An Inside Look at AVP San Francisco

AVP San Francisco Open

• Pier 30/32; San Francisco, California
• July 5-8, 2018
• Qualifying Schedule/Results
• Live Streaming – Amazon Prime

As the AVP San Francisco Open kicks off today, we take a look at some of the details behind the tournament as well as who is taking center stage and what lies ahead.

Off The Court

• The work began to set up the NorCal tournament by bringing in 1,200 tons of sands to Pier 30/32.
• The stop marks the midway point of the AVP’s nine event season, including the FIVB hybrid Huntington Beach event.
• In addition to the AVP pro tour event, the weekend will see some of the best youth players in the country compete in the First Gold Event on July 7-8. It is one of eight youth events leading up to the national championships.
• The event will also feature a friendly match with Katie Holloway and other athletes from the USA Sitting Volleyball team on Saturday.

In the Sand

• In addition to the 12 teams automatically placed in the main draw, 44 men’s teams and 38 women’s teams will vie for the four remaining spots for each gender.
• After qualification play, 16 teams per gender will compete in the main draw action
• Teams will be playing for a $150,000 prize purse, with $75,000 available for each gender
• The winner earns $15,000. The runnerup gets $10,000 and the two third place finishers receive $7,000 apiece. The 16 teams who make the main draw are guaranteed $2,000.

History

• The 2017 San Francisco Open champs were Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen and Ty Loomis/Maddison McKibbin.
• The 2016 San Francisco Open champs were April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson.

Results

• Thus far in 2018, three different women’s teams have won titles:
  • April Ross/Alix Klineman – Austin;
  • Summer Ross/Sara Hughes – New York City
  • Betsi Flint/Emily Day – Seattle.
• After winning the first two titles of the season in Austin and New York City, Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena had to settle for the runner-up spot in Seattle, June 24. Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb took the title in Seattle.

The Players

• April Ross and Alix Klineman will be back on the sand together after Klineman missed the Seattle Open recovering from injury. Ross competed with Caitlin Ledoux and finished second.
• With Dalhausser/Lucena and Crabb/Gibb competing in the FIVB Espinho Four Star, there is guaranteed to be a new men’s champion in San Francisco.
• AVP New York champs Summer Ross/Sara Hughes also have opted for the FIVB stage this week, although the other two AVP champions – April Ross/Alix Klineman and Betsi Flint/Emily Day will be in San Francisco.