Manhattan Beach Open in action
A bevy of the best beach volleyball players will be in the South Bay this weekend to compete for coveted titles at the 56th annual Assn. of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Manhattan Beach Open.
The longest running, continuous tournament in the sport of beach volleyball started with Open qualifying play Thursday at the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier. Main draw play for AVP pros begins at 8 a.m. Friday and continues at 8 a.m. Saturday. The semifinals and finals in the Men’s and Women’s divisions are Sunday.
The tournament’s main draw will have an expanded field of 32 two-player men’s teams and 32 two-player women’s teams equaling the largest field of teams on Tour.
Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb of Huntington Beach, the top-ranked men’s team on the 2015 AVP Tour, will be vying for another title this weekend. Gibb, a two-time U.S. Olympian, and Patterson have won the first two AVP men’s tournaments this year, the New Orleans Open in May, and the New York City Open last month. The duo won four of the AVP’s seven tournaments during the 2014 season and finished equal-seventh last year in Manhattan Beach.
They also won the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) smart St. Pete Open in June in St. Petersburg, FLA.
Gibb is a two-time Men’s champion at the Manhattan Beach Open (2005, 2009).
The defending championship team at the Manhattan Beach Open is Phil Dalhausser (Newbury Park) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach). Dalhausser previously won the event three straight years from 2006-08, and Rosenthal won in 2009.
Olympians April Ross (Costa Mesa) and Kerri Walsh Jennings (Manhattan Beach) won the Open women’s title a year ago.
Each year, the tournament’s winners have their names etched in bronze on the Manhattan Beach Pier. Whitney Pavlik of Laguna Beach experienced the honor in 2013 when she and Kerri Walsh Jennings won the Manhattan Beach Open women’s crown.
Last year, Pavlik and playing partner Heather Hughes (Redondo Beach) finished in 13th place at the tournament.
In the first tournament of this year’s AVP Tour, Pavlik and partner Jenny Kropp-Goess (Manhattan Beach), finished equal-fifth at the New Orleans Open. She and April Ross finished equal-25th at the FIVB smart St. Pete Open.
Both tournaments were to be the final competitions of 2015 for the 31-year-old who suffered an injury to her right shoulder (“broke one of the anchors off the bone”) while playing in the New Orleans Open.
Pavlik said she had surgery five weeks ago and will sit out the remainder of the season.
“It’s really bad timing,” she said. “I’ve never had to miss a season and I was so excited for this year’s AVP season, and to be playing internationally.
“It’ll be tough to watch from the sidelines for the remainder of the season, and I just love playing in the the Manhattan Beach Open. I’m trying to decide whether I will go watch it. Some friends have encouraged me to come down for the tournament, and I might go down there Friday.”
General admission to the Manhattan Beach Open is free.
— From staff reports