $.00 24.0
29 Kyle Denitz Casey Patterson Q12 $.00 24.0
29 David Fischer Matt Ogin Q13 $.00 24.0
29 Danny Cook Keith Jones Q18 $.00 24.0
29 Dan Buehring Steven VanderWerp Q26 $.00 24.0
37 Albert Hannemann Yanik Silver Q7 $.00 18.0
37 Seth Burnham Tony Pray Q14 $.00 18.0
37 Ivan Mercer Jesse Rambis Q15 $.00 18.0
37 Marcin Dybka Justin Phipps Q17 $.00 18.0
37 Chris Luers Adam Minch Q20 $.00 18.0
37 Kevin Gregan Dan Madden Q21 $.00 18.0
37 Erik Gomez Vince Zanzucchi Q22 $.00 18.0
37 Chase Andrews Ed Lunnen Q23 $.00 18.0
37 Mark Donaldson Matt Szuter Q24 $.00 18.0
37 Zachary Franklin Flavien Thomas Q25 $.00 18.0
37 Jeffrey DeWit Brandon Porter Q27 $.00 18.0
37 Chad Borton Richard Rainwater Q29 $.00 18.0
37 Eric Curnow LV Hanson Q30 $.00 18.0
37 Benjamin Shamrokh Adam VanOort Q31 $.00 18.0
37 Brandon Kelly Ronnie Mahlerwein Q32 $.00 18.0
37 Jason Harris Kevin Wong Q28 $.00 0.0
53 Curtis Conser Brady Schuler Q33 $.00 12.0
53 Michael Boosin Patric Santiago Q34 $.00 0.0

Women's Entries :

Women's AVP $100,000 Cincinnati Open
Aug 30th-Sept 2nd, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed
Angela McHenry Lisa Rutledge Q1
Tiffany Rodriguez Chrissie Zartman Q2
Kealani Kimball Rosalinda Masler Q3
Erin Byrd Stephanie Chapek Q4
Angie Hall Lauren Mills Q5
Stacy Nicks Alicia Zamparelli Q6
Paige Davis Kim McGiven Q7
Raquel Beson Colleen Smith Q8
Cindie Valeriano Aleksandra Wolak Q9
Bonnie Levin Kirstin Olsen Q10
Amy Hvitfeldtsen Hedder Ilustre Q11
Jennifer Bowman Sheila Shaw Q12
Lisa Marshall Marla O'Hara Q13
Johanna Lehman Vladia Vignato Q14
Sheila Gisbrecht Kimberly Harrison Q15
Jennifer Lombardi Kimberly Vicknair Q16
Anne McArthur Andrea Peterson Q17
Cameo Neeman Ginger Schuster Q18
Brittany Barnett Katie Carter Q19
Jill Frondorf Heather York Q20
Michelle Cook Jessica Luttfring Q21
Jen Pue-Gilchrist Cristina Webb Q22
Jeni Case Kristen Rust Q23
Christina Hinds Joanna Papageorgiou Q24
Tealle Hunkus Amanda Schuler Q25
Michelle Iafigliola Stephanie Vaughn Q26
Kaili Kimura Misty La Salvia Q27
Jessica Holmes Caleigh Hortman Q28
Jill Greer Nicole Salisbury Q29
Angie Akers Brooke Hanson
Keao Burdine Brittany Hochevar
Nicole Caldwell Kayla Davis
Annett Davis Jenny Johnson Jordan
Dianne DeNecochea Barbra Fontana
Carrie Dodd Tatiana Minello
Jennifer Fopma Holly McPeak
Chara Harris Brooke Langston
Ashley Ivy Heather Lowe
Jenelle Koester Stacy Rouwenhorst
Jenny Kropp Jenny Pavley
Tara Kuk Katie Lindquist
Jaimie Lee Julie Romias
Angela Lewis Priscilla Lima
Suzana Manole Beth Van Fleet
Nancy Mason Logan Tom
Misty May-Treanor Kerri Walsh
Michelle More Suzanne Stonebarger
Alicia Polzin Jennifer Snyder
Paula Roca Sarah Straton
Janelle Ruen Saralyn Smith

Women's Results :

Women's AVP $100,000 Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife
August 30-September 2, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed Winnings Points
1 Misty May-Treanor Kerri Walsh 1 $20,000.00 520.0
2 Dianne DeNecochea Barbra Fontana 4 $15,000.00 468.0
3 Angie Akers Brooke Hanson 3 $9,500.00 390.0
3 Jennifer Fopma Holly McPeak 10 $9,500.00 390.0
5 Nancy Mason Logan Tom 6 $6,000.00 312.0
5 Keao Burdine Brittany Hochevar 15 $6,000.00 312.0
7 Annett Davis Jenny Johnson Jordan 2 $4,650.00 260.0
7 Ashley Ivy Heather Lowe 11 $4,650.00 260.0
9 Carrie Dodd Tatiana Minello 5 $2,875.00 208.0
9 Angela Lewis Priscilla Lima 8 $2,875.00 208.0
9 Jenny Kropp Jenny Pavley 9 $2,875.00 208.0
9 Michelle More Suzanne Stonebarger 12 $2,875.00 208.0
13 Paula Roca Sarah Straton 7 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Alicia Polzin Jennifer Snyder 13 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Janelle Ruen Saralyn Smith 17 $1,700.00 156.0
13 Chara Harris Brooke Langston 19 $1,700.00 156.0
17 Tara Kuk Katie Lindquist 14 $800.00 104.0
17 Jenelle Koester Stacy Rouwenhorst 16 $800.00 104.0
17 Jaimie Lee Julie Romias 18 $800.00 104.0
17 Suzana Manole Beth Van Fleet 20 $800.00 104.0
17 Tiffany Rodriguez Chrissie Zartman 21, Q2 $800.00 104.0
17 Angela McHenry Lisa Rutledge 22, Q1 $800.00 104.0
17 Stacy Nicks Alicia Zamparelli 23, Q6 $800.00 104.0
17 Erin Byrd Stephanie Chapek 24, Q4 $800.00 104.0
25 Kealani Kimball Rosalinda Masler Q3 $.00 52.0
25 Angie Hall Lauren Mills Q5 $.00 52.0
25 Jeni Case Kristen Rust Q23 $.00 52.0
25 Christina Hinds Joanna Papageorgiou Q24 $.00 52.0
29 Paige Davis Kim McGiven Q7 $.00 24.0
29 Amy Hvitfeldtsen Hedder Ilustre Q11 $.00 24.0
29 Jennifer Bowman Sheila Shaw Q12 $.00 24.0
29 Lisa Marshall Marla O'Hara Q13 $.00 24.0
29 Johanna Lehman Vladia Vignato Q14 $.00 24.0
29 Sheila Gisbrecht Kimberly Harrison Q15 $.00 24.0
29 Anne McArthur Andrea Peterson Q17 $.00 24.0
29 Tealle Hunkus Amanda Schuler Q25 $.00 24.0
37 Raquel Beson Colleen Smith Q8 $.00 18.0
37 Cindie Valeriano Aleksandra Wolak Q9 $.00 18.0
37 Bonnie Levin Kirstin Olsen Q10 $.00 18.0
37 Jennifer Lombardi Kimberly Vicknair Q16 $.00 18.0
37 Cameo Neeman Ginger Schuster Q18 $.00 18.0
37 Brittany Barnett Katie Carter Q19 $.00 18.0
37 Jill Frondorf Heather York Q20 $.00 18.0
37 Michelle Cook Jessica Luttfring Q21 $.00 18.0
37 Jen Pue-Gilchrist Cristina Webb Q22 $.00 18.0
37 Michelle Iafigliola Stephanie Vaughn Q26 $.00 18.0
37 Jessica Holmes Caleigh Hortman Q28 $.00 18.0
37 Jill Greer Nicole Salisbury Q29 $.00 18.0
37 Kaili Kimura Misty La Salvia Q27 $.00 0.0
37 Nicole Caldwell Kayla Davis Q30 $.00 0.0

Women's AVP $100,000 Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife
August 30-September 2, 2007

Qualifier Bracket
Round 1
Match 2: Anne McArthur / Andrea Peterson (Q17) def. Jennifer Lombardi / Kimberly Vicknair (Q16) 21-11, 21-13 (0:40)
Match 3: Christina Hinds / Joanna Papageorgiou (Q24) def. Cindie Valeriano / Aleksandra Wolak (Q9) 21-17, 21-17 (0:38)
Match 4: Tealle Hunkus / Amanda Schuler (Q25) def. Raquel Beson / Colleen Smith (Q8) 21-17, 21-14 (0:38)
Match 5: Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (Q5) def. Jessica Holmes / Caleigh Hortman (Q28) 21-12, 21-10 (0:30)
Match 6: Jennifer Bowman / Sheila Shaw (Q12) def. Michelle Cook / Jessica Luttfring (Q21) 21-11, 21-9 (0:31)
Match 7: Lisa Marshall / Marla O'Hara (Q13) def. Jill Frondorf / Heather York (Q20) 21-15, 21-17 (0:41)
Match 8: Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (24, Q4) def. Jill Greer / Nicole Salisbury (Q29) 21-5, 21-7 (0:25)
Match 9: Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (Q3) def. Nicole Caldwell / Kayla Davis (Q30) by Forfeit
Match 10: Johanna Lehman / Vladia Vignato (Q14) def. Brittany Barnett / Katie Carter (Q19) 23-25, 21-16, 15-10 (0:59)
Match 11: Amy Hvitfeldtsen / Hedder Ilustre (Q11) def. Jen Pue-Gilchrist / Cristina Webb (Q22) 21-14, 21-17 (0:39)
Match 12: Stacy Nicks / Alicia Zamparelli (23, Q6) def. Kaili Kimura / Misty La Salvia (Q27) by Forfeit
Match 13: Paige Davis / Kim McGiven (Q7) def. Michelle Iafigliola / Stephanie Vaughn (Q26) 21-19, 21-15 (0:39)
Match 14: Jeni Case / Kristen Rust (Q23) def. Bonnie Levin / Kirstin Olsen (Q10) 21-16, 21-17 (0:43)
Match 15: Sheila Gisbrecht / Kimberly Harrison (Q15) def. Cameo Neeman / Ginger Schuster (Q18) 21-13, 21-19 (0:35)

Round 2
Match 17: Angela McHenry / Lisa Rutledge (22, Q1) def. Anne McArthur / Andrea Peterson (Q17) 21-16, 22-20 (0:42)
Match 18: Christina Hinds / Joanna Papageorgiou (Q24) def. Tealle Hunkus / Amanda Schuler (Q25) 21-12, 21-14 (0:35)
Match 19: Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (Q5) def. Jennifer Bowman / Sheila Shaw (Q12) 21-16, 21-15 (0:34)
Match 20: Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (24, Q4) def. Lisa Marshall / Marla O'Hara (Q13) 26-24, 21-14 (0:44)
Match 21: Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (Q3) def. Johanna Lehman / Vladia Vignato (Q14) 21-11, 21-13 (0:38)
Match 22: Stacy Nicks / Alicia Zamparelli (23, Q6) def. Amy Hvitfeldtsen / Hedder Ilustre (Q11) 21-16, 19-21, 15-8 (1:00)
Match 23: Jeni Case / Kristen Rust (Q23) def. Paige Davis / Kim McGiven (Q7) 23-21, 24-22 (0:51)
Match 24: Tiffany Rodriguez / Chrissie Zartman (21, Q2) def. Sheila Gisbrecht / Kimberly Harrison (Q15) 21-11, 21-15 (0:33)

Round 3
Match 25: Angela McHenry / Lisa Rutledge (22, Q1) def. Christina Hinds / Joanna Papageorgiou (Q24) 21-15, 21-15 (0:43)
Match 26: Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (24, Q4) def. Angie Hall / Lauren Mills (Q5) 21-15, 21-10 (0:34)
Match 27: Stacy Nicks / Alicia Zamparelli (23, Q6) def. Kealani Kimball / Rosalinda Masler (Q3) 14-21, 21-15, 15-11 (0:43)
Match 28: Tiffany Rodriguez / Chrissie Zartman (21, Q2) def. Jeni Case / Kristen Rust (Q23) 21-12, 21-15 (0:40)

Winner's Bracket
Round 1
Match 1: Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (17) def. Jenelle Koester / Stacy Rouwenhorst (16) 15-21, 21-19, 15-11 (0:49)
Match 2: Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (9) def. Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (24, Q4) 21-17, 25-23 (0:46)
Match 3: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (12) def. Tiffany Rodriguez / Chrissie Zartman (21, Q2) 21-14, 21-19 (0:43)
Match 4: Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (13) def. Suzana Manole / Beth Van Fleet (20) 21-17, 24-22 (0:45)
Match 5: Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19) def. Tara Kuk / Katie Lindquist (14) 21-16, 21-14 (0:37)
Match 6: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) def. Angela McHenry / Lisa Rutledge (22, Q1) 21-17, 21-15 (0:43)
Match 7: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) def. Stacy Nicks / Alicia Zamparelli (23, Q6) 21-14, 23-21 (0:42)
Match 8: Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) def. Jaimie Lee / Julie Romias (18) 21-12, 21-13 (0:37)

Round 2
Match 9: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (17) 21-7, 21-8 (0:29)
Match 10: Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (9) def. Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (8) 17-21, 21-8, 15-6 (0:56)
Match 11: Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (5) def. Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (12) 21-19, 21-16 (0:45)
Match 12: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) def. Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (13) 21-15, 21-14 (0:41)
Match 13: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (3) def. Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19) 21-13, 21-10 (0:34)
Match 14: Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (6) def. Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) 21-18, 21-7 (0:37)
Match 15: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) def. Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (7) 21-14, 22-20 (0:43)
Match 16: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (2) def. Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) 21-19, 21-18 (0:38)

Round 3
Match 17: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (9) 21-11, 21-16 (0:37)
Match 18: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) def. Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (5) 22-20, 21-14 (0:43)
Match 19: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (3) def. Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (6) 28-26, 17-21, 15-11 (1:07)
Match 20: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) def. Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (2) 15-21, 21-19, 15-9 (0:56)

Round 4
Match 21: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) 21-16, 21-18 (0:45)
Match 22: Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (3) def. Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) 21-17, 21-9 (0:39)

Contender's Bracket
Round 1
Match 23: Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) def. Jenelle Koester / Stacy Rouwenhorst (16) 21-10, 17-21, 15-11 (0:48)
Match 24: Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (7) def. Erin Byrd / Stephanie Chapek (24, Q4) 21-9, 21-10 (0:32)
Match 25: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) def. Tiffany Rodriguez / Chrissie Zartman (21, Q2) 21-13, 21-17 (0:32)
Match 26: Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19) def. Suzana Manole / Beth Van Fleet (20) 21-17, 16-21, 15-12 (1:05)
Match 27: Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (13) def. Tara Kuk / Katie Lindquist (14) 23-21, 21-17 (0:46)
Match 28: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (12) def. Angela McHenry / Lisa Rutledge (22, Q1) 21-19, 21-14 (0:39)
Match 29: Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (8) def. Stacy Nicks / Alicia Zamparelli (23, Q6) 21-16, 22-20 (0:41)
Match 30: Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (17) def. Jaimie Lee / Julie Romias (18) 21-19, 21-9 (0:38)

Round 2
Match 31: Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) def. Paula Roca / Sarah Straton (7) 21-15, 19-21, 15-10 (0:54)
Match 32: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) def. Chara Harris / Brooke Langston (19) 21-14, 26-24 (0:42)
Match 33: Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (12) def. Alicia Polzin / Jennifer Snyder (13) 25-23, 16-21, 16-14 (1:01)
Match 34: Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (8) def. Janelle Ruen / Saralyn Smith (17) 22-20, 21-19 (0:43)

Round 3
Match 35: Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) def. Carrie Dodd / Tatiana Minello (5) 21-17, 21-15 (0:38)
Match 36: Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) def. Jenny Kropp / Jenny Pavley (9) 21-13, 21-18 (0:48)
Match 37: Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (2) def. Michelle More / Suzanne Stonebarger (12) 22-20, 22-20 (0:50)
Match 38: Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (6) def. Angela Lewis / Priscilla Lima (8) 19-21, 21-19, 15-8 (1:09)

Round 4
Match 39: Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) def. Ashley Ivy / Heather Lowe (11) 21-18, 19-21, 15-9 (1:00)
Match 40: Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (6) def. Annett Davis / Jenny Johnson Jordan (2) 21-14, 21-17 (0:46)

Round 5
Match 41: Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) def. Keao Burdine / Brittany Hochevar (15) 22-20, 21-18 (0:44)
Match 42: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) def. Nancy Mason / Logan Tom (6) 20-22, 21-19, 21-19 (1:22)

Semifinals
Match 43: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Jennifer Fopma / Holly McPeak (10) 21-17, 21-8 (0:40)
Match 44: Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) def. Angie Akers / Brooke Hanson (3) 21-18, 21-17 (0:45)

Finals
Match 45: Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh (1) def. Dianne DeNecochea / Barbra Fontana (4) 21-17, 21-15 (1:01)

2007 Women's AVP Cincinnati Tournament Champions >>Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh

                     Misty May-Treanor                                                                 Kerri Walsh-Jennings

Kerri & Misty win 2007 Woman's Crocs Cup

Articles 2007:

Regular season wraps up in Cincy
Triple Crocs points at stake in the Queen of the West
By Monique Moyal / avp.com
For both the men and the women, the AVP Crocs Tour stop in Cincinnati will be the sixth event in the city known as The Queen of the West.
The tour lands on the shores of the Ohio River for the second time in the 2007 season during the weekend of Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. The traveling road show visited Louisville, Ky., in May.
Because this is the last regular season tournament, Cincinnati marks the last time teams can enter the Thursday qualifying round and it will be the last time the mid-seeds will play in the AVP this season.
That means the stakes are higher than ever for those teams on the cusp of getting a bid into the two postseason tournaments. Crocs Cup points are tripled during the final AVP open of the 2007 season.
Four different names have been in the winner's circle in the past two Cincinnati events. Last season, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers took the title check, while John Hyden and Mike Lambert did so in 2005.
Dalhausser and Rogers will be looking to jump back on the winner's podium for the 10th time in 2007. While Lambert and Hyden are no longer partners this season, both have had their chances in 2007 finals with their recent partners and seek another chance to topple the dominant Dalhausser-Rogers.
The women's side features a similar scenario. Top-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh took the 2006 title, while former partners Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder snatched it up in 2005.
"Let's win it," said Walsh, who partnered with May-Treanor to win her 11th title on the AVP tour this season. "We want to finish the regular season on a very high note."
Last year's runner-up was Annett Davis-Jenny Johnson Jordan. They've been trying to break through all season, and after successfully doing so in the Chicago Open earlier this month, Davis and Johnson Jordan get their last attempt at another final this season.
The qualifying round of the 2007 AVP Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife begins on Thursday, Aug. 30. The final AVP regular season event will feature night sessions and it will be the first time a final is held under the lights.
The men's final is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, while the women wrap up the weekend at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2.
From there, the AVP goes to Las Vegas for the Gods and Goddesses of the Beach tournament, Sept. 6-8, and the year closes out with the AVP San Francisco Best of the Beach running from Sept. 14-16 on Piers 30 and 32 in San Francisco.

Karch to be honored in Cincinnati
Ceremony to be held Sept. 1 at Lindner Tennis Center
mustseeavp.com
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open and AVP, Inc., a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, announce that retiring pro beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly will be honored with a special ceremony on Saturday night, Sept. 1, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
Festivities for "Karch Kiraly Bobblehead Night" sponsored by Kroger will include a free giveaway of Karch Kiraly bobbleheads to the first 2,000 fans through the gates for the evening session. Tournament officials and Greater Cincinnati dignitaries will also present Kiraly with special commemorative gifts.
The 46-year-old Kiraly announced earlier this year that 2007 will be his last season as a player on the AVP Tour as he moves into the role of ambassador for the sport that he helped to make famous. He has played in a select few tournaments this season and Cincinnati will mark his final regular season Tour stop ever.
Playing in his 28th professional season, Kiraly has notched 148 tournament victories and has earned in excess of $3 million. He became the first volleyball player to win three gold medals in the Olympic Games - winning indoor gold in both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and again in 1996 in the inaugural beach volleyball competition in Atlanta. Kiraly was inducted in the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2001.
Event Schedule & Times
Thursday, Aug. 30 - Day Session (Qualifier) - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:00 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Day Session - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Night Session - 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Day Session - 9 a.m. to approx. 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Night Session - 6:15 p.m. to approx. 10:30 p.m., (Men's final at 8 p.m.)
Sunday, Sept. 2 - Day Session 10 a.m. to approx. 4 p.m. (Women's final at 2:30 p.m.)

Cincy gets long-term deal
Cincinnati will host season-ender through 2011
mustseeavp.com
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the AVP Crocs Cup Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife and AVP, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AVPI), a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, today announced a historic, long-term deal to host the season-ending, world-class AVP Tour championship through 2011.
The Greater Cincinnati region has proven to be such a great destination for professional beach volleyball that Tour officials are pleased to announce a five-year deal naming Cincinnati as the host of the prestigious season-ending championship over Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. The 2007 AVP Crocs Cup Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife returns to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, for the third straight year.
"Our involvement with the AVP over the last two years has been a great experience," said Bob Slattery, president of Reach Event Marketing. "After hosting the 2006 AVP Crocs Cup, it was an easy decision to secure the event for five more years. It is an extraordinary event, the support of local fans is fantastic and we are proud to be able to bring it, with its national television coverage, to the Cincinnati region."
"We are thrilled to extend our successful relationship with Reach Event Marketing," said Leonard Armato, CEO and Tour Commissioner. "Cincinnati is the perfect place for us to hold the season-ending championship event because the fans are so knowledgeable and passionate about the sport of beach volleyball. We not only appreciate the commitment to the AVP, but we enthusiastically look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial relationship over the next five years."

Tickets go on sale for Open
Reach announces tickets on sale for final AVP stop
mustseeavp.com
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the AVP Crocs Cup Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife and AVP, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AVPI), a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, today announced that tickets for the season-ending, world-class AVP Tour championship at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, are on sale now.
Tickets for this year's event, held over Labor Day weekend Aug. 30-Sept. 2, can be purchased through mustseeavp.com, Tickets.com, and at all Meijer store locations in Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Dayton and Columbus. Prices range from $9-$75 with special discounts and various packages available this year.
To help kick off ticket sales, a special Valentine's Day media event will be held on Feb. 14 at Slatts Pub at 4858 Cooper Road in Blue Ash, Ohio, from 4 to 7 p.m. Special guests include AVP stars Rachel Wacholder and Sean Scott, who will be in attendance to help promote the event.
The 2007 season will be Wacholder's eighth on Tour. She has won several different awards throughout her career including AVP Best Defensive Player and AVP Most Improved Player. In 2005 Wacholder won the inaugural AVP Cincinnati Open with then-partner Elaine Youngs.
Scott begins his ninth season on the AVP Tour this year. Career highlights have included Rookie of the Year honors in 1999 and Most Improved Player in 2005.

Karch to make last Cincy stop
Kiraly to be honored in Cincinnati
mustseeavp.com
CINCINNATI — Greater Cincinnati volleyball fans will get one last chance to see a legend in action.
Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open and AVP, Inc., a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, announced that Karch Kiraly will compete in the regular season Crocs Tour grand finale at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. Tournament officials will honor him with a special night on Friday, August 31.
The 45-year-old Kiraly announced last month that 2007 will be his last season as a player on the AVP Tour as he moves into the role of ambassador for the sport that he helped to make famous. He is playing in only a select few tournaments this season with Cincinnati being one of those stops.
Entering his 28th season as a professional, Kiraly has notched 148 tournament victories and has earned in excess of $3 million. He became the first volleyball player to win three gold medals in the Olympic Games - winning indoor gold in both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and again in 1996 in the inaugural beach volleyball competition in Atlanta. Kiraly was inducted in the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2001.
Through the upcoming summer Kiraly said he will conduct clinics and help to organize junior events in conjunction with USA Volleyball while also assisting the top women's team of Misty May and Kerri Walsh. He will also be launching the Karch Kiraly Volleyball Academy, which will feature a pair of five-day camps for high school girls, as well as the inaugural U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball, a grass-roots tournament sanctioned by USA Volleyball later this year.

Best Cincy marketing for AVP event
Cincinnati Sports Professionals Network awards
mustseeavp.com
CINCINNATI — Local sports business executives were recently honored at the inaugural awards ceremony held by Cincinnati Sports Professionals Network (CSPN), an organization that provides regular networking events.
Reach Event Marketing was awarded the "Professional Sports Event of the Year" for the AVP Crocs Cup Cincinnati Open pro beach volleyball event at Lindner Family Tennis Center.
The event took place at the Hilton-Netherland Hotel in downtown Cincinnati and was attended by a crowd of approximately 400.
Hall of Fame Offensive Lineman Anthony Muñoz provided a keynote address on leadership and Dave Lapham, the radio voice of the Bengals and former player, served as the emcee of the event.
The winners of the awards were:
Sports Executive Life Time Achievement: Paul Flory, Tennis for Charity/Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women's Open
Co-Sports Executives of the Year: Marvin Lewis, head coach, Cincinnati Bengals and Wayne Krivsky, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Cincinnati Reds
Corporate Citizen of the Year: T. Michael Price, National City
Professional Sports Event of the Year: AVP Pro Beach Volleyball
Sports Media Personality of the Year: Michael Perry, The Cincinnati Enquirer
The winner of the inaugural CSPN scholarship was Xavier University student Karen Kuhlman, who received a $1,000 scholarship.

Cincinnati final now in primetime
Last full tour stop to be featured live
CINCINNATI — The AVP Crocs Tour Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife, the final regular-season event of the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour, will now be seen live on national television, the AVP and Reach Event Marketing announced today.
A new one-year contract with MyNetworkTV will allow fans across the country to witness the season-ending championships in Cincinnati live on the nationwide network. Because of this exciting new change, the event schedule has been altered slightly, highlighted by the men's championship final moving to Saturday night (Sept. 1) at 8 p.m., with the women's finals set for Sunday (Sept. 2) at 2:30 p.m.
Upon the culmination of the Cincinnati event, the prestigious Crocs Cup will be presented to the top men's and women's team of the season. A team's points are based upon their best 14 point totals with cable broadcasted events worth single points, NBC broadcasted events worth double points, and the season finale in Cincinnati, now live on MyNetworkTV, worth triple points. The Crocs Cup is a trophy exclusively designed and crafted for the AVP Crocs Tour by Tiffany & Co.
The greater Cincinnati region has proven to be such a great destination for professional beach volleyball that Tour officials announced earlier this year a five-year deal naming Cincinnati as the host of the prestigious season-ending championship over Labor Day weekend. The 2007 AVP Crocs Tour Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife returns to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, for the third straight year.
New Event Schedule & Times
Thursday, Aug. 30: Day Session (Qualifier) - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:00 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31: Day Session - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31: Night Session - 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1: Day Session - 9 a.m. to approx. 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1: Night Session - 6:00 p.m. to approx. 10:30 p.m., (Men's final at 8 p.m.)

Pringles title sponsor in Cincinnati
Snack food brand joins AVP Tour finale
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the AVP Cincinnati Open and AVP, Inc., a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, is proud to announce that Pringles, one of the $1 billion brands of Procter & Gamble has joined the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour Cincinnati Open as title sponsor. The Crocs Cup Championship event will take place over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30 through Sept. 2). The men's finals will air live in primetime on Saturday, Sept. 1, on My Network TV. The women's finals will be featured on Fox Sports Net and will be held on Sunday, Sept. 2.
Upon culmination of the event, the prestigious Crocs Cup will be presented to the top men's and women's team of the season. The Crocs Cup is a trophy exclusively designed and crafted for the AVP Crocs Tour by Tiffany & Co.With the new partnership this event, which is the culmination of the AVP Crocs Cup regular season, has been officially changed to Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife.
Pringles Smart Flavors is the newest addition to the extensive lineup of Pringles. Pringles Smart Flavors offer great tasting potato chips with 30 percent less fat. Some of the new great flavors include Savory Cheddar, Tomato Mozzarella, Sweet Mesquite Barbecue and Spicy Guacamole to accompany Original and Sour Cream & Onion.
"Pringles is thrilled to be sponsoring the AVP Cincinnati Open," offered Douwe Bergsma, Pringles Marketing Director. "This is a great opportunity to sponsor a fun family event for our hometown of Cincinnati. The AVP offers a great time for families and encourages everyone to get outside and get active. Pringles Smart Flavors and the AVP are a perfect fit."
"We are extremely excited to have Pringles join our event as title sponsor," said Bob Slattery, president of Reach Event Marketing. "Pringles, one of Procter & Gamble's $1 billion brands, with their major tri-state presence and active interest in the community, is a tremendous asset to all of Greater Cincinnati and we hope to build upon this event for years to come."
The 2007 Crocs Tour includes two more stops than in 2006, nine different cities from the 2006 Tour and a record $4 million in prize money. The prize money is split equally between the men and the women and represents a 14 percent increase from last year's purse of $3.5 million. This season, the AVP Tour will visit 18 cities, including the new additions of Miami, Dallas, Boston and San Francisco. The AVP recently launched avp.comTV Mosaic, which allows subscribers to watch up to four live matches at once online. The AVP has teamed with Major League Baseball Advanced Media to power the new avp.com, a redesigned website that uses award-winning technology to give fans the chance to watch multiple AVP games simultaneously. As the fan base of the AVP and the sport of beach volleyball continues to grow, the new avp.com serves as a portal to enhance the fan experience. For more information, please visit www.avp.com.

Misty to entertain Special Olympians
Good deed is part of Cincinnati Open festivities
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open and AVP, Inc., a lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on professional beach volleyball, announce that pro beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor will treat 150 Hamilton County Special Olympic youth athletes to a day of fun and entertainment on Friday, August 31, at Lindner Family Tennis Center during the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife.
May-Treanor, nicknamed "Turtle," has graciously agreed to purchase all the athlete's tickets so they can enjoy some of the center court matches scheduled that day. She will also present Turtle/Special Olympic T-shirts to everyone in the group. Lunch will be provided by local sponsors Coca-Cola and LaRosa's and afterwards May-Treanor will address the group in their own private tent.
"I am very excited about having some of the athlete's from Special Olympics as my guests at the upcoming AVP event in Cincinnati," said May-Treanor. "I have been a big supporter of the Special Olympics for several years and I am proud of what the organization stands for. I know what it takes to be an Olympian and winner so this is a real honor for me to give this gift to those athletes who are working just as hard as Kerri (Walsh) and me."
"Hamilton County Special Olympics (HCSO) is very excited that Misty May-Treanor has invited our athletes to come watch her play during the Cincinnati Open pro beach volleyball event," said Janet Smith, executive director of Hamilton County Special Olympics. "It means so much to our athletes when their athletic role models, like Misty May-Treanor, invite them to be part of their sporting event.
Misty May-Treanor became the career all-time wins leader in women's professional beach volleyball history this season and is arguably one of the most naturally-gifted female players. She and partner Kerri Walsh captured the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. May-Treanor is a three-time MVP on the AVP Crocs Tour and has won other multiple awards during her professional career. Event Schedule & Times:
Thursday, Aug. 30 - Day Session (Qualifier) - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:00 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Day Session - 8:00 a.m. to approx. 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31 - Night Session - 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Day Session - 9 a.m. to approx. 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 1 - Night Session - 6:15 p.m. to approx. 10:30 p.m., (Men's final at 8 p.m.)
Sunday, Sept. 2 - Day Session 10 a.m. to approx. 4 p.m. (Women's final at 2:30 p.m.)

Army soldiers to be sworn in
Special ceremony scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 2
CINCINNATI — Reach Event Marketing, local promoters of the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open and the AVP Crocs Tour announce that the U.S. Army will swear in future soldiers during a special ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 2, at Lindner Family Tennis Center before the women's finals at the Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open presented by Herbalife.
The Oath of Enlistment will be administered by Capt. Jason Shick of the Kings Mill Army Recruiting Company. Assisting with the ceremony will be Sgt. 1st Class Albert Atkins and Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Herold.
"It's not every day that civilians have the opportunity to witness a group of men and women from their own community make the commitment to serve in the U.S. Army," said Capt. Shick. "The Oath of Enlistment is the final step people take in joining the Army. It is an honor to be part of it."
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Herold will lead about 10 local future soldiers to the staging area where they will raise their right hands and swear to support and defend the United States of America. Take the time to thank them for their selfless service before the women's finals begin.

Lewis a modern medical miracle
AVP standout has survived brain aneurysm, ruptured cyst
By Walter Villa / Special to avp.com
Watch Angela's story on DiG TV
Eleven years later, Carol Freeman still has trouble talking about the time her daughter nearly died.
Pro beach volleyball standout Angela Lewis, now 29 and headed to Cincinnati on Thursday for the AVP Tour's regular-season finale, was just 18 when she started suffering from migraines.
Despite the pounding headaches, Lewis got her college career off to a flying start, earning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors as Sacramento State's star middle blocker.
But two weeks after the headaches began, she started vomiting every morning.
"My grandmother had suffered from migraines, so I figured I was just going to have to deal with it," Lewis said. "But my mom wasn't satisfied with that answer."
Freeman took her daughter to a hospital in Sacramento.
"Angela has been an athlete all her life," Freeman said. "She is not the type to complain. So when she told me what was happening, it really got my attention."
Freeman said doctors checked Lewis and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
"They said they could do an MRI if we wanted," Freeman said. "Angela wasn't in the machine five minutes when they called for an ambulance to take her to San Francisco Medical Center right away."
Doctors had discovered a brain aneurysm, a bulging blood vessel that can be fatal if it bursts.
"It all happened so quickly," Lewis said. "I didn't even get a chance to go home and get a change of clothes."
After she arrived at the hospital, doctors discovered a nearly hopeless situation.
"I didn't know it at the time, but the doctors thought I was going to die," Lewis said. "They discharged me and told me to have a nice dinner with my family."
Freeman said that while Lewis was shielded from the frightening diagnosis, the family knew about the severity of the aneurysm.
"We were in shock," Freeman said. "It was a real helpless feeling — just the worst nightmare for any parent. ... I am trying not to choke up here."
Freeman said she believes that God saved her daughter. Medically, the key was the experimental surgery performed by doctors in San Francisco in which platinum coils were inserted at the base of her brain.
At that time, the procedure had only been performed four times on cases of that severity. Two of those patients died, and the other two were left paralyzed.
"I had no idea," Lewis said. "When it really hit me was when I had to read and sign a disclaimer before surgery that listed all the things that could go wrong. That's when I lost it."
Lewis spent two months in the hospital — including a bout with spinal meningitis — but she recovered. By March of her freshman year, she returned to the gym.
When she realized she lacked her usual power, she had to adjust.
"I learned to use my left hand more," said Lewis, who is 5-foot-11. "My game became more balanced and less predictable."
Lewis went on to play her final three years of college at Sac State, setting a school record for digs. She left the school fifth in kills, earned two All-Big Sky honors and was also named to the Big Sky All-Academic team. She graduated with a degree in graphic design.
But her college career hit more speed bumps. In her senior year, she had emergency surgery to repair a ruptured cyst in her ovary.
"I went to the hospital in the morning and was checked and sent home," Lewis said. "But they misdiagnosed me. I was bleeding internally. I was in so much pain that I fell down trying to get to the phone. I went back to the hospital that night. 20 minutes later, I was on the operating table.
"They told me that I almost bled to death."
Four months later, Lewis had to have three feet of her intestine removed.
"She is amazing," said teammate Priscilla Lima, who has combined with Lewis to rank ninth in the AVP this season. "It's incredible she is still alive after everything she has been through."
Freeman said the entire family — including Lewis' dad Nathan and brother Nathan, Jr. — are all proud of their favorite pro beach volleyball star.
"Angela has always had a passion for volleyball," Freeman said. "When she was in junior high school, we never had to remind her when practice was — she reminded us."
Freeman, who lives in Sacramento, said she gets to as many of Lewis' matches as possible, especially on the West Coast.
"If I can't get to the matches, I watch her on Mosaic [on avp.com] or check the scores," Freeman said. "And we talk to her as much as we can. She has worked so hard — we couldn't be prouder."

Ring hopes to make big leap
AVP star didn't pick up volleyball until college
By Walter Villa / avp.com
Jason Ring, who used to make 50-foot jumps off cliffs while on skis, believes his biggest leap will come next season.
That's when he and Jeff Nygaard, with a complete offseason of training, hope to move up the Crocs Cup standings and establish themselves as one of the dominant teams on the AVP Tour.
"Jeff is a three-time Olympian — his resume is awesome," Ring said of Nygaard, 35. "We hooked up in midseason. So I think the offseason will be big for us. We are going to go over the video and analyze every mistake we made and then work to correct them."
Ring, 33, hasn't made many mistakes in his life. A self-described "country boy" from Bend, Ore., Ring had a blissful upbringing along with his brothers — Josh, Gabe and Seth.
"It was a lot of fun," Ring said. "We had a small, working farm with chickens and pigs. When I was in high school, I had my own herd of cattle [about six cows]."
For fun, Jason and his brothers would head to the mountains and do some extreme skiing. Ring didn't even play volleyball in high school. Instead, he was a four-year soccer star and also tried his hand at golf.
"It was a real country, outdoor life," Ring said. "When my buddies would skip class, they would go ride bulls, fish or hunt."
After he graduated from Redmond High, Ring went to Pierce junior college in Los Angeles, where he took to volleyball — quickly.
"Two years later, I was awarded a full ride to the University of Hawaii," Ring said. "Two years after that, I was invited to play for the national team. And two years after that, I was playing pro volleyball in Europe and South America."
And just like in his childhood, Ring had a blast.
"I played in places such as Austria, Greece and Argentina," Ring said. "It was a great way to travel the world and play volleyball at the same time."
Ring had major success playing indoor volleyball. In 1997, he was named an All-American as Hawaii made it to the championship match before losing to UCLA and its star, Stein Metzger, currently an AVP star.
In 2000, at age 25, Ring switched to the beach game. He reached the top of his game in 2004, when he teamed with 6-foot-7-inch blocker George Roumain to win at Huntington Beach.
And even though that still stands as Ring's only career championship, he does not consider it his top highlight.
"George really carried me in that tournament," Ring said. "I really think that when Matt Olson and I reached the finals of Hermosa Beach this [past May], I was more involved." But despite that performance together, Ring decided to part ways with Olson and reach out to Nygaard.
"Matt and I had some great tournaments together," Ring said. "But we are both 6-2, and I was designated as the blocker instead of flying around and using my quickness as a defender."
When Ring saw the chance to pair up with the 6-foot-8-inch Nygaard, he jumped at the chance — literally. Ring is known as perhaps the best leaper on the AVP Tour. He says his vertical leap has been measured at 46.5 inches, which would put most NBA superstars to shame.
"I can touch (a 10-foot) rim with my head," Ring said. "Unofficially, I think my vert is 47 or 48 inches. As I have gotten older, I think my vert has gotten even better because I understand the mechanics of jumping."
Only one other AVP player has a vertical leap that is considered on par with Ring, and that's Sean Rosenthal.
"I've been challenging him for years, but he has been ducking me," Ring joked. "I thought it would be sweet to do a dunk contest. Sean said he would do it, but I think the AVP was nervous about an injury."
Instead of dunking, Ring will concentrate on volleyball this offseason. Ring said he and Nygaard "have all the tools" to be as good as top-ranked Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.
But when his volleyball days are done in a few years, Ring will follow his father's footsteps and become a full-time general contractor. He started his own business two years ago and enjoys creating custom kitchens and other rooms.
Asked if he has worked on a home of a fellow AVP player, Ring said. "No, they can't afford me!"
"My motto is: good, fast and cheap — pick two," Ring joked. "But I really love working with my hands. I enjoy working hard and earning that beer afterward. I think I was born to be a blue-collar guy."

Last chance at glory in Cincy
Crocs Cup at stake as teams compete for triple points
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
The regular season will come to a close this season on the AVP Crocs Tour with the Cincinnati Open, which begins Thursday with qualifying.
At stake is the Crocs Cup, a Tiffany trophy that will be awarded to the top men's and top women's team on the pro circuit. Point values will triple this week.
The two teams in line to claim title of the cup also happen to be the defending champions and both Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers will be in the Queen City to defend their crowns.
With an FIVB event also being staged in St. Petersburg, Russia, some top women's teams will not be competing. Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner, and Jennifer Boss and April Ross are all abroad hoping to improve their Olympic ranking for a possible berth in Beijing next summer.
Walsh, along with partner May-Treanor, will be looking for her 12th title this season and said the field will be strong.
"We're rooting for all of those girls to do well in Russia, but just because they're not here doesn't mean this tournament will be easy," said Walsh, who currently has a 720-point lead in the Crocs Cup with her partner. "There are a lot of great teams and it will be a good tournament."
Also absent from the competition will be Karch Kiraly, who has been unable to rehab from a left calf strain. Kiraly, who officially announced his retirement from the tour in March, last played in Seaside Heights, N.J., where he and Kevin Wong placed ninth. Wong will be paired with Eric Fonoimoana this week.
On the men's side, Dalhausser and Rogers have won the last four AVP events they've entered and nine overall this season. They currently lead Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger by 882 points in the race for the cup.
Eyes on the prize: Youngs and Branagh are currently ranked 17th internationally but are second behind May-Treanor and Walsh among American women. Only two teams per country will be granted automatic entry into the beach volleyball competition at the Olympic Games.
On their heels are Boss and Ross, who trail by 560 points. Each team will use its best eight performances as their point total and Youngs and Branagh, like May-Treanor and Walsh, have competed in six this season while Boss and Ross have competed in five.
"I think we're playing really good volleyball right now. We have a good chance. There are three really huge international events coming up," Youngs said. "Not that it is the weight of the world on our backs, but we can really set ourselves up and get a little bit of a gap against the other teams, and if we play like we have in the last few weeks, we will be fine."
Remember when: Kiraly won the first three AVP tournaments in Cincinnati, teaming with Kent Steffes in 1993-94 and Adam Johnson in 1998.
Kiraly will be honored this week with a bobblehead doll giveaway.
Set your clocks: Play in Thursday's qualifier begins at 8:00 a.m. ET and concludes at approximately 6:00 p.m. The main draw competition will begin on Friday at 8:00 a.m. and continue Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Both days also include night sessions, with Friday's beginning at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday's at 6:00 p.m. ET. The men's final is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening. Play in the women's draw will continue Sunday at 10:45 a.m. with the final set for 2:30 p.m. ET.
Multimedia: The men's and women's finals will both stream live on avp.com. The Mosaic video player will also provide coverage from four courts on Friday and Saturday.
MyNetworkTV will provide live coverage of the men's finals at 8:00 p.m. ET and 7:00 CT and will also provide a delayed telecast at 8:00 p.m. PT. FSN will broadcast the women's final Sept. 4 at 5:00 p.m. and the men's final Sept. 8 at noon.
FSN will also carry a repeat of the women's final at Seaside Heights on Saturday.
Up next: The AVP Crocs Tour heads to Las Vegas for the first event of the postseason with Gods and Goddesses of the Beach, Sept. 6-8. The postseason will conclude the following weekend with Best of the Beach in San Francisco, Sept. 14-16.

AVP to recognize Kiraly at Mason stop
BY MARK SCHMETZER | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
Call it "Kudos for Karch."
Festivities honoring outgoing AVP superstar Karch Kiraly will highlight the four-day Cincinnati Open beach volleyball tournament that is scheduled to get under way today with qualifying action at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
The tournament is the finale for the Crocs Tour. Championship Crocs Cups will be presented to the men's and women's teams that come out of the tournament at the top of the point standings.
The tournament continues with one session Friday at 7:30 p.m. and two Saturday at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The men's finals are scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday. The team of Todd "The Professor" Rogers and Phil Delhausser, the defending champions, is this year's top seed. The team they beat last year, Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger, is seeded No. 2.
The defending women's championship team, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, is this year's top seed, ahead of the team it beat last year, Annett Davis and Jenny Jackson Jordan.
The women's final is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Cincinnati also will be the final stop for the 46-year-old Kiraly, who is in his 28th professional season and will be honored Saturday night. Kiraly has won 148 championships and amassed more than $3 million in prize money. He also became the first player to win three Olympic volleyball gold medals.
Advance ticket sales are "through the roof," tournament director Mario Cicchinelli said Wednesday.
"They've far exceeded the first two years," he said. "Everybody is realizing that pro volleyball has made it as the thing to do on Labor Day weekend.
"We'll be done by 4 p.m. Sunday, which means there will still be plenty of time to get down to the (fireworks (at Riverfest)."

Pro volleyball moves in at Mason
By Adam Kiefaber
Post contributor
GEORGIOS KEFALAS/Associated Press
Tennis is out and volleyball is in at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, where the AVP Crocs Tour will wrap up its regular season for the third straight year this Labor Day weekend.
The event starts today and runs through Sunday, when the Crocs Cup will be presented to the top men's and women's teams of the season. Last year's Cincinnati Open team champions Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh and Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rodgers currently top the 2007 Crocs Cup standings.
Despite finishing second in the Cincinnati Open last year, teammates Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger won the Crocs Cup.
Dalhausser and Rodgers look to have this year's title locked up with 6,138 total points. Lambert and Metzger are a distant second with 5,256.
On the women's side, May-Treanor and Walsh lead the second-place team - Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs - 5,958 to 5,238.
The two leading teams basically just have to show up to win. Both will be in contention for gold medals at the Olympic games next summer in Beijing.
The AVP is the fastest-growing sports property in the United States, according to Scarborough Sports Marketing. From 2004 to 2005, the AVP's fan base grew 48 percent while the second fastest-growing sports property, NASCAR, grew 7 percent. Much of this growth is due to the sport's exposure in the Olympic games, which started to include beach volleyball as an event in 1996.
"It (the Olympics) has just given us a much more global platform," AVP CEO and Commissioner Leonard Armato said. "In Sydney (2000) it was a breakaway hit, in Athens it was the hottest ticket and in Beijing it's going to be huge. So it just means that our sport, which is a combination of competition and beach lifestyle at its best, is something that people all over the world have embraced. It is only fitting that here in the United States, where the sport was invented, it's becoming more popular."
The AVP has marketed its events by claiming that it is the ultimate beach party. As Armato puts it, "We don't want you just to come and be a passive observer at one of the AVP Crocs Tour events."
Besides watching volleyball, you can play the latest games at the X-Box Oasis, then can get a lesson from volleyball great Sinjin Smith at the Crocs Court and have a drink or two at the Bud Light Party Zone or in the Jose Cuervo Cabana.
"We want the fans that turn up for this event to have the best sports experience that they have ever had and not only want to come back, but to tell their friends how wonderful the experience is," Armato said.
Pro beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly, who won't be competing in the tournament due to an injury, will be honored during the evening session on Saturday. The first 2,000 fans through the gate will receive a Karch Kiraly bobblehead. A special ceremony will honor Kiraly prior to the men's finals.
The finals will begin at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live nationwide on MyNetworkTV. Locally they will air on WSTR-64. The men's and women's finals will be tape-delayed on FSN Ohio.

Hannemann playing in qualifying
Only four spots available in men's, women's draw
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — It's wet at the first day of action at the Cincinnati Open, but play is underway and continues uninterrupted.
A light rain has given the qualifying round here an element of weather Thursday as four spots are open in both the women's and the men's draws, which begins tomorrow. This is the last event of the regular season and last which allows qualifiers.
Points toward the Crocs Cup champion will also triple at this event with the season-ending trophy being awarded to the top men's and women's teams. The men's final will be Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET and the women's final is scheduled for Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
With the main draw set at 24 teams, some teams that would normally get a pass into a 32-team draw were dropped back into the qualifier. That included the men's No. 1 qualifying team of Mike Morrison and Ty Tramblie. Chrissie Zartman, who played in the main draw last week in Brooklyn with Sara Dukes, is seeded second in the qualifier with Tiffany Rodriguez.
Another shakeup featured main draw regular Albert Hannemann playing in just his second qualifier this season. With regular partner Eric Fonoimoana pairing with Kevin Wong this weekend, Hannemann is playing with Internet consultant Yanik Silver.
An early upset occurred on the women's side as No. 24 Christina Hinds and Joanna Papageorgiou eliminated No. 9 Cindie Valeriano and Aleksandra Wolak, 21-17, 21-17.

AVP elite reach Russian semis
Youngs-Branagh, Boss-Ross both pull off FIVB upsets
By Tim Simmons / Special to avp.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — It was a good day here Thursday for American women at the St. Petersburg Open as the beach bolleyball pairs from the United States posted upset wins over teams from Brazil to advance to Saturday's semifinals in the World Tour event.
With a 21-15, 21-18 win in 39 minutes over No. 2 Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro, No. 3 Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs advanced to their first international semifinal this season and their second since they joined forces at the end of the 2006 season.
While Branagh-Youngs played Renata-Talita, American compatriots and fourth-seeded Jen Boss and April Ross scored a 21-17, 21-17 win in 46 minutes over No. 1 Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca to earn their second international final four appearance this season. In July, Boss-Ross won the gold in Stavanger, Norway.
Both wins helped each team's Olympic hopes since the third annual St. Petersburg Open is part of the qualifying process for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. The 24-team beach volleyball field for both men and women will be determined July 21, 2008 as each country — including host China — can field a maximum of two teams for next August's event.
"Our goal was to reach the semifinals this week," said Branagh, whose team posted three fifths and two ninths earlier this season on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour. "Now, our goal is to stay ahead of Jen and April and reach the top spot on the podium. We have been disappointed with our international play so far this season, so today's success is very satisfying."
Branagh and Youngs, who have now compiled 2,620 Olympic qualifying points as compared to Boss and Ross' 2,060 points in five-plus events, opened play Thursday by defeating their American rivals, No. 6 Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder, 23-25, 21-18, 15-9, in 70 minutes.
Turner and Wacholder also dropped their next match to No. 8 Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen of Norway, 22-20, 17-21, 15-11, to finish the St. Petersburg Open in ninth place. The duo has accumulated 1,784 Olympic qualifying points in six FIVB events.
Boss and Ross, who posted the biggest women's international tour upset in gold-medal match history as the 29th seed in Norway, started Thursday's action with a 21-19, 21-13 win over Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou of Greece, who captured the European Championships last week in Spain.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, the three-time World champions and reigning Olympic gold medal winners, currently lead the American hopes for Beijing with 4,640 FIVB qualifying points. May-Trearnor and Walsh have five gold medal finishes this season in six events.
Juliana-Larissa and Renata-Talita will have another opportunity to reach Saturday's semifinals via the elimination bracket. Renata and Talita, who celebrated her 25th birthday Wednesday, play the winner of the match between Arvaniti-Karadassiou and No. 9 Alexandra Shiryaeva-Natalya Uryadova of Russia for a final four berth opposite Boss-Ross.
Juliana and Larissa, the international tour leaders the past two seasons with four gold medal finishes this summer, will face the winner of Friday's opening elimination match between Hakedal-Torlen and No. 7 Adriana Behar-Ana Paula Connelly of Brazil. The survivor will play Branagh and Youngs in the semifinals.

For volleyball legend Kiraly, one last day at the beach
Karch Kiraly ready for retirement photos
Carrying his gear, Karch Kiraly heads home after a session on the beach near his home in California. Kiraly, the "King of the Beach," has announced his retirement from volleyball at the end of the AVP season.
By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY
Karch Kiraly was 36 years old, getting up there in years for an elite athlete. He had already accomplished nearly everything in volleyball that a player can. He was the only volleyball player to win three Olympic gold medals.
He was already an icon, a legend.
But his shoulder wasn't responding well to surgery, he was no longer winning, and the thought of retirement crept into his mind.
Then things started to come together, and he won four pro beach volleyball tournaments in a row.
So, he decided to play another year, then another, and another.
Ten years later, at age 46, Kiraly is finally saying goodbye. This weekend, in Cincinnati, is the final regular-season Association of Volleyball Professionals tournament of Kiraly's last season as a player.
A torn calf muscle that has sidelined him for six weeks will prevent him from playing, but he will be at the tournament when 2,000 Kiraly bobble-head dolls will be handed out to fans.
Kiraly announced early this year that this season would be his last, and he has been showered with tributes and gifts.
"I'm a little embarrassed by all the attention," Kiraly says. "Sometimes it's been a little over the top."
At a tournament in Boston, Kiraly, who became known for wearing a pink hat in his beach volleyball career, was presented with a pink rocking chair.
He signed it, and it was sent off to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Mass.
Kiraly himself was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001. In 1992, Kiraly, who led UCLA to three NCAA volleyball titles, was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame.
Kiraly, on the short side for a volleyball player at 6-2 but a tremendous leaper and a master of volleyball's skill set, was arguably the greatest indoor player and the greatest beach player in history.
He led the U.S. Olympic indoor team to gold medals in 1984 and '88.
Then, with partner Kent Steffes, he won gold when beach volleyball made its Olympic debut in 1996.
In the past decade, as people kept asking when he planned to retire, he kept adding to the legend.
In early 2004, Kiraly was asked by U.S. Olympic coach Doug Beal to join the squad, even though Kiraly hadn't played indoors in 12 years. He declined, saying he didn't think his presence would make the team a medal contender.
That same year, Kiraly, who had decided not to try to qualify for a U.S. beach volleyball berth at the Athens Olympics, was ranked No. 1 on the AVP pro beach tour.
He did, however, help broadcast the beach competition in Athens.
At age 43, he analyzed an event that he was perhaps good enough to win, down the street from an arena where the U.S. indoor volleyball coach thought he was good enough to make a difference.
That is just one of the reasons why Holly McPeak, a longtime star on the women's tour, once said of Kiraly, "You just can't describe the respect he has in this sport. There's no one like him."
Kiraly won his last tournament in 2005. It was his 148th career victory, adding to his record.
Though he won't be playing any more, Kiraly will continue to be involved in the sport. He will broadcast AVP tournaments and will be part of NBC's broadcast team next summer at the Beijing Olympics.
He also has begun a series of Karch Kiraly Volleyball Academies. And he is helping coach his two sons' high school team in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
How does he sum up 30 years of competition? "It's been an absolute blast," he says. "I played a kid's game, I got to do it at the beach, and I was able to support my family. I consider myself incredibly lucky."

Husband and wife beach connection
Jeni Case makes run in Cincy qualifier
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — A little support can go a long way, and Jeni Case and Kristen Rust could feel the love.
Both locals, Case and Rust were playing in just their second qualifier together on the AVP Crocs Tour. They also entered the qualifier down the Ohio River in Louisville, where they were one and done.
But with a strong contingent of vocal fans, friends and family, Case and Rust did their part by getting through not one, but two matches Thursday. They first upset No. 10 Bonnie Levin and Kirstin Olsen, 21-16, 21-17, and then eliminated seventh-seeded Paige Davis and Kim McGiven, 23-21, 24-22.
Neither player has high expectations, but they were nonetheless pleased with the results that drew them within a match of qualifying. Their tournament came to a close when they lost, 21-12, 21-15, to No. 2 Chrissie Zartman and Tiffany Rodriguez.
"It's awesome, it's fun," Case said. "I never would have thought it, but we're playing all right. It's exciting."
The 35-year-old Case is mostly a coach nowadays who plays the occasional pick-up game and will also enter local events. She now works alongside her husband John Paul Case at The Sports Complex, a nearby volleyball facility with both indoor and outdoor courts that they own.
John Paul Case has played on the AVP Tour but now spends much of his time coaching quarterbacks at Thomas More College (Ohio). He was also a star at local Purcell Marian High School, which went undefeated in 1986 to earn a No. 4 national ranking.
The two met at More, a Division III school, where then Jeni Boerger was a three-time All-America in volleyball. In addition to now coaching club teams at their facility, Jeni Case coaches volleyball at Ursuline Academy, a girls Catholic four-year college prep school.
Rust, at 23-years-old, is the junior partner. She played indoors at Florida State for four years, but her relationship with Case extends back a bit further to McAuley High School where Rust played under the tutelage of Case.
"I loved her as a coach," Rust said. "She is a very intense player and that is fun to be around."
Rust has played with Case since April, her first introduction to the outdoor game. She's uncertain if she can make a career out of the beach, but she is resolute in her opinion of the two disciplines.
"I love it," Rust said. "I don't want to go back to indoor. Really."
Early exit: Albert Hannemann, one-time winner and main draw regular on the AVP tour, was relegated to the qualifier this week.
It was only the second time in 2007 he's appeared in a qualifier and first since the opener in Miami in April. Hannemann placed as high as fifth this season while playing with Ed Ratledge and ninth when partnered with cousin Eric Fonoimoana.
But Fonoimoana is paired with Kevin Wong, who needed a partner this week when Karch Kiraly pulled out of his fourth straight tournament due to a strained left calf.
So Hannemann hooked up with Internet business consultant Yanik Silver and drew a No. 7 seed in the qualifier and was unceremoniously handed a ticket out of the tournament by 26th-seeded Dan Buehring and Steven VanderWerp, 21-18, 21-19.
Cut shots: Zartman and Rodriguez qualified for the fourth time together this season by advancing here Thursday. Zartman has also qualified this year with Courtney Guerra, Victoria Prince and Sara Dukes. Rodriguez has qualified this season with Krystal Jackson. ... Scott Lane played in the qualifier with Jeff Minc, his fifth different partner this season, but lost to 19th-seeded Lucas Black and Matt Heagy, 21-19, 21-17. Lane and Minc were the No. 3 seeds.

McHenry, Rutledge play to form
Pair knocks off Greek pros to get to main draw
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Angela McHenry and Lisa Rutledge lived up to the form sheet.
Seeded No. 1 for the AVP Cincinnati Open qualifier, the California duo played the part to perfection on Thursday. They fought past No. 17 Anne McArthur-Andrea Peterson, 21-16, 22-20, and then reached the main draw with a 21-15, 21-15 triumph over No. 24 Christina Hinds-Joanna Papageorgiou. Now it's on to Friday when the McHenry-Rutledge tandem will be looking to post their best finish of the season. They've been 17th on three occasions.
"We came out strong today and didn't let go," McHenry said. "We kept fighting for each match."
McHenry and Rutledge got as high as a No. 13 finish last year and would love to equal that or go beyond it.
"I think we're right on the brink," McHenry said.
McHenry, 30, was an All-Atlantic 10 player at Rhode Island. After gaining a degree in accounting, she lived in Boston for four years. When she moved back to California, the lure of beach volleyball again fueled her athletic aspirations.
Having been paired with Rutledge for more than a year, the chemistry between the two continues to improve on the court.
"Last year was our first full season together, and we played in one tournament together the year before," McHenry said. "We didn't do a lot of AVP last summer, so we're still figuring out stuff."
To lessen the financial burden, McHenry and Rutledge have been playing without a coach.
"We're trying to do it ourselves," McHenry said. "We get some help from our friends and they'll come and hit balls at us. Most of the time, we know what the other partner is doing.
"Coaches cost money, and there's only so much we can do there. We're in San Diego and there aren't as many people around who can work with our schedules — I work 8-to-5. But we're looking at that, and one of our goals in the offseason is to find someone who can help us go to the next level and make that jump in the main draw."
McHenry and Rutledge hope to have a grand finish in Cincinnati before turning their attention to the offseason.
"I really feel like we're been playing well lately and I'm really hoping for a 13th[-place finish]," McHenry said. "Whatever happens, I hope it will push us toward getting better next season."
In their last hurdle to reach the main draw, McHenry and Rutledge faced a team that had spent the summer playing pro beach volleyball in Greece. Although they were battling severe jet lag, Hinds and Papageorgiou knocked off No. 9 seed Cindie Valeriano-Aleksandra Wolak and No. 25 Tealle Hunkus-Amanda Schuler.
"We're both Greek-Americans, and after playing our season in Greece, we were coming home," Papageorgiou said. "I went to Bowling Green (Ohio) and have relatives here, so we decided to go for it."
Hinds said the duo had wanted to play on the AVP Tour all year but were too far away to do so.
"We actually tried to make it to Brooklyn last week but couldn't get a flight," Hinds said. "I'm glad we made this last tournament. We almost got to the main draw, but you can't control it when the jet lag hits. I think there was a lot of mental fatigue in that last match."
Hinds, who lives in Los Angeles, was the 2004 West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Pepperdine (Calif.). She and Papageorgiou will decide in the next few weeks whether to play next summer in Greece or stay in the U.S. and take their chances on the AVP Tour.
Besides McHenry and Rutledge, the other teams qualifying for the main draw were No. 4 Erin Byrd-Stephanie Chapek, No. 6 Stacy Nicks-Alicia Zamparelli and No. 2 Tiffany Rodriguez-Chrissie Zartman.
In their final match of the day, Rodriguez and Zartman had to get past Cincinnati-area favorites Jeni Case and Kristen Rust, who were cheered on by a large delegation of local supporters.

Upsets abound in stacked qualifier
Three of top four go home before main draw starts
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — The tour turned up the pressure one more time with the last qualifier of the year.
Teams and individual players will automatically be seeded into the two postseason events, the top 12 players next week for Gods and Goddesses of the Beach in Las Vegas, and the top eight teams for the Best of the Beach competition in San Francisco the following weekend.
But Thursday spelled one final opportunity for those teams trying to make a push into next season with some much-needed momentum, and in qualifiers there is no opportunity to slip up.
Win and you move on; lose and you go home.
"You have to stay focused all day long, because no one out here is going to give it to you," said Jeff Carlucci, who along with partner Chris Seiffert survived an afternoon that alternated between sunny and overcast skies, and wind and light rain.
Also advancing into the main draw of the Cincinnati Open was No. 5 Vincent Robbins and Adam Roberts, ninth-seeded Russ Marchewka and Mike Placek, and No.11 Dane Jensen and Braidy Halverson.
Casualties included three of the top four seeds in the men's qualifier with No. 1 Mike Morrison and Ty Tramblie exiting in just their second match of the day. They were followed by third-seeded Scott Lane and Jeff Minc, and John Moran and Jon Mesko, the No. 4 seed.
With just a 24-team main draw, many teams that would get an automatic entry in other weeks were dumped back into the qualifier, and that added to the tougher-than-usual field that offered only four spots into the money portion of the tournament.
"It's tough because every qualifier at these tournaments with the smaller draw is so difficult. Your last two matches, generally you'll have one really tough match and some others that are really hard," Carlucci said.
"It is more of a mental challenge more than anything else," he continued. "You have to throw out the distractions, the points, the automatic 17th, the money. It is trying to stay focused on one play at a time."
Carlucci has found it easier to focus after hooking up with Seiffert in Chicago earlier this month.
After qualifying twice this season and getting one other automatic exemption while playing with a host of partners, Carlucci now has successfully qualified four times and also received an automatic berth in the five events he's played with Seiffert.
Both players cited great chemistry and a similar background.
"What we do best as a team is compete," Seiffert said. "We've been down and we respond. It has been a pleasure battling with this guy."
Carlucci and Seiffert won their first two matches Thursday without dropping a game though they were extended to overtime in their first match. Then in the last match of the afternoon, they faced Joe Cash and Matt Henderson and prevailed in three sets, 15-21, 21-14, 15-11.
"It was a tough battle. We faced some tough teams, and no one gave us an easy road," Seiffert said. "In a qualifier, each match is a battle. As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator on a team, they get confidence."
Carlucci and Seiffert will play Jeff Nygaard and Jason Ring on Friday morning.
Robbins and Roberts survived qualifying for the fourth time together as a team. Robbins also qualified this season with Jason Wight, Leonardo Moraes and David Fischer, while Roberts has successfully made it through with Brad Torsone.
When Jason Harris and Kevin Wong, the 28th seeds in the qualifier, forfeited, Robbins and Roberts opened with a walkover and then dispatched Kyle Denitz and Casey Patterson, 21-12, 22-20. In their last match, Robbins and Roberts upended Mesko and Moran, 21-19, 21-16 to advance.
Last week in Brooklyn, Robbins and Roberts placed 17th, which tied for their highest finish this season. On Friday, they'll play Brent Doble and Matt Olson in their main-draw opener.
Unable to successfully qualify for the 10th time this season was A.J. Mihalic and Billy Allen.
Drawing the No. 6 seed in a packed qualifier, Mihalic and Allen easily got past Jeffrey DeWit and Brandon Porter, 21-13, 21-8, but ran up against the quickly-emerging duo of Halverson and Jensen and were eliminated without even advancing to the last round.
The loss also comes on the heels of being ousted with two quick losses in Brooklyn last week after getting the automatic bid into the main draw.
"This tournament was really important with all the points carrying over to next season," Allen said. "A good finish here will set you up for next season. It was a disappointing way to end the season, but it was a better season than I had last year."
Allen and Mihalic, who finished 29th this week, had a season-high, 13th-place finish in Tampa this year.
Marchewka and Placek will play Ty Loomis and Hans Stolfus on Friday while Jensen and Halverson will face last week's finalists, Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong.

Top teams ready to finish strong
Triple points are at stake in last open event
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — This is the weekend for players on the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour to triple their pleasure.
Thursday's highlights: The top two seeds on the women's side of the qualifier advanced while three of the top five seeds on the men's side did not.
Match of the day: Braidy Halverson and Dane Jensen defeated Billy Allen and A.J. Mihalic, 25-23, 16-21, 15-11.
Upset of the day: No. 23 Jeni Case and Kristen Rust eliminated No. 7 Paige Davis and Kim McGiven, 23-21, 24-22.
Start/finish: Gates will open at 7:30 a.m. ET on Friday with competition beginning at 8:00 a.m. and concluding at approximately 7:00 p.m. The night session will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Weather forecast: A high of 82 degrees under sunny skies is expected Friday with temperatures expected to drop to 70 by 9:00 p.m. Chance of rain is estimated at 20 percent.
Match to watch: No. 14 Adam Jewell and Jose Loiola will face No. 19 John Mayer and Matt Prosser.
In the Cincinnati Open, which marks the final regular-season event of the season, triple Crocs Cup points are being awarded. Defending Crocs Cup champs Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have already clinched this year's crown on the women's side, but Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers need a ninth place finish or better to clinch on the men's side. Beyond that, a plethora of teams will be scrambling to end the regular season on a high note and improve their positions for a specialty event.
Next week in Las Vegas, 13 players will be invited (12 plus an alternate) to a $200,000 showcase of talent. The following week in San Francisco, the top eight AVP teams will earn an invitation to a tournament with a $200,000 payout.
Let the jockeying for those spots resume in earnest. Meanwhile, the bulk of the AVP Tour competitors just want to finish strongly and take those positive vibes into the off-season.
"When it's your last chance, you really want to bring your best," said Angela McHenry, who advanced to the main draw with partner Lisa Rutledge in Thursday's qualifier.
Added Rutledge: "Everybody wants to finish the year feeling good about what they did out there. That brings a little more to this tournament."
With three of the top five AVP women's teams competing overseas this weekend in a bid to improve their chances for an Olympic berth, the domino effect leaves several teams in Cincinnati with an opportunity to record career best finishes. May-Treanor and Walsh are attempting to win their 12th domestic tournament, which would leave them just one behind their record from last season. Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis, who took the Chicago title when May-Treanor and Walsh were overseas, would love nothing more than a breakthrough against the AVP's marquee duo.
No. 3 Angie Akers-Brooke Hanson also come into Cincinnati with high hopes. Akers and Hanson reached the finals in Chicago and are eager to knock on the championship door once more.
Dalhausser and Rogers have won the last four domestic tournaments that they've entered and nine for the year. But No. 2 Mike Lambert-Stein Metzger, with four AVP wins this year, and No. 3 Jake Gibb-Sean Rosenthal, with two AVP wins, figure to make it interesting.
The main draw competition will commence at 8 a.m ET on Friday and continue on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. The men's final will take place Saturday night at 8 p.m. and the women's final is set for Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Kiraly's big finale a dud
BY JASON WILLIAMS | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
For those fans who expected to see the world's most popular volleyball player don his trademark pink Speedo hat and compete in his final career tournament this weekend in the AVP Cincinnati Open, you will be disappointed.
Karch Kiraly said Thursday that a leg injury will force him to miss playing in this weekend's tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Kiraly, however, will attend the tournament, working as a television analyst and event promoter. He will be honored during a ceremony Saturday night.
As the oldest player on the AVP Tour, Kiraly, 46, certainly isn't taking early retirement by not playing this weekend. The three-time Olympic gold medalist has had to retire earlier than he had planned because of a strained left calf muscle, which has kept him out of the past three tournaments. The four-day Cincinnati Open, which began Thursday, was to be his last AVP tournament as a player.
The calf hasn't healed quickly enough to allow him to get ready, said Kiraly, who last played in early July.
Tournament director Mario Cicchinelli said Thursday that he knew in advance Kiraly was not going to play in the event but did not publicize that fact. Cicchinelli told The Enquirer on Wednesday that advance ticket sales were through the roof and had far exceeded the first two years of the event.
Cicchinelli said he is not concerned about ticket sales being stunted because of Kiraly's absence on the sand.
"The fact that he's going to be around all weekend will be better, because people will get a chance to talk to him and get autographs," Cicchinelli said. "He will be active with the fans."
The main draw begins today, with the men's final Saturday night and the women's final Sunday afternoon.

Duo standing tall in the sand
Olympic champs open play today
By Adam Kiefaber
Post contributor
Beach volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh head into this weekend's AVP Cincinnati Open atop the Crocs Cup standings and look to continue their journey to becoming one of the greatest sports teams of all time.
The 2004 Olympic champions take the sand today at 12:30 p.m. on their quest to repeat both their Crocs Cup, which is in its second year of existence, and their Cincinnati Open titles. The defending champs will square off against the winner of an earlier match between Janelle Ruen/Saralyn Smith and Jenelle Koester/Stacy Rouwenhorst.
"This is the last AVP tour event and the Crocs Cup has been something that we have been working all year for," Walsh said. "It is important for us to finish the season on a high note. Anything less than a win in the Cincinnati Open and we would be pretty disappointed."
Walsh was a member of the United States indoor volleyball team in the 2000 Olympics (finished fourth), while May-Treanor teamed up with legendary player Holly McPeak in beach volleyball (finished fifth). After the Olympics were over, "our parents got to talking and thought it would be great if us girls got together and have a tryout to see if we were any good," Walsh said.
At the time, Walsh was 22 and had only played indoor volleyball since she got her start at age 10.
"It was very humbling because you feel like you come from a pretty decent place in indoor, but when I got on the beach I was terrible," Walsh said. "My timing was off and my skills were definitely not nearly as sharp. So there were some growing pains, but it was all absolutely worth it."
May-Treanor had already made a name for herself on the international beach volleyball circuit and didn't think her new partner's transition to the beach was as difficult as Walsh would have you believe.
"Everybody struggles on the transition to the beach; Kerri might think she struggled, but she really didn't," May-Treanor said. "Don't let her fool you. A lot of people give up on beach volleyball because they think that they'll be the same player the first day they start. No one is good the first day they start anything - it takes time - and I think timing is the biggest issue."
Ever since, the team has been one of the most dominating in all of sports. The duo has entered in a total of 59 AVP Tour events and won an impressive 49 of them. Overall, May-Treanor/Walsh have won more tournaments (79) and earned more money ($2,628,415) than any other team in women's team beach volleyball history. In comparison, Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil are second in all-time title wins (33) on the women's side of the sport and played in 122 total tournaments, while May-Treanor and Walsh played in only 114.
"I can't think of any weaknesses. They are the most effective hitters on the women's side of the AVP Tour," volleyball legend Karch Kiraly said. "They're clearly the best two players to ever play the game and the best team to ever play the game."
CLOSE ENCOUNTER - The loudest cheers during the AVP's qualification tournament Thursday came when a local team had an improbable run and almost qualified to compete in the main draw, which begins today.
Jeni Case, 35, who coaches at Ursuline Academy in Blue Ash, teamed up with Kristen Rust, who attended McAuley High School. When Rust, who graduated from Florida State University in December, was younger she was coached by Case in club ball.
Playing in only their second AVP qualifier, Case and Rust entered the tournament as the 23rd seed and notched their first AVP qualifier win when they defeated the 10th-seeded Bonnie Levin/Kirstin Olsen, 21-16, 21-19. Then the crowd grew and their fans roared when the duo upset the seventh-seeded team, Paige Davis and Kim McGiven, 23-21, 24-22.
Case/Rust needed only one more win to advance to the main draw, but they lost to Tiffany Rodriguez and Chrissie Zartman (second seed), 12-21, 15-21.

Cicchinelli helps AVP make mark
Misty May-Treanor chips in to touch Special Olympians
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Mario Cicchinelli is a man on the move this weekend. With walkie-talkie firmly in hand, he makes his rounds at the AVP Cincinnati Open, doing all he can to make sure volleyball fans in the southern Ohio area fully enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the last regular-season event on the AVP Crocs Tour.
Cicchinelli, who promotes both the Cincinnati and Louisville events, considers it an honor that the AVP regular season cast is bringing down the curtain in Cincinnati. From Cicchinelli's perspective, this year's finale will indeed be a grand finale.
"We like having the season-ending championship here," said Cicchinelli. "There's the whole Crocs Cup feeling to it. It's a special event. They call Manhattan Beach the Super Bowl. But I think Manhattan Beach might be the playoffs and Cincinnati might be the Super Bowl."
Cicchinelli, the director of Reach Event Marketing and Hacks Sports, is in his third year of involvement with the Cincinnati stop. Each year, new ideas and new activities have translated into increasing enrichment of the event.
"I'm a firm believer, being in marketing for as long as I have, that it takes about three years to really get an event where you want it," Cicchinelli said. "Over the last three years, we've developed a number of firsts. We were the first promoter for the AVP. We basically developed a model along with the AVP, and it's now used in nine of the 18 stops."
Through the years, the creativity of Cicchinelli's group has resulted in such wrinkles as colored sand logos for the sponsors. The marketing and public relations campaign, which includes ideas from the players that Cicchinelli has come to know, has helped get into the grass roots areas with young children, high schools and colleges.
"This year, I think we're going to witness record crowds," Cicchinelli said. "Our advance ticket sales are the highest in our three years. With the great weather we're expecting and the honoring of Karch Kiraly on Saturday night, it's going to be a great weekend of volleyball activities."
The first 2,000 fans through the gates on Saturday will receive a Kiraly bobblehead. There will also be on-court ceremonial items for distribution. After the Kiraly presentation, the AVP will go live on My Network TV for the first time ever for a men's final under the lights.
"We've brought in a couple of different sponsors this year in Pringles and Kroger," Cicchinelli said. "That has all added to the ambience and what fans expect to see at the Cincinnati AVP event."
Before the women's final this year, there will be an event called "Volleyballooza", where two men's teams from Columbus and Cincinnati will "dress a little crazy and get a little wild" as they compete for Ohio bragging rights.
"Next year, we expect it to grow from 10 to 20 teams," Cicchinelli said.
The marketing activities in Cincinnati this year have included two of the Tour's major stars, with Kiraly and Misty May-Treanor front and center.
On Friday, May-Treanor hosted 150 Special Olympics athletes for an afternoon of lunch and volleyball. While hosting the Louisville event this year, Cicchinelli had talked with May-Treanor, and she expressed interest in being involved with a Special Olympics outing in Cincinnati.
"She had done some work with them in the past through her foundation and asked if I would connect her with the right people and put together a program," Cicchinelli said.
May-Treanor purchased tickets for the Special Olympics kids and bought them shirts. Food and beverages were provided.
"We saw a lot of smiles," Cicchinelli said. "Misty did an awesome job. She brought her gold medal. She signed an event card for each of them in her hotel last night, which was over 200 cards. She answered questioned, took pictures. They were her guests."
The Special Olympics group was on hand to see May-Treanor's early afternoon match. When the match was over, May-Treanor met with some of the Special Olympians to take more pictures and say good-bye to the group.
"They are very inspirational to me," May-Treanor said of the Special Olympians. "Not everyone goes out there and wins, but they have the best time participating. It's just so special to see the smiles on their faces. You can't ask for more positive energy. They don't let anyone tell them they can't do something."
Cicchinelli also arranged for Kiraly to do a Cincinnati media blitz on Thursday.
"Karch really had Cincinnati marked as his last stop to play," Cicchinelli said. "He felt terrible he wasn't going to be able to play here."
Kiraly's calf injury doesn't prevent him from talking, and he committed to a full day of interviews with radio stations, television stations and newspapers in the Cincinnati area.
"They started at 8 a.m. on Thursday and I don't think they stopped until about 9 p.m.," Cicchinelli said. "He's a true ambassador for what the sport represents."
Whether it's putting the stars in the right places or finding new bells and whistles for the tournament experience, Cicchinelli has made AVP officials smile about what's in store for them at the Cincinnati stop.
Is Cincinnati really the Super Bowl of the AVP season? Cicchinelli and Co., are doing all they can to make that connection.

Akers-Hanson ready for repeat
No. 3 seed hopes to duplicate Chicago performance
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — The last time Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson were in this position, they heard opportunity knocking and made the most of it. Take a few elite teams out of the AVP mix and the Akers-Hanson combo isn't far removed from the spotlight.
Akers and Hanson are basically trying to repeat in Cincinnati what they did in Chicago a few weeks back. When the Chicago field was missing some top-ranked units looking to bolster Olympic hopes overseas, Akers and Hanson soared to a date in the finals against Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis.
Playing in the finals at Chicago was such a joy ride that Akers and Hanson are hungry to do it again. This time, the teams of Jennifer Boss-April Ross, Nicole Branagh-Elaine Youngs and Tyra Turner-Rachel Wacholder are on overseas duty, which has boosted Akers and Hanson to a No. 3 seed. Although the marquee team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh is in Cincinnati and Johnson Jordan and Davis are looking for a second title this year, Akers and Hanson like their chances of doing as well or better than they did in Chicago.
The Akers-Hanson unit looked strong on Friday while churning their way to a 21-13, 21-10 triumph over No. 19 Chara Harris-Brooke Langston in just 34 minutes. The road gets rougher on Saturday, but Akers feels her team is up to the challenge.
"With three of our top teams gone, this is another weekend for the teams here to go for it," Akers said.
Akers, a Midwestern girl who went on to Notre Dame, loves participating in this part of the country. She doesn't have quite as big of a rooting section as she had in Chicago, but there will still be plenty of vocal support from family and a few friends.
When Akers and Hanson reached the Chicago finals, went through the fanfare of the introductions before a packed house and felt the presence of those national television cameras, it was proof they had arrived as legitimate title contenders.
"Chicago was just so much fun," Akers said. "Actually, it really started for us in Brazil at the Pan American Games when we played before big crowds at the stadium there. That helped calm the nerves quite a bit going into Chicago. All those situations have prepared us for going forward. It has given us confidence and we're having so much fun."
Akers has fully recovered from a back injury which kept her out of the Boston event. She returned last week in New York and teamed with Hanson for a fifth-place finish and an $8,500 check. The Akers-Hanson team has finished fifth on four occasions, in addition to the second in Chicago.
The highest six seeds all lived up to form on Friday. May-Treanor and Walsh were dominant in a 21-7, 21-8 triumph over No. 17 Janelle Ruen and Saralyn Smith. Johnson Jordan and Davis had a much harder time, but got past No. 15 Keao Burdine and Brittany Hochevar 21-19, 21-18. Dianne DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana, seeded fourth, took down No. 13 Alicia Polzin and Jennifer Snyder 21-15, 21-14 while No. 5 Carrie Dodd-Tatiana Minello defeated No. 12 Michelle More-Suzanne Stonebarger 21-19, 21-16.
Nancy Mason and Logan Tom, seeded sixth, got past No. 11 Ashley Ivy and Heather Lowe, 21-18, 21-7.
The No. 7 and No. 8 seeds were bounced out of the winner's bracket, as No. 10 Jennifer Fopma-Holly McPeak defeated No. 7 Paula Roca and Sarah Straton, 21-14, 22-20, and No. 9 Jenny Kropp-Jenny Pavley defeated No. 8 Angela Lewis-Priscilla Lima, 17-21, 21-8, 15-6.

For Fonoi, it's not just chump change
Vet plans to come back to earn three more dollars
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Three lousy bucks.
Some wadded up bills in the back pocket. A wash and dry at the Laundromat. A gallon of milk.
Three lousy notes that would seem so routine in the accounting ledger of a professional athlete but a trifecta that will not yet be cashed and will remain the hurdle that is preventing Eric Fonoimoana from becoming a million-dollar man.
"It's inevitable," Fonoimoana said. "I have to come back."
This wasn't how Fonoimoana drew up his retirement plans.
It was supposed to be a fitting end to a fine career, capped in the final tournament of the regular season. All he and partner Kevin Wong had to do was advance as far as ninth place in the Cincinnati Open on Friday, and his career earnings would have eclipsed the $1 million mark.
Instead he gets to spend all winter and be reminded of a figure that reads $999,997 after a 13th-place finish following a contender's bracket loss to Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis.
"I have to get it; that's a no-brainer," Fonoimoana said. "I'll play in one and that's it."
Honest, honey.
But Fonoimoana will not have to convince wife Eliza that he's ready to quit. He's accomplished what he set out to do in a sport that he grew to love as a kid on the beaches of Southern California.
A Manhattan Beach native, Fonoimoana won 15 times on tour including twice in his hometown, in 2002 with Dax Holdren and the following year with Wong. He was named MVP of the AVP in 2002, a season that saw him win four times and reach a total of six finals.
But his crowning achievement was the gold medal he won at the 2000 Olympic Summer Games with Dain Blanton, who gave his former partner high marks.
"He's a great partner. He had real high standards," Blanton said. "The highest standards from a partner that I've ever played with and that is why I think we were so successful. We never had to worry about each other in terms of level of play and training."
As it is with all athletes, time catches up and Fonoimoana at 38 has been unable to turn back the clock. The last three years have been more pain than pleasure as he's been forced to endure four surgeries, two on his right knee, one on his left and another on his right shoulder.
But aside from the physical toll, Fonoimoana has developed other interests and is ready to draw paychecks from places other than the sand.
He's a licensed real estate agent and works for South Bay Brokers. He said he'll play in local events but is anxious to begin the next phase.
"I have other things going on in my life right now," Fonoimoana said. "Volleyball has given me a lot of opportunities, and now it's time to transition into doing real estate."
Fonoimoana said he leaves without any regrets, except possibly the small issue of a million dollars. He'd like to get it out of the way as quickly as possible, maybe the first event next year. As for a partner, he wasn't sure.
"Whoever will have me," Fonoimoana said.
They'll be lined up at the door with dollars in hand.
'Bout the Benjamins: Chris Seiffert and Jeff Carlucci have had a nice run to finish the season, despite playing in just five tournaments.
They advanced out of the qualifier in four events and earned an automatic berth in the main draw in another, which means they've put themselves in a strong position to be regulars in the main draw next year.
"It's huge," Carlucci said. "There is no way to place a value on it."
Carlucci played with Adam Roberts, Ran Kumgisky, Dane Jensen and Tyler Hildebrand this season but didn't find a rhythm until hooking up with Seiffert. Now the partnership will have to wait while Seiffert heads overseas.
Both would like to hit the ground running at the beginning of the 2008 AVP season but Seiffert will be playing indoors in Turkey and won't return stateside until May. Seiffert is a setter and said the opportunity is worth it.
"The money is pretty good," Seiffert said. "I can do better over there than I can here."
Carlucci and Seiffert finished 17th here.

Lambert has goals to accomplish
Two wins clinch Crocs Cup for Dalhausser, Rogers
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Mike Lambert would like to be playing for the Crocs Cup, but he's motivated to hold onto the second position.
By winning two matches and assuring themselves of at least a fifth-place finish, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser have secured their grip on the season-ending trophy as have Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who won the title before even playing a match this weekend as the other top women's teams are playing in Russia.
Remaining at stake, though, is the title at the Cincinnati Open and a much-coveted bye at next week's Gods and Goddesses of the Beach in Las Vegas.
So Lambert and partner Stein Metzger have adjusted their goals slightly and used a pair of straight-set victories Friday to stay alive in the winner's bracket and a shot at their fifth title on the AVP Crocs Tour this season.
Brad Keenan-John Hyden and Sean Rosenthal-Jake Gibb also advanced as all four top men's seeds remain in the winner's side of the bracket.
"I wish we were in contention for [the Crocs Cup], because this is such a big event — triple points. But they've earned it. They've won nine tournaments; they're the best team on tour right now," Lambert said, referring to Dalhausser and Rogers. "I just tip my hat to them and make sure that we finish second [in the standings] because Jake and Rosie are still in a battle for that spot."
Lambert will get his shot to tip the balance as he and Metzger will face Rosenthal and Gibb in their Saturday match at noon, with Rogers and Dalhausser facing Keenan and Hyden for berths in the semifinals.
"I came into the season wanting to win five tournaments as a realistic goal. Of course I want to win more. Right now, we're at four, so this is one of our last chances to cap it off," Lambert said.
Currently, Dalhausser, Rogers, Lambert and Metzger are in line for first-round byes next weekend in Las Vegas, where the top 12 individual players are awarded berths.
Also on Friday, Rosenthal and Gibb upended Adam Jewell and Jose Loiola in straight sets before needing three games to get past Dax Holdren and Sean Scott. Rosenthal has been playing with a left ankle strain and said he has about 85 percent mobility. He opted against getting an MRI.
Holdren and Scott earlier defeated Matt Olson and Brent Doble, 22-24, 21-17, 28-26 in 1:31, the longest match this season.
"I'm not jumping quite as much, but maybe that is a good thing," Rosenthal said. "It could be a blessing in the long run. But right now I've got to get through it and keep finding ways to win."
From second to 17th was the fall for Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong, who couldn't recapture the magic they displayed last week in reaching the final of the Brooklyn Open.
In their early morning match, Wachtfogel and Wong eased past qualifiers Braidy Halverson and Dane Jensen, 21-17, 21-18, but then lost a tough, three-game match to Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer, 21-14, 19-21, 19-17, to fall into the contender's bracket where they were eliminated by Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis.
That loss bumped Wachtfogel and Wong out of contention for the Best of the Beach tournament in San Francisco in two weeks. Loomis and Stolfus enjoyed their spoiler role and played it a second time by taking out Eric Fonoimoana and Kevin Wong.
The loss prevented Fonoimoana from eclipsing the million-dollar mark in career earnings by a mere three dollars. A donation cup was set out in the player's tent in jest.
"I don't feel I'm leaving something behind except the million-dollar mark," said Fonoimoana, who is retiring but said he will play in one last tournament next season to get over the earnings mark.
Dalhausser and Rogers remained in line for their 10th title of the year and started the day by dropping Fonoimoana and Wong into the contender's bracket with a 21-14, 21-14 victory. The top men's team was then extended by Jennings and Fuerbringer to three games before prevailing, 16-21, 21-18, 15-9, to advance.
Hyden and Keenan needed a 21-15, 16-21, 15-13 victory to upend Jeff Nygaard and Jason Ring before using a 21-12, 21-19 victory over Anthony Medel and Fred Souza to advance.
Qualifiers Vincent Robbins and Adam Roberts dropped their contender's bracket match to John Mayer and Matt Prosser but the 13th-place finish is a career high for Robbins.
Russ Marchewka and Mike Placek, another Thursday qualifier, also placed 13th, marking career highs for both players.

Men to decide champion Saturday
Top teams in both draws move through
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Misty May-Treanor isn't taking anything for granted as she and partner Kerri Walsh bid for a 12th title on the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour.
Although three of their primary competitors are playing overseas this weekend, May-Treanor and Walsh know there are several ambitious teams looking to leave one final mark during the regular season.
Friday's highlights: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser clinched the Crocs Cup by assuring themselves at least a fifth-place finish as the top four men's seeds all advanced. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have clinched the women's Crocs Cup. They had an easy time Friday, playing in just one match, as did No. 2 Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan.
Match of the day: No. 6 Dax Holdren and Sean Scott outlasted No. 11 Brent Doble and Matt Olson, 22-24, 21-17, 28-26, in 1:31, the longest match of the year.
Upset of the day: Qualifiers Russ Marchewka and Mike Placek shocked No. 10 Ty Loomis and Hans Stolfus, 21-17, 21-19.
Start/finish: Gates will open at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday with competition beginning at 9:30 a.m. and concluding at approximately 4:30 p.m. Gates will open for the night session at 5:30 p.m. with play beginning at 6:00. The men's final is set for 8:00 p.m. ET.
Weather forecast: A high of 83 degrees under sunny skies is expected Saturday, and the UV index is a "very high" rating of eight (be sure to bring sunscreen). Temperatures are expected to drop to 71 by 9:00 p.m. with chances of rain estimated at a mere 10 percent and winds out of the northeast at 12 mph.
Match to watch: No. 2 Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger will face No. 3 Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb in a winner's bracket semi.
"It definitely opens up some spots, and there are some really good teams here," May-Treanor said. "Just because some of the teams are playing overseas, it doesn't mean there's not a strong field here. There's pressure on Kerri and I every time we play. We know we have to step up and play 100 percent. We have to be playing our game every time we step out on the court."
With Jennifer Boss-April Ross, Nicole Branagh-Elaine Youngs and Tyra Turner-Rachel Wacholder looking to bolster their Olympic hopes by playing in Russia this weekend, the odds increase that May-Treanor and Walsh could face a team deep in the tournament that won't have much experience in that environment. But May-Treanor and Walsh figure they are going to face some excited opponents looking to make that bold step.
"It's going to be interesting," May-Treanor said. "As the seeds change a little bit, you're going to see different teams in different situations."
May-Treanor and Walsh will get back to work on Saturday against No. 9 Jenny Kropp and Jenny Pavley. The Kropp-Pavley unit scored a mild upset on Friday when they dropped No. 8 Angela Lewis-Priscilla Lima.
No. 2 Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis are trying to win their second title of the season and their first in a field that includes May-Treanor and Walsh. Johnson Jordan and Davis begin winner's bracket play on Saturday against No. 10 Jennifer Fopma-Holly McPeak, who upset No. 7 Paula Roca-Sarah Straton.
No. 3 Angie Akers-Brooke Hanson, No. 4 Dianne DeNecochea-Barbra Fontana, No. 5 Carrie Dodd-Tatiana Minello and No. 6 Nancy Mason-Logan Tom all held their ground on Friday and will begin play on Saturday looking to avoid falling into the contender's bracket.
On the men's side, the "Big Three" will barrel into Saturday's play with plenty of force. Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers are trying to win the fifth consecutive domestic tournament that they've entered. But there's stern competition from No. 2 Mike Lambert-Stein Metzger and No. 3 Jake Gibb-Sean Rosenthal.
The men's final is scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The women's final will take place Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Kiraly reaches end of line
BY JASON WILLIAMS | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
Karch Kiraly spent most of his career on the beach playing a niche sport.
Perhaps that is why the world's most popular volleyball player rarely is mentioned among America's all-time greatest athletes.
But to those who know and follow Kiraly, he has placed himself among the elite by being consistently great over a long period of time.
And the time has come for the man referred to as the Michael Jordan of volleyball finally to be able to relax on the beach.
Although Kiraly last played in a tournament in early July, this weekend's AVP Tour regular season-ending Cincinnati Open officially marks the end of his 28-year professional playing career. Kiraly, 46, who has missed the last four tournaments because of a leg injury, will be honored in a ceremony tonight at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
No one has mastered the sport like Kiraly, whose three Olympic gold medals, 148 tournament victories and $3.2 million career prize earnings are all second to none.
But to some, the Southern Californian is better known as the guy who wears the bright pink Speedo hat while playing.
"I think if Karch were a football, baseball or basketball star, he'd be considered one of the greatest athletes who ever lived," said Chris Marlowe, who teamed with Kiraly on the U.S. gold-medal-winning indoor team in the 1984 Olympics. "I compare him more to a guy like Lance Armstrong. In his own world, he's the greatest ever."
Kiraly is one of the oldest players ever to play on the AVP Tour. He last won a tournament in 2005, but it's not as if he's been hanging on to a career that has passed him by. After all, Kiraly, along with partner Kevin Wong, reached the final of the Tampa Open in early June.
Kiraly said he never made drastic changes in his training regimen or diet in his career. The only big change he made came in his mid-30s when he began taking fewer days off during his offseason training program. Save for the graying hair and some facial wrinkles, Kiraly doesn't look much different than he did two decades ago.
"I'm very proud of how I've been able to compete throughout my 40s," Kiraly said. "It's not easy, because this isn't golf. You have to be able to explode and get up out of the sand and have great endurance and play multiple matches per day and play against a bunch of guys who are younger, jump higher and hit harder."
Others are simply amazed by how well Kiraly has competed in recent years.
"I think 35 is generally considered over-the-hill in volleyball," said Doug Beal, chief executive officer of USA Volleyball and coach of the 1984 Olympic team. "It's a pretty tough sport. You're out in the sun all day long, and that's debilitating, too. Karch is one of a kind."
Kiraly figures he got 20 bonus years of playing. After the 1984 Olympics, the four-time All-American at UCLA planned on playing a few years before heading off to medical school. A decade and two gold medals later, Kiraly pondered retirement after undergoing shoulder surgery following the 1996 Olympics.
But he still had the drive to play. It is a drive that his father, Dr. Laszlo Kiraly, helped instill in him. Karch was 6 the first time he and his dad hit a volleyball on the beach. Karch remembers not seeing his father during the week because Laszlo was working long hours. They played on the weekends, and Karch quickly adopted his father's mantra: If you're going to do something, be great at it.
Beal noticed Karch's hard-driving and demanding approach during Olympic practices.
"I have this picture in my mind of him beating himself up over and over and over again," Beal said.
Marlowe, the captain of the 1984 Olympic team, compares Kiraly's work ethic to Jordan's.
"Karch was never satisfied to be the best," said Marlowe, a volleyball analyst for NBC and television play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Denver Nuggets. "He wanted to be the best by a long shot. So it's no surprise Kiraly hungers to be the best at his post-playing endeavors."
Kiraly, who lives in San Clemente, Calif., is a co-coach of the St. Margaret's Episcopal High School team, for which his sons, Kristian and Kory, play.
Kiraly has been spending a lot of time reading about coaching techniques, calling college coaches and visiting practices. He wants to learn from the best coaches, regardless of the sport. He said Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has given him permission to visit some of the Blue Devils' practices this fall.
"Just as I did as a player, I'm doing as a coach - trying to immerse myself in it," said Kiraly, also an analyst for NBC and Fox Sports Net. "I'm as busy as I've been in a long, long time."

Fonoimoana short by $3
BY JASON WILLIAMS | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
MASON - Olympic gold medalist Eric Fonoimoana planned to retire as a millionaire after this weekend's Cincinnati Open. He came up $3 short.
Fonoimoana's career prize earnings on the AVP Tour now stand at $999,997.
So much for the retirement plan.
After being eliminated during the tour's season-ending tournament Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, Fonoimoana said he plans to play in one more event in 2008 to reach $1 million in career prize money.
"I have to get it," said Fonoimoana, the Californian who won gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. "That's a no-brainer. I'll play in one (tournament), and that's it."
Fonoimoana, 38, needed to finish no worse than ninth place this weekend to reach $1 million in career earnings. Instead, he and teammate Kevin Wong finished 13th.
NO STARS AT NIGHT: A quirky schedule meant the stars of the tour were long gone by the time the tournament's first main session began Friday night.
The top-seeded women's team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh and the No. 1 men's team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers each played victorious daytime matches.
Tour officials said Friday was the first time all season in which a night session did not feature at least one of the top-seeded teams. Several factors contributed to that, including the number of courts, television and the amount of teams in the draw.
With six courts, the Cincinnati Open is one of the smallest venues on the tour.
"Just so you know, it's nothing intentional to the people of Cincinnati," said Doug Strauss, a tour official.
May-Treanor and Walsh are scheduled to play No. 9 Jenny Kropp and Jenny Pavley at 9:30 a.m. today.
Dalhausser and Rogers are slated to face fourth-seeded John Hyden and Brad Keenan at noon.
NO WORRIES: Superstar Karch Kiraly has received two rocking chairs as retirement gifts during his farewell tour this year.
Kiraly jokingly said two is enough. Nevertheless, he doesn't have to worry about receiving a third during his final honorary tour ceremony tonight.
Tournament director Mario Cicchinelli said a rocking chair isn't among the gifts the Cincinnati Open plans to give Kiraly, 46, the oldest player on the AVP Tour.
Kiraly received rocking chairs from tournaments in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and Boston last month. In Boston, the chair was pink (in honor of his trademark pink Speedo hat). He autographed the chair, and it was taken to the volleyball hall of fame in Holyoke, Mass. Kiraly said he has no idea where the other chair is.
"I don't plan on having any time to do any rocking," Kiraly said.

Polzin looking for more stability
35-year-old played with six different partners in 2007
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — In the world of pro beach volleyball, variety isn't necessarily the spice of life.
Consider the case of Alicia Polzin, who finished her 2007 AVP Crocs Tour season on Saturday alongside Jennifer Snyder, her sixth partner of the year. It practically takes a roll call to identify all of Polzin's partners since Week 1 in Miami. As the curtain falls on '07 and Polzin turns her attention to 2008, she'll be looking for more stability and continuity, which could in turn spring Polzin and Co., to new heights next spring and summer.
"It was a strange season with six partners," Polzin said after bowing out of the AVP Cincinnati Open with a 13th-place finish. "It wasn't bad for having someone new almost every weekend. I'm hoping to stay with one partner next year and excel with that partner."
The first step for Polzin, who turns 36 on Sept. 6, is to make herself the best player she can be before the Crocs Tour resumes next March. After two to three weeks of rest, she'll get back in the gym for strength and cardio work.
"By the beginning of December, I'll be touching the ball again," Polzin said. "In mid-January, there will be some team stuff. There's really not an offseason. Maybe for some of the younger players, but for me, I have to stay in shape all year round."
Polzin's '07 highlight came in Chicago, where she paired up with Barbra Fontana and finished third, a career best. Polzin's strength level improved from '06 to '07 and that's a pattern that the 6-foot-3 Californian wants to continue. If everything falls into place with self-improvement and partner continuity, Polzin thinks 2008 could be a year in which she joins the top tier.
"You have to keep improving your skills and sometimes it's about being lucky," Polzin said. "Can you get a veteran player to play with you and pick you up? That helps a lot because you don't have to focus on what the opponent is doing on their side of the court. You can focus more on yourself and your team.
"It's hard for some of us, because when you're in that second tier of volleyball, a lot of people can't afford not to work. A big part of it is finding the sponsors who can help you train full time. You have to train full time to be a top-eight team and a top-16 player."
There were extenuating circumstances that led to Polzin's parade of partners.
Polzin played with Paula Roca, Jenny Pavley, Claire Robertson, Janelle Ruen, Fontana and Snyder this year.
Polzin and Roca started the season together, but didn't play as well as a team as they would have liked, prompting a split.
"It was mutual," Polzin said. "We're still friends."
Polzin paired next with Robertson before a Robertson wedding conflict resulted in a Polzin-Pavley pairing. Then it was back to Robertson before another wedding conflict sent Polzin on to Ruen. A subsequent pairing with Fontana turned out well with the third-place finish in Chicago. But then Fontana went back to Dianne DeNecochea and Polzin finished the year with Snyder.
"There's always room for growth," Polzin said. "The partner thing was hard because you have to change how you play with each partner, depending on their particular strengths. I think if I had been with one partner all year, it would have been a lot easier to get in a groove."
Polzin has specific goals, such as being in the top 10 and earning invitations to specialty events in Las Vegas and San Francisco. The fact that Polzin is now based in Los Angeles could work in her favor as she looks to find a regular partner.
"Most of the girls are in L.A., so I think that increases my options," Polzin said. "They've seen me play this year, see the potential and know that I'm able to play in L.A. full time."
By mid-January, Polzin expects to be talking with a handful of girls she would be interested in having as a partner.
If that process results in a long-term partnership, Polzin's 2008 Tour experience may not end with the last regular-season event.

Last two events' fields nearly set
Boss-Ross take silver in FIVB Russia
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — The AVP's version of the playoffs encompasses two tournaments, and the field is set for the postseason — on the men's side at least.
First up will be Gods and Goddesses of the Beach in Las Vegas, Sept. 6-8, with the top 12 individual players receiving invitations. The following weekend in San Francisco, Sept. 14-16, the top eight teams will receive berths into Best of the Beach.
There is no surprise in the top four seeds for Las Vegas with Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers (1,454 points apiece) and Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger (1,259 points each) getting the nods. The added bonus for these four players is a first-round bye in pool play.
"That means we will play three less games, which is nice," said Lambert, who assured himself a spot in the top four along with Metzger when they reached Saturday night's final.
The following eight men's seeds in Las Vegas are as follows: Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal (1,113 points each), John Hyden and Brad Keenan (1,089 points each), Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings (985 points each), Dax Holdren (951 points); and Anthony Medel and Fred Souza (941 points).
Ties between current team partners will be decided by coin flip to determine seeding order.
Dalhausser and Rogers lead the qualifiers for San Francisco with 2,830 points. They are followed by Lambert and Metzger (2,440), Gibb and Rosenthal (2,226), Hyden and Keenan (2,178), Medel and Souza (1,882), Fuerbringer and Jennings (1,846), Holdren and Sean Scott (1,716); and Nick Lucena and Mark Williams (1,638).
The bottom three seeds that qualified for San Francisco represents a strong push in the second half of the season as Fuerbringer and Jennings, Holdren and Scott, and Lucena and Williams all paired up after the tournament in Seaside Heights.
With point totals based on the best six finishes as a team over the course of the season, each of those teams amassed their total in the minimum six events.
"We only had six shots and that showed a good sign," Jennings said. "We went to work on some things, and individually we both knew what it would take to be a better team because we had plateaued when we were playing together, and that is why we split up."
Strong indicators: Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis were one of the surprise teams this season and finished on a strong note with a fifth-place here despite losing their first match of the tournament.
Gold medalists at this summer's Pan-Am Games, Stolfus and Loomis also finished fifth in Seaside Heights and reached the semifinals in Chicago. They followed that tournament with a pair of 13th-place finishes as wear and tear of a long season began to catch up with them. But Stolfus said they were encouraged over the last couple of weeks to build momentum into next year.
"This is a great way to end it. I'm pretty happy with this. The last couple of weeks we haven't been real crisp," Stolfus said. "I thought we played really well in Chicago and I thought we played really well in Seaside Heights. We kind of had a letdown."
Stolfus was paired with Scott Wong in the first five tournaments of the year before hooking up with Loomis in Atlanta. He said the tentative plan is to stick together for next year, but added, if there are offers to play with a big man, each of them will listen.
Precious metal: Jennifer Boss and April Ross lost in the final to Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, 23-21, 21-17, to win the silver medal at the FIVB Olympic qualifier in St. Petersburg, Russia. Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh defeated Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou of Greece, 21-14, 21-14, to win the bronze.

Triple J could see fall coming
No. 2 seed doesn't make it to Sunday
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Jenny Johnson Jordan didn't have a good feeling all weekend about the performance level that she and partner Annett Davis brought to the AVP Cincinnati Open.
Those nagging suspicions about subpar play, which began on Friday, were confirmed Saturday afternoon when the No. 2 seed took a double-barreled hit from No. 10 Jennifer Fopma-Holly McPeak and No. 6 Nancy Mason-Logan Tom. Just like that, it was two losses and out for Johnson Jordan and Davis, who won the Chicago Open roughly one month ago.
With three elite level teams on the AVP Tour playing in Russia this weekend, Johnson Jordan and Davis were expected to be part of the mix on Sunday. But a projected championship matchup against Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh melted in the Ohio sunshine as Johnson Jordan and Davis went down twice.
"We played well in our first game this morning, but, other than that, we just really struggled," Johnson Jordan said. "It's pretty unusual for us to play the way we did for so many consecutive games. There weren't a whole lot of 'ups' for us."
The plight of the Johnson Jordan-Davis team was symbolized against Fopma-McPeak when the second-seeded unit misfired on four consecutive serves.
"It's about making better choices and also a little bit about ball control, too," Johnson Jordan said. "That was the issue in the last game."
Johnson Jordan and Davis won their first game against Fopma-McPeak but then proceeded to drop four games in a row. Fopma-McPeak finished with 21-19 and 15-9 wins over the No. 2 seed before Mason and Tom took down Davis-Johnson Jordan, 21-14, 21-17.
Now the door is wide open for another aspiring contender to reach the championship match, presumably against May-Treanor and Walsh if the top line of the seedings should hold up.
Mason and Tom were happy to have earned a ticket to a Sunday morning match. They are trying to battle their way through the contender's bracket to the spotlight games.
"This was our best match of the day," Mason said after the triumph over Davis-Johnson Jordan. "We got real efficient. We took care of the ball when we had the chance."
Mason could sense that Johnson Jordan and Davis weren't on their "A" game.
"They didn't play their best, but they are still a great team," Mason said. "They were off a little bit, and we played well."
Now that they've given themselves a chance to compete on Sunday, Mason and Tom will simply empty their energy tank and see what happens. This marks just the third tournament in which Mason and Tom have played together.
"We're battling against teams that have been playing together all year," Mason said. "I feel like the pressure is on those other teams. Although we are considered a top-level team, we just started playing together. We're just trying to knock off teams and get to the finals."
Mason feels that she and Tom have done as well as could be expected, considering a lack of practice time.
"We had good chemistry from the start, but we just haven't practiced at all," Mason said. "So, everything we do is something we've learned in the game. Communication is great between us, but developing that court sense with your partner is hard when you haven't been able to practice."
May-Treanor and Walsh took care of business on Saturday evening against Barbra Fontana-Dianne DeNecochea while Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson reached their second semifinal this year by taking down McPeak-Fopma. The winners of those matches will wait for Fontana-DeNecochea, McPeak-Fopma, Mason-Tom and Keao Burdine-Brittany Hochevar to battle it out for the two other semifinal spots.

Dalhausser, Rogers win once more
Top team wins 10th title to cap open season
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser closed the regular season as they opened it.
They were simply better than the opposition.
Dalhausser was the immovable object to Rogers' irresistible force, and the men's top team turned out a crisp effort Saturday night in a 21-12, 24-22, straight-set victory over Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger to win the AVP Cincinnati Open and stake official claim to the Crocs Cup.
Gone was the occasional hesitant play of a week ago, caused in part by Rogers' sore back that nearly led to an upset at the hands of Aaron Wachtfogel and Scott Wong in the Brooklyn Open final.
Under the lights in primetime, Dalhausser and Rogers replaced it with cool efficiency down the stretch as Metzger and Lambert seized momentum in the second game and nearly took the match to a third.
That's when Dalhausser took over with a pair of big blocks at the end to seal their 10th title on the AVP Crocs Tour this season.
"Phil is just a scoring machine," Metzger said. "He blocked me a lot in the first game. I put myself in a different position in the second game, and he couldn't stop me until the very end he blocked me twice. It's pretty obvious, he was the difference."
Dalhausser had seven blocks and posted an .818 hitting percentage in the match.
"Somebody had to make a play and it just happened to be me," Dalhausser said.
The first game did not appear to the runaway it would until Dalhausser and Rogers extended a three-point lead to seven that was highlighted during one point when Dalhausser put up three straight blocks to forge a 17-11 lead.
Rogers later hit a cut shot down the line that had Metzger guessing the wrong way, and the No. 1 team rolled to put the first game in the books.
Metzger and Lambert changed their tactics in the second game and played more aggressively. They led by three early, but after Rogers hit a cut shot to pull within a point at 10-9, it became a sideout game. Rogers and Metzger were then served repeatedly as the match extended into overtime. Metzger forged two gamepoints, but they couldn't convert as Dalhausser scored and Rogers followed with a shot off Lambert's block to set up Dalhausser's two blocks that ended the match.
"We were both feeling it," said Lambert, who was playing with a dislocated left middle finger. "The crowd was behind us and I just needed one block or Steiny needed one ace or one dig. We needed to make one play, and we're really bummed out right now because we thought we were going to break free."
Last season, Lambert and Metzger were the tour's No. 1 team and Crocs Cup champions, and they followed it up this year with four victories but were clearly a runner-up.
"It was one of our major goals, that and winning the world championships," Rogers said of the Crocs title. "We won both, and it makes it all the sweeter because last year we lost the Crocs Cup by six points."
In earlier action, Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer reached their second semifinal in the last three events but were forced to play Dalhausser and Rogers for the second time in this tournament.
Dalhausser and Rogers rolled in the first match with Dalhausser controlling the net and Rogers running down every ball on their side of the net. Rogers scored the game-winner with a shot to the corner and a 21-10 score.
The second game was close through the early going and was tied 10-10 when the referee ruled that Jennings touched sand first on a dig. Jennings lost his cool and charged the referee stand and shook the net support as he argued the call. The call stood as Jennings was handed a yellow card.
Dalhausser and Rogers then opened a comfortable lead, and, despite Jennings gaining some satisfaction when he domed Dalhausser to trim the deficit to 19-16, it wasn't enough in an eventual 21-17 loss.
"You need every little play; you need a break here and there," Jennings said. "They just played consistently throughout and kept hitting good serves, and I didn't play so great."
Lambert and Metzger had little trouble in their semifinal match with John Hyden and Brad Keenan. Lambert and Metzger opened up a big lead early with Lambert putting up a block to go up, 10-3. From there they coasted to a 21-17 victory.
The second game was a repeat of the first, but Hyden and Keenan were never able to trim the deficit. Metzger finished the match with a shot off a Keenan block and a 21-12 win.
Hyden and Keenan had advanced to their sixth semifinal of the season by dispatching Hans Stolfus and Ty Loomis, 24-22, 21-17. Stolfus and Loomis finished the tournament in fifth place, and Stolfus said they dug an early hole by losing their first match and had to fight back through the contender's bracket.
"We played three more matches than they did. They were more fresh," Stolfus said. "But they do the right things. I thought we should have won the first set. We had swings; we had chances to win it."

Women's No. 2 team ousted
BY MARK SCHMETZER | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
MASON - Going into this year's AVP Cincinnati Open, the first- or second-seeded women's team had won each of the last 66 women's open tournaments, dating to 2001.
By mid-afternoon Saturday, it was up to the top-seeded team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to keep that streak alive. The No. 2 seeds, Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, had wrapped up a surprisingly disappointing day by suffering their second loss in the double-elimination tournament.
Davis and Johnson Jordan, who lost to Treanor and Walsh in the finals of last year's open, lost in three sets Saturday morning to the 10th-seeded team of Jennifer Fopma and Holly McPeak. They bounced back to win their first match in what the AVP calls the contender's bracket before being eliminated with a 21-14, 21-17 loss to sixth-seeded Nancy Mason and Logan Tom.
"We just didn't play very well this week," Johnson Jordan said. "We had a hard time playing consistently. It's disappointing, but it's only one event."
The losses won't cost the two the berths they've already clinched in the AVP's season-ending invitationals, Las Vegas' Gods and Goddesses of the Beach Thursday through Saturday and San Francisco Best of the Beach tournament Sept. 14-16.
KING KARCH: To the tune of Tom Petty's "It's Good to be King" - the first line of which is, "It's good to be king, just for a while" - Kirch Kiraly walked off the court for the final time as a player.
Even though a calf injury kept him from actually playing, the Cincinnati Open officially was the 46-year-old Kiraly's last event.
He was honored Saturday night before the men's championship match for a legacy that includes three Olympic gold medals, 148 tournament victories and $3.2 million in career earnings.
Kiraly received Reds and Bengals jerseys with his name on them, a proclamation from and the key to the city of Mason and a painting of him diving for a dig.
"This is all a little embarrassing," said Kiraly. "I'm very touched that you've made this such a special evening."
He then added: "I owe you a thank you and an apology. I wish I could have played one more time."

Winning not enough for Phil, Todd
No. 1 men's team steamrolls competition with 10 wins
By Mike Scarr / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — The goal for any player is to win, but that simply wasn't enough for Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.
At a minimum, the newly crowned Crocs Cup champions wanted to win multiple events this season, but in a three-prong approach to goal-setting, Rogers and Dalhausser set their ultimate sights on winning them all.
"You just can't look and say you're going to reach further. Even if the goal is not a realistic goal, you have to put it out there," Rogers said. "Like winning 16 events. Is that realistic? Probably not. But you have to set yourself there, because if you don't, are you happy with six? That's all you're probably going to get. For us, the more, the better."
And better they have been in 2007 by eclipsing their total of eight victories from last season with 10 and counting on the AVP Crocs Tour this year. They also collected another on the international FIVB circuit with the World Championship in Gstaad.
"We had three sets of goals," Dalhausser said. "One being around five wins, the other being around what we did last year and the third was basically dominating the tour. I think we finished in between the second goal and the third."
Dalhausser and Rogers raced out of the gate by winning five of the first six events of the year and claiming the $100,000 Cuervo Gold Crown bonus. They hit a low-point at midseason, and for them that meant reaching the semifinals.
They lost in consecutive semifinals — to Karch Kiraly and Kevin Wong in Tampa and then to Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb in Atlanta. Dalhausser and Rogers followed that with consecutive losses in AVP finals to Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert, in Charleston, S.C., and Seaside Heights, N.J.
A bronze medal in Berlin was followed by a victory at the Long Beach Open, though, and they finished July with a gold medal in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Back in the states, Rogers and Dalhausser finished the regular season by winning four straight titles and they're not done.
Both players have to be considered favorites 1 and 1A next weeked in Las Vegas for the Gods of the Beach, which features the top 12 players. When the top eight teams meet in San Francisco the following weekend, Dalhausser and Rogers will be the prohibitive favorites.
Beyond that, they'll return to Olympic qualifying where they are currently ranked 15th in the world and are the No. 1 U.S. men's team. The top two from each country will receive automatic berths into next summer's Olympic Games.
"It's been an amazing year," Rogers said. "We have two more AVP events left, but the next one only one of us can win. We still want to win in San Francisco and then it's back to the FIVB."
A good thing going: Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer put together a strong late-season run to get into the postseason.
After playing with different partners through the first 10 events of the regular season, they got back together and, facing the minimum six events to qualify, Fuerbringer and Jennings squeezed in with a second, a third and a fifth in their last three tournaments.
The two have played together for most of the last eight seasons and they're looking to keep it going for 2008.
"No question. He's playing well, I'm playing well. We're knocking on the door," Jennings said. "The grass isn't always greener; we've learned that real fast. But we had to [change partners earlier this year]. It was a necessity. We learned from it and we're getting better and better."
Cut shots: Lambert had a negative .142 hitting percentage in the men's final Saturday night with two kills and three hitting errors. ... In the second game, Rogers and Metzger turned the match into a sideout contest. Metzger was credited with 22 kills for the match to Rogers' 20.

Top team makes quick work in Cincy
Misty, Kerri win over crowd in 12th title win
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Another weekend, another title for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
Off the court, they are congenial ambassadors for the AVP Crocs Tour. On the court, they are relentless warriors with an insatiable thirst for victory. May-Treanor and Walsh made it 12 titles for the year and put an exclamation point beside their Crocs Cup trophy with Sunday's Cincinnati Open championship. May-Treanor and Walsh took out Barbra Fontana and Dianne DeNecochea, 21-17, 21-15, in the final to end the regular season with a flourish.
"I love playing with Misty," Walsh said. "We've come so far. We've grown from girls to women together. I feel like our partnership has grown every single year."
May-Treanor and Walsh have 80 wins together and 50 on the AVP Tour, including a combined 25 in the last two years. The numbers continue to grow and so does the aura surrounding the May-Treanor and Walsh team.
The Cincinnati crowd was behind May-Treanor and Walsh all the way, and the golden duo responded after a shaky start.
After being bounced out of the winner's bracket by May-Treanor and Walsh on Saturday, Fontana and DeNecochea battled back through the contender's bracket and had some serious momentum after knocking off Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson in the semifinals.
That momentum continued into the finals as Fontana and DeNecochea jumped to a 5-2 lead in game one. May-Treanor and Walsh called a quick timeout and then systematically fought their way back. Trailing 16-15, May-Treanor and Walsh finished with a 6-1 run to seal the game.
"We got off to a slow start," Walsh said. "We had played that team earlier, and it's always tough to beat a team twice in a tournament. We stayed steady even when we were down. We always know we can come back."
In addition to their 12 victories on the Crocs Tour, May-Treanor and Walsh have taken major strides toward qualifying for the Olympics this year with five FIVB victories. The wear-and-tear of a long season and a rigorous travel schedule may have taken something away from their overall game, but they are like a pitcher who can win even when he doesn't arrive at the ballpark with his best fastball.
"We're doing a lot of good things, but we aren't as crisp and sharp as we were about a month ago," Walsh said. "It's just that the season is so long and takes such a toll on your body."
In the second game, May-Treanor and Walsh had things much more under control from start to finish. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then held DeNecochea-Fontana at arm's length the rest of the way.
Both Walsh and May-Treanor had words for the crowd during the trophy presentation that prompted applause.
"Hopefully, next year we'll come back with a gold medal around our necks," Walsh said.
May-Treanor charmed the Ohio audience with a college football reference.
"Sorry, Michigan, you lost," May-Treanor said, referring to Ohio State's biggest rival falling to Appalachian State on Saturday.
May-Treanor showed her usual impeccable instincts with 14 digs in the final. She passed Holly McPeak on the list of career domestic victories, reeling in her 54th win on an American tour. The all-time leader, Karolyn Kirby, won 61 times domestically.
"It's very difficult to stay at the top because teams are getting better," May-Treanor said. "We find ways to improve, and that's what makes it fun. You show up for work every day knowing we can always fix something."
For Fontana and DeNecochea, there was solace in knowing that they were unbeaten against all teams in Cincinnati except May-Treanor and Walsh.
"We are playing good volleyball," Fontana said. "We wanted to take the whole thing, but Misty and Kerri really turned it on at the end of game one. They are truly a great team when they get into a groove."

New partnerships will mesh in Vegas
Players will have to quickly adapt to advance
By Robert Falkoff / avp.com
MASON, Ohio — Dianne DeNecochea cut it close, but she has made the field for this week's Gods and Goddesses of the Beach event in Las Vegas.
By virtue of finishing second on Sunday in the Cincinnati Open, DeNecochea squeezed into the 12th spot. The women's field will include Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Nicole Branagh, Elaine Youngs, Tyra Turner, Rachel Wacholder, Annett Davis, Jenny Johnson Jordan, Barbra Fontana, Jennifer Boss, April Ross and DeNecochea. Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson are tied for the 13th spot, which qualifies as the alternate.
The men's field for Vegas includes Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Mike Lambert, Stein Metzger, Jake Gibb, Sean Rosenthal, John Hyden, Brad Keenan, Matt Fuerbringer, Casey Jennings, Dax Holden, Anthony Medel and Fred Souza. The 12th spot and alternate position are still to be determined in a tie-breaking procedure involving Medel and Souza.
DeNecochea expects plenty of great volleyball in Las Vegas as the top talent on Tour breaks away from the traditional partnerships and adjusts to different teams and matchups.
"It's a really fun tournament," DeNecochea said. "You just play free and have fun."
The intrigue in Las Vegas will be mixing strengths and communication skills with a variety of partners.
"You have to figure out quick how you're going to work together," DeNecochea said. "You don't practice at all, really. You just have a couple of minutes to figure it all out. The players in the tournament are playing at such a high level that they can usually mesh together pretty quickly."
Walsh will find it somewhat strange playing matches without May-Treanor but is looking forward to the event.
"The format is great," Walsh said. "The regular season is over and everybody is carefree. But everyone wants to win out there, too. I would much rather play with Misty any day of the week because she is such an amazing partner. But as far as refreshing the mind and body, it's fun to get out there and play a little bit lightheartedly."
The top four players are guaranteed the top four spots, which means a bye in the first round of pool play. On the women's side, that group includes May-Treanor, Walsh, Branagh and Youngs. On the men's side, the top four are Dalhausser, Rogers, Lambert and Metzger.

May-Treanor and Walsh do it again
Article Launched: 09/02/2007 10:25:37 PM PDT
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women's title and the prestigious Crocs Cup at the 2007 AVP Crocs Tour Pringles Smart Flavors Cincinnati Open on Sunday in front of a full-house at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
May-Treanor and Walsh, seeded No. 1, defeated the fourth-seeded tandem of Dianne DeNecochea and Barb Fontana 21-17, 21-15 in the championship final. With the win, May-Treanor and Walsh finish the regular season with 12 tournament titles, the most on the women's side of the Tour. It is the second consecutive Crocs Cup for May-Treanor and Walsh, who also won the trophy in 2006.
"This is a great way to end the season," said May-Treanor after the win.
"Hopefully next year we'll be back here with another gold medal around our necks," Walsh said. Together, May-Treanor and Walsh have won 50 AVP titles.
May-Treanor and Walsh finished first in the 2007 Crocs Cup standings with 7,038 points; Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs finished second with 5,238 points

Top seeds remain unstoppable
May-Treanor and Walsh earn 50th AVP Tour title
BY MARK SCHMETZER | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
Dianne DeNecochea didn't seem the least bit disturbed when talking Sunday afternoon about the team which she and Barbra Fontana had just lost to in the Cincinnati Open women's finals.
The top-seeded team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh had wrapped up their romp through the tournament with a 21-17, 21-15, 45-minute win over their fourth-seeded opponents for a second consecutive Cincinnati championship. They beat DeNecochea/Fontana twice in two days to remain undefeated in nine matches between the two teams.
"They're playing the best I've ever seen them," DeNecochea said.
Walsh didn't agree, even though she and May-Treanor didn't lose a game in the tournament and had completed their best-of-three matches in an average of 37.75 minutes going into the finals.
"That's nice of her to say, but I feel like we had an ugly tournament," Walsh said. "I don't think we're as crisp and sharp as we were a month ago. It's a long season, and it takes a toll on your body."
May-Treanor/Walsh earned $20,000 for winning their 12th tournament on the 15-event AVP Crocs Tour.
They had clinched the women's version of the Crocs Cup before the final, which gave them 50 wins in 59 events since they became a team.
"Kerri and I set goals, and in order to meet those goals, you have to see progress," May-Treanor said. "Kerri and I work very hard. For us to stay at the top is very difficult because teams are getting better. We find ways to improve. We show up to work every day knowing we can fix something."
May-Treanor/Walsh beat DeNecochea/Fontana 21-16, 21-18 in the winner's bracket semifinals, knocking the fourth seed into the Contender's Bracket. They came back Sunday to win two matches, including an upset of third-seeded Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson to reach the championship match.
"We played Barb and Dianne in the semifinals, and we knew it would be a tough match," May-Treanor said. "We planned on playing them again in the final. They're very experienced. Dianne puts up a great block, and Barb is huge on defense. We knew they'd come out serving aggressively. They're the type of team you can't make mistakes against. We made some mistakes in the first game, but we came back in the second."
DeNecochea/Fontana had won just one of 17 games in the eight previous matches between the two teams, which had lasted an average of 44.5 minutes. They took a 4-1 lead in the first game before May-Treanor/Walsh came back. They played evenly before a May-Treanor kill gave the top seed an 18-17 lead. They won the next three points to close out that game and won the first five points of the second game to take control.
DeNecochea/Fontana never got closer than four points in the second game.
"I just know we got off to a slow start," Walsh said. "It's always tough to beat a team two times in a tournament. We expected them to play tough, and they did, but Misty and I stayed consistent. That's why we're so tough to beat. If we get down, we can always come back."

For the Record: Golden Girls
finish on dominant note
May-Treanor and Walsh lock up the Crocs Cup by winning the AVP Cincinnati Open.
From news services
Top seeds Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women's title and the prestigious Crocs Cup at the AVP Cincinnati Open on Sunday.
May-Treanor and Walsh defeated fourth seeds Dianne DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana, 21-17, 21-15, in the tournament final. The victory gave the Golden Girls 12 tournament titles this season. It is the second consecutive Crocs Cup for the Olympic gold medalists, who also won the trophy in 2006.
"This is a great way to end the season," May-Treanor said.
"Hopefully next year we'll be back here with another gold medal around our necks," Walsh added.
Together, May-Treanor and Walsh have won 50 AVP titles.

Favorites make Mason sand their playground
By Adam Kiefaber
MASON, Ohio - Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh entered Sunday's action heavily favored to win the season-ending AVP Cincinnati Open. They took care of business as usual, defeating Dianne DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana in the final at the Lind- ner Family Tennis Center for their 12th AVP tournament win of 2007.
The 2004 Olympic champions started play Sunday in the semifinals against the 10th-seeded team of Holly McPeak and Jenni- fer Fopma. McPeak and Fopma put up a fight, but were beaten 21-17, 21-8.
Before the arrival of the dominating duo of May-Treanor and Walsh, McPeak was the sport's biggest star. On Sunday, May-Treanor and Walsh won their 50th AVP tournament - the previous best was the team of McPeak and Cammy Ciarelli. The McPeak/Ciarelli team had won 12 AVP tournaments.
DeNecochea/Fontana advanced to the finals with a semifinal win over Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson, 21-18, 21-17.
May-Treanor/Walsh went on to defeat DeNecochea/Fontana in finals for the ninth straight time and eighth straight in 2007. The heavy favorites struggled at the start of the match and found themselves tied at 17 until they reeled off four straight points, capped off by a Walsh slam that DeNecochea couldn't handle, taking the first game 21-17. May-Treanor and Walsh had no trouble in the second game, winning 21-15.
"They are very experienced. Dianne puts up a solid block and Barb was great on defense," May-Treanor said. "They are the type of team you can't make mistakes against. We made mistakes early on and fell behind in the first set, but we were able to come back and I think we kind of took control of the second set."
May-Treanor and Walsh also won the women's Crocs Cup, a season-long points race. On the men's side, top seeds Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the tournament title Saturday with a 21-12, 24-22 victory over Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger, and also won the men's Crocs Cup.
May-Treanor and Walsh earned $20,000 for winning the Cincinnati Open, which moved their career team earnings to $2,648,415.
"I absolutely love to play with Misty. We have come so far, we have grown from girls to women together," Walsh said. "I feel our partnership and friendship has grown every year and it's because we have those 80 wins. It is so fun to play this sport together, I feel like we've found ourselves out here."
Next up for the May-Treanor/Walsh team will be the two postseason events (Sept. 6-8 in Las Vegas then Sept. 14t-16th in San Francisco) followed by two international events in Brazil (Sept. 25-29) and Thailand (Oct. 31-Nov. 4). The defending Olympic champions are ranked third in the world and basically just need to remain healthy to qualify for the 2008 games in Beijing.
"The Olympics in Athens was very special," Walsh said. "And obviously winning the gold medal just makes it more special. The world has gotten better in beach volleyball, so Misty and I know it's going to be a huge challenge, but we're up for it and we want to win another gold medal in Beijing."
Noteworthy - In a between-games promotion, announcer Chris McGee led a woman to a marriage proposal instead of what she was expecting - a new XBOX 360.
Amy Fatzinger of Springdale was blindfolded between the first and second games of the May-Treanor/Walsh and McPeak/Fopma match. McGee directed her away from the XBOX 360 and right to Jerry Allen.
McGee told Fatzinger that she had found the XBOX and that she should take off her goggles. Instead, she saw Allen on one knee.
She said yes.

'EY' renews Olympic push
September 3, 2007
Durango Herald Staff Report
Durango's Olympic volleyball medalist is on track to return to the Olympics.
Elaine Youngs of Durango celebrates a big point during a recent AVPCrocs Tour beach volleyball match in California. The two-time Olympian is making a bid to qualify for her third Olympic Games.Elaine Youngs, known throughout the volleyball world as "EY," and her beach volleyball partner are making a strong bid to earn a U.S. berth to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Youngs, who is teaming with former University of Minnesota standout Nicole Branagh, is currently in Russia for international qualifying matches for the Olympics.
The trip to Russia came after Youngs and Branagh made history on the domestic AVP Crocs Tour over the previous three weeks.
Youngs and Branagh became the first team to defeat the No. 1 ranked beach volleyball team on tour - Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor - in an AVP final this year. Youngs and Branagh knocked off the beach's top duo in the finals at Boston before a loud and raucous crowd.
The victory came in spite of a calf injury that the 37-year-old Youngs battled throughout the tournament.
Then a week later, Youngs and Branagh nearly pulled off the same upset of the No. 1 team.
This time, Walsh and May-Treanor prevailed over Youngs and Branagh in the women's finals at the Brooklyn Open.
The recent finishes in the AVP Crocs Tour leave Youngs and Branagh firmly in second place in the AVP rankings.
Branagh, who is in her first full season partnering with Youngs, is a native of California, as is her AVP veteran partner. Branagh, 6-foot-2, went to Minnesota where she ended her collegiate career as the Big Ten's all-time leader in kills.
Youngs, one of the most decorated volleyball players in U.S. history (indoors and outdoors), is from El Toro, Calif. The 6-0 Youngs was a four-time All-American at UCLA where she led the Bruins to an NCAA title in 1991.
Before starting her beach career, Youngs played for the U.S. National indoor team at the Atlanta Olympics. After time as an indoor pro in Italy and Turkey, Youngs joined the women's beach tour.
She's now among the all-time leaders in wins.
She was named the most valuable player on the AVP Tour in 2002.
She and then-partner Holly McPeak qualified for and competed in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, where they won bronze medals - the first medals ever won by a U.S. women's team in beach volleyball.
Youngs, a longtime Durango resident, is the only AVP player with championship victories over the juggernaut team of Walsh and May-Treanor in the last three seasons.

Airport hijinx
Todd Rogers blogs after a traveling nightmare
By Todd Rogers
September 3
Airport hijinx
Happy Labor Day to all. Was a good Labor Day Weekend for Phil and me. Played well all weekend long and took care of a big goal along the way. The only downside was some seriously horrible travel for me. Ah well, all in the life...
Left Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. out of SB [Santa Barbara] to Denver. Everything going smoothly until we had weight issues. I gate-checked my Crocs yellow and black backpack as I got on the plane. They closed the door five minutes before 6:00 a.m., but then opened it up two minutes later to ask four people and their bags to get off the plane. Free voucher and all that jazz.
Finally got everything squared away and we go to the runway. Still too heavy, so we sit for five minutes to "burn fuel" with the engine roaring. Finally get off the ground 50 minutes late. Zip to Denver, but I have a tight connection from Denver to Dayton. 25 minutes from the time we get off the plane. Should make it though, right?
I am waiting to get my bag at the base of the plane. Doesn't come out with the other gate-checked bags. I start yelling at the guy about my bag. I am yelling because he has earmuffs on and about 10 planes have their engines roaring. He goes and checks the bags and finds my bag. Meanwhile, time is ticking. He puts my bag under the wing and leaves it there!
I am now ticked off because I have to go catch my flight and I am looking at a full-fledged sprint from gate 51 to 81. I grab another guy and he asks for my green tag I got at planeside and I give it to him. He goes to my bag and then comes back without my bag. He tells me there is no green tag on my bag. He looks in the plane and nothing there either.
I am now officially screwed for my flight to Dayton. I remember back when I gate-checked it on and realize that the guy who gave me the green stub never put the rest of the ticket on my bag. I clearly remember him giving me the stub and then throwing my bag on top of the other ones. I figured he had people behind and would throw it on when he got a second. Learned my lesson to not make that assumption ever again.
Guy in Denver says he needs to get his supervisor and could I please take a seat in the terminal. I am super pissed now that he can't just hand me my bag. I show him that I have my driver's license with me and that my wallet is in the bag. Doesn't matter. He tells me if I so much as touch the bag they have to shut down the entire airport due to security reasons. I am flabbergasted and pissed to all hell about the ridiculous rules that are now in place after 9/11.
I go inside and there are about 50 people waiting to get on a plane. I chuck my book down on a chair and it bounces up to the roof and I catch it as I sit down. A United rep. comes up to me nervously and tells me I need to calm down. I laugh and tell him I am very calm, just really pissed off. I was getting some pretty good looks from the people about to get on their plane. The rep. was actually very helpful and ended up making sure I got to Dayton via Chicago, but it was all a huge pain in the rear. Thought my bag would never make it to Dayton, but when I checked the baggage carousel, out it comes. Phil and I were shocked it made it all the way there.
Volleyball-wise, it was all good. On Friday, we received a first-round bye and then played Wong-Fonoi. Tough draw for us as it was only a couple of years ago when they won Manhattan. Also riding on that game was the Crocs Cup, so we had a little added pressure, but a little more incentive too. We played well and won 14 and 14. This accomplished a major goal of ours to win the Crocs Cup.
In our second match, we played Matt and Casey, who over the last couple of weeks have started to jell again. They came out fired up and took it to us as we lost the first game, 21-16. Both Phil and I were pretty lethargic and Matt-Casey were playing very well. As we got ready to receive the first ball of game two, Phil leans over to me and tells me, "Hey, let's both pick it up here. We won the Crocs Cup, now let's win the tourney." Thus the maturation of Phil Dalhausser continues. We came out much stronger and won 21-18 and then 15-9 in the third.
On Saturday, we played Keenan-Hyden in a rematch from New York. We played very well, serving really tough. Phil was bombing it and I even got in on the action with an ace off my jump serve too. We won in straight sets.
In the crossover semis, we again played Matt and Casey. They had groveled through the loser's bracket and came out really slow. We took it to them in the first game. The second game they were ready to go, but we were able to pull it out by playing steady and Phil's big serve. This put us in the first night final of the season. Hopefully the AVP and the promoters will do more of them as I think they are a great idea.
In the final, we played Stein and Mike. So far this year we have a winning record against them, but were 0-2 in finals. We got the beatdown in Charleston and then lost a tight three-game match in Seaside Heights.
We came out and Phil was a blocking machine. They were not very aggressive either. I think the first game was 21-12. In the second game, they came out much more aggressively from the service line and from an offensive perspective. Stein was hammering the angle and throwing in a good shot or two to keep us off balance. Phil and I were able to keep it close. I think at one point there were 22 sideouts in a row. The score was 11-11 and Stein and I sided out all the way to 22-22.
At that point, I turned to Phil and I asked him what he wants to block. He says that he will take the line and just get huge. Two blocks later, we win 24-22. Nice way to finish off the regular season. Now on to the always super fun specialty events in Vegas and San Fran.

Photos:

2007 AVP Cincinnati Open: Qualifiers

2007 AVP Cincinnati Open: Friday

2007 AVP Cincinnati Open: Saturday

2007 AVP Cincinnati Open: Sunday

Video:

AVP Cincinnati Open - Women's Matchpoint: 09/02/07
Watch video

AVP Cincinnati Open - Men's Matchpoint: 09/01/07
Watch video

AVP on DVD
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!!!

.

-Buy (1) Veriuni Nutritional Supplement below and get (1) FREE DVD of the 2007 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour Cincinatti Open,Cincinnati,Ohio
Aug.30th - Sept 2nd, 2007 Men's & Women's Finals on a 2 DVD discs as our GIFT to you.

FSNET TV & MyNetworkTV Live

Veriuni Nutritional Supplements:
Single Item Order
(1) 32 Oz. Bottle-30 day supply-Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition Item/Id#25
Cost $ 32.99

Veriuni Store
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The Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition formulation is different than any other health product and we predict it will quickly become the best selling liquid nutritional product in the world.

Veriuni Nutritional Supplements:
Single Item Order
(1)Bottle 60 Capsules-30 day supply-Veriuni Advanced Antioxidant with red wine extract - Item/Id#26
Cost $32.99

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Note*: Liquid Nutrition can now be shipped to many different countries,shipping and handling fees apply,see drop down list when ordering..

Note*: AVP on DVD disc may be shipped separately from your order and is simply our GIFT to you,you are purchasing the nutritional supplement only and not the DVD.

Note*: Unca Nick Productions & IanClarkVolleyball.net are not affiliated with the AVP Association Of Volleyball Professionals in any shape or form regarding this promotion.

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Get in touch with me by email. mailto:spiro@monmouth.com

Sept 6th-8th $200,000 AVP 2007 Las Vegas
Gods & Goddesses at Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, NV

AVPtour.com 2007 Event Coverage

AVP Las Vegas Gods & Goddesses of the Beach
Caesars Palace, September 6th - 8th, 2007

WHO:
EVENT PURSE:
$200,000
TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
2003 - Men's Defending Champions - Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard
2003 - Women's Defending Champions - Misty May and Kerri Walsh
2005 Champions: The 2005 AVP Las Vegas Shootout was a King of the Beach format. Mike Lambert, who chose Stein Metzger as his partner, defeated Jake Gibb, who choose Sean Rosenthal as his partner. Misty May-Treanor, who choose Elaine Youngs as her partner, defeated Rachel Wacholder, who choose Jen Kessy as her partner.
Las Vegas Facts: 2006 will be the fifth consecutive Las Vegas visit for the AVP Men. While 2005 was a King of the Beach format, 2002 - 2004 were run using the traditional format. Dax Holdren / Eric Fonoimoana won in 2002. Dain Blanton / Jeff Nygaard won in 2003. And Karch Kiraly / Mike Lambert won in 2004. The Women have visited Las Vegas seven times. The first three tournaments (1991, 1992, 1994) were run by the now defunct WPVA with Liz Masakayan / Linda Chisholm winnning the first two. The Women returned to Las Vegas with the Men in 2002 and Holly McPeak / Elaine Youngs captured the title. In both 2003 and 2004, Misty May-Treanor / Kerri Walsh defeated McPeak / Youngs to win both titles.

Schedule:

All times are PDT

Thursday, September 6, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 7:30 a.m.
Competition start time 8:00 a.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 10:00 p.m.

Friday, September 7, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 7:30 a.m.
Competition start time 8:00 a.m.
Women's Final (Approx) 9:45 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 11:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 8, 2007
Men's and Women's Main Draw Competition
Gates open at 3:30 p.m.
Competition start time 4:00 p.m.
Men's Final (Approx) 9:15 p.m.
Competition End Time (Approx) 10:30 p.m.
Ticket Info

WHERE:
Roman Plaza Amphitheater at
Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

AVP Host Hotel
Caesars Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd South.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
TEL: (866) 227-5938
Book Online

Map

Where to play in the area:
Centennial Hills Park. This facility boasts 11 new sand courts (all lighted) with built in sprinklers.
Sunset Park. AVP has held qualifiers there in the past.

Local connection:
Men: Casey Jennings was raised in Las Vegas and has taken the tour by storm in 2003, reaching four finals.
Past Glory:
Men: Las Vegas has traditionally been an individual King of the Beach event but switched to a shootout in 2002. Last year's victory went to the team of Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard who led the Tour in victories with a total of three.
Women: Last year's winners were Misty may and Kerri Walsh who rounded out their undefeated season with nine AVP Tour victories.

Television:

MyNetworkTV
Women's Final: 8:00 p.m. ET, Saturday

Also Catch all the Men's and Women's 2007 AVP Finals action on FSN
Click here to find AVP broadcast times on your local FSN provider.

Buy Tickets

Sponsor Activities:
(Village opens at 2pm each day):
Crocs AVP Serve, Pass, Hit Interactive Area, Jose Cuervo Cabana; Xbox Gaming Oasis; Herbalife Sampling Booth; Paul Mitchell Cut-a-thon; Nature Valley Granola Bars Sampling Booth; Wilson SpeedZone; Liftoff Sampling Booth; iJoy Interactive Display Area; Barefoot Cellars Display; Nautica Product Tent

Bud Light
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be a part of the Bud Light Party Zone. Look for Bud Light onsite to find out more information
Aquafina
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Aquafina Purity Patrol is coming to the AVP-made beach at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with tons of fun activities in the sun. Compete in the the Aquafina Obstacle Course, Aquafina/ Wilson Speed Serve/ and "Return to Aquafina" hitting challenges. Featured on Stadium Court, see how you stand up against AVP Pros and your friends and win cool prizes.
Xbox
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Visit Xbox at the beach and challenge your friends in the latest and greatest Xbox Game titles. You can be King and sit in Xbox's "King of the Court" seats, the hottest seats on stadium court all weekend long or for the Men's and Women's finals. You'll be front row in your Xbox visor, t-shirt, tattoo and much more watching the pro beach stars battle for number one.
Paul Mitchell
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop by all three days for samples, give-aways and hair cuts. Get your hair cut and styled by one of Paul Mitchell's talented stylists for just $15 a cut. Profits go to Eric Fonoimoana's "Dig For Kids" Foundation. You can also purchase a $1 raffle ticket for the opportunity to win a plethora of Paul Mitchell products!

ChapStick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a break from the heat in one of ChapStick's four Fan Lounges equipped with a moisture tent, multiple beach chairs, games, tubes of ChapStick LipMoisturizer and other fun give-aways. Don't miss your opportunity with Misty May who will be making appearances throughout the weekend for autograph signings and photo opportunities.

Wrigleys
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long Lasting Flavor, Extra's Got It! Stop By the Wrigley Booth for a free sample of Wrigley's Extra gum.

Nature Valley Granola Bars
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whether you're out on the court or watching from up in the stands, Nature Valley Granola Bars are a natural source of energy. Make sure to stop by the Nature Valley tent to pick up a free sample. Nature Valley - The Energy Bar Nature Intended.

Men's Invitations:

Men's AVP $100,000 Las Vegas Invitational, September 6th -8th, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed
Phil Dalhausser 1
Todd Rogers 2
Mike Lambert 3
Stein Metzger 4
Jake Gibb Q1
Sean Rosenthal Q2
John Hyden Q3
Brad Keenan Q4
Matt Fuerbringer Q5
Casey Jennings Q6
Dax Holdren Q7
Fred Souza Q8
Anthony Medel (alternate)

Men's AVP $100,000 Las Vegas Gods & Godesses of the Beach
September 6th-8th, 2007
Pool A
Round 1
Match 1: Casey Jennings (Q5) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) def. Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) / Brad Keenan (Q4) 21-19, 21-17 (0:42)
Round 2
Match 3: Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) / Casey Jennings (Q5) def. Brad Keenan (Q4) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) 21-17, 22-20 (0:40)
Round 3
Match 5: Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) def. Brad Keenan (Q4) / Casey Jennings (Q5) 21-17, 21-17 (0:41)

Pool B
Round 1
Match 2: Jake Gibb (Q2) / John Hyden (5, Q3) def. Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) / Dax Holdren (Q7) 21-17, 19-21, 15-10 (1:19)
Round 2
Match 4: Jake Gibb (Q2) / Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) def. John Hyden (5, Q3) / Dax Holdren (Q7) 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 (1:04)
Round 3
Match 6: John Hyden (5, Q3) / Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) def. Jake Gibb (Q2) / Dax Holdren (Q7) 21-19, 21-16 (0:47)

Pool X
Round 1
Match 7: John Hyden (5, Q3) / Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) def. Todd Rogers (1) / Stein Metzger (4) 21-16, 21-16 (0:53)
Round 2
Match 9: Todd Rogers (1) / John Hyden (5, Q3) def. Stein Metzger (4) / Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) 21-14, 21-16 (0:48)
Round 3
Match 11: Todd Rogers (1) / Matt Fuerbringer (8, Q6) def. Stein Metzger (4) / John Hyden (5, Q3) 21-14, 17-21, 15-13 (1:06)

Pool Y
Round 1
Match 8: Phil Dalhausser (2) / Mike Lambert (3) def. Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) 28-30, 21-16, 15-11 (1:08)
Round 2
Match 10: Phil Dalhausser (2) / Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) def. Mike Lambert (3) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) 21-16, 21-17 (0:42)
Round 3
Match 12: Phil Dalhausser (2) / Fred Souza (7, Q8) def. Mike Lambert (3) / Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) 21-18, 21-18 (0:42)

Finals
Match 13: John Hyden (5, Q3) / Mike Lambert (3) def. Phil Dalhausser (2) / Sean Rosenthal (6, Q1) 16-21, 21-16, 15-9 (1:17)

Men's Results:

Men's $100,000 AVP Las Vegas Gods & Goddesses of the Beach
September 6-8, 2007
Finish Player Seed Winnings
1 John Hyden 5, Q3 $24,500.00
2 Phil Dalhausser 2 $19,750.00
3 Todd Rogers 1 $7,500.00
4 Matt Fuerbringer 8, Q6 $8,500.00
5 Sean Rosenthal 6, Q1 $9,750.00
6 Fred Souza 7, Q8 $6,250.00
7 Mike Lambert 3 $11,250.00
8 Stein Metzger 4 $3,000.00
9 Casey Jennings Q5 $4,000.00
10 Jake Gibb Q2 $3,000.00
11 Dax Holdren Q7 $1,000.00
12 Brad Keenan Q4 $1,000.00
13 Anthony Medel   $500.00

2007 Men's Las Vegas Gods Of The Beach Tournament Champion >>John Hyden

John Hyden God Of The Beach 2007

Women's Invitations:

Women's AVP $100,000 Las Vegas Invitational, September 6th-8th, 2007
Finish Player Partner Seed
Kerri Walsh 1
Nicole Branagh 2
Elaine Youngs 3
Tyra Turner 3
Rachel Wacholder Q1
Annett Davis Q2
Jenny Johnson Jordan Q3
Barbra Fontana Q4
Jennifer Boss Q5
April Ross Q6
Dianne DeNecochea Q7
Brooke Hanson Q8
Angie Akers (alternate)

Women's AVP $100,000 Las Vegas Gods & Godesses of the Beach
September 6th-8th, 2007

Pool A
Round 1
Match 1: April Ross (8, Q5) / Brooke Hanson (Q8) def. Tyra Turner (6, Q1) / Barbra Fontana (Q4) 21-12, 12-21, 15-10 (0:54)
Round 2
Match 3: Tyra Turner (6, Q1) / April Ross (8, Q5) def. Barbra Fontana (Q4) / Brooke Hanson (Q8) 22-20, 21-17 (0:49)
Round 3
Match 5: Tyra Turner (6, Q1) / Brooke Hanson (Q8) def. Barbra Fontana (Q4) / April Ross (8, Q5) 19-21, 21-16, 15-11 (0:58)

Pool B
Round 1
Match 2: Jennifer Boss (5, Q6) / Dianne DeNecochea (Q7) def. Annett Davis (Q2) / Jenny Johnson Jordan (7, Q3) 21-18, 21-16 (0:40)
Round 2
Match 4: Annett Davis (Q2) / Jennifer Boss (5, Q6) def. Jenny Johnson Jordan (7, Q3) / Dianne DeNecochea (Q7) 21-16, 21-16 (0:40)
Round 3
Match 6: Jenny Johnson Jordan (7, Q3) / Jennifer Boss (5, Q6) def. Annett Davis (Q2) / Dianne DeNecochea (Q7) 21-15, 21-16 (0:41)

Pool X
Round 1
Match 7: Kerri Walsh (1) / Rachel Wacholder (4) def. Jennifer Boss (5, Q6) / April Ross (8, Q5

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