AVP Releases Entry Lists for 2017 Kickoff in Huntington Beach

2017 AVP Tour – Huntington Beach Open

• May 4th-7th, 2017
• Huntington Beach, California
• Stop 1 of 8
• Full Entry Lists
• Tournament Central
• Live Stream

The AVP has released entry lists for the opening stop of the 2017 tour this weekend at the Huntington Beach Open in Huntington Beach, California.

Among the most significant revelations is the absence of two-time Olympic Champion Kerri Walsh-Jennings, who is currently embattled in a lawsuit with the tour operator for breach of contract over what she says is $150,000 in missed payments.

Her regular partner, April Ross, will play on without her – just as she did in last year’s tour championship event in Chicago. Ross is partnered with Whitney Pavlik, and while Ross, the defending tour MVP, enters the season with the most points on tour, when combined, the two earn only the 2nd seed.

That puts them behind Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar.

Lauren Fendrick, meanwhile, who won last year at the tour championship event in Chicago with partner Brooke Sweat, will make her second start of 2017 with her second partner. After playing with collegian Sara Hughes at the FIVB stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Fendrick will play with Lane Carico this weekend. While Fendrick is the more accomplished internationally of the pair, Carico is a tour powerhouse. She and then-partner Summer Ross (not playing this weekend) finished with the most points as a pair last season.

Fendrick’s former partner Brooke Sweat is also not on this weekend’s entry lists.

The top seeds are Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar. Hochevar played with 3 different partners in 5 AVP appearances last season, but had her biggest success with Day. The pair finished first and won $20,000 at last year’s tour stop on Manhattan Beach.

The men’s lineup is ripe with post-Olympic partnership changes as well. Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena return intact after winning 2 of the 4 AVP stops they entered last season, but otherwise there were big shakeups in the typically more-stable men’s pairings.

The Crabb brothers, last year’s points leaders, have split up. Taylor Crabb is now playing with veteran Jake Gibb, with the pair being the top seed in Huntington. That pair has already had early success with a 5th-place finish in the Ft. Lauderdale Major. Trevor Crabb and Sean Rosenthal will pair up as the 4th seed in the main draw.

The other reshuffle came with the split of Theo Brunner and Billy Allen. Brunner now pairs with veteran Casey Patterson, and Allen is paired with Stafford Slick. Based on points in last year’s tour, Brunner got the better of that split.

The men’s tournament will feature 73 pairs (12 in the main draw and 61 qualifiers participants); the women have just 52 in the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

Men’s Entries

Women’s Entries