Four teams qualify for AVP Virginia Beach Tourney
Top-qualifying seeds, Mike Daniel and Jacob Gibb, finally earned a main draw berth this season on the AVP Tour, by winning both of their matches on the opening day of the AVP Paul Mitchell Open at Virginia Beach.
Top-seeded Mike Daniel and Jacob Gibb finally earned a main draw berth this season in an Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Pro Beach Volleyball Tour event on Friday (July 27), by winning both of their qualification tournament matches on the opening day of The AVP Paul Mitchell Open at Virginia Beach.
After failing to advance to the main draw in their previous three AVP qualifiers in Huntington Beach, Calif., Muskegon, Mich., and Belmar, N. J., Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah) and Gibb (Salt Lake City, Utah) advanced to Saturday's opening main draw rounds with an 18-21, 21-17, 15-12 win over eighth-seeded Andre Melo and Jason Wight.
"What a relief," said Daniel after the match. "We have been disappointed with ourselves the past three events. It is tough to travel a long distance and get eliminated before the money rounds. We are finding out that there are a lot of good beach volleyball players in these qualifiers. You can't take a local team for granted."
Also qualifying for Saturday's main draw rounds are third-seeded Chris Kosty (Fountain Valley, Calif.)/Ed Ratledge (Fountain Valley, Calif.), the fifth-seeded DiPierro brothers (David and Michael of Pompano Beach, Fla.) and 10th-seeded Dan Camacho (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)/Kevin Craig (Ocean City, Md.).
With many of the United States' top men pro beach volleyball players vying for $62,500 in prize money, The AVP Paul Mitchell Open at Virginia Beach will be played on six sand courts at the Sixth Street Beach site behind the Ramada Inn on Atlantic Avenue. Saturday's competition starts at 9 a.m.(EDT), with 48 Main Draw matches being played.
Sunday's competition starts at 7:30 a.m., with the final 14 matches being played. The final two matches will begin approximately at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The men's main draw competition will feature Brent Doble and LeGrande, who teamed the last two Sundays (July 15 in Muskegon and July 22 in Belmar) to win AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour titles. The two crowns give the Doble/LeGrande partnership three AVP titles the past two seasons. Doble and LeGrande will also be seeking to become the first AVP team since August 1998 to win three straight titles, when Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson won events in Milwaukee, Atlanta and Hermosa Beach.
Doble and LeGrande scored a 21-16, 23-21 upset win over Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh to win the 49-minute finale in Muskegon. Doble and LeGrande defeated Ceman and Whitmarsh in the Belmar semifinals, before scoring a 21-16, 20-22, 15-9 win over Albert Hannemann and Scott in the 64-minute New Jersey title match.
Scott Ayakatubby and Eduardo Bacil, who won the Huntington Beach event when they defeated Ceman and Whitmarsh in the finals, are also expected to battle for this week's Virginia Beach title. Ayakatubby and Bacil placed fourth in Belmar after dropping their final match to Ceman and Whitmarsh. Ayakatubby is returning to the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour after being sidelined much of the past four seasons with injuries.
Whitmarsh, who captured the Silver Medal with Mike Dodd at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, is the AVP's reigning "King of the Beach" after winning the crown last October in Las Vegas. With his third-place Belmar finish, Whitmarsh became the seventh pro beach volleyball player to surpass the $1.5-million mark in earnings. With 27 titles and an Olympic Silver Medal finish in 1996 at Atlanta with Mike Dodd, Whitmarsh has now totaled $1,501,716 in his career.
After failing to advance to the main draw in their previous three AVP qualifiers in Huntington Beach, Calif., Muskegon, Mich., and Belmar, N. J., Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah) and Gibb (Salt Lake City, Utah) advanced to Saturday's opening main draw rounds with an 18-21, 21-17, 15-12 win over eighth-seeded Andre Melo and Jason Wight.
"What a relief," said Daniel after the match. "We have been disappointed with ourselves the past three events. It is tough to travel a long distance and get eliminated before the money rounds. We are finding out that there are a lot of good beach volleyball players in these qualifiers. You can't take a local team for granted."
Also qualifying for Saturday's main draw rounds are third-seeded Chris Kosty (Fountain Valley, Calif.)/Ed Ratledge (Fountain Valley, Calif.), the fifth-seeded DiPierro brothers (David and Michael of Pompano Beach, Fla.) and 10th-seeded Dan Camacho (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)/Kevin Craig (Ocean City, Md.).
With many of the United States' top men pro beach volleyball players vying for $62,500 in prize money, The AVP Paul Mitchell Open at Virginia Beach will be played on six sand courts at the Sixth Street Beach site behind the Ramada Inn on Atlantic Avenue. Saturday's competition starts at 9 a.m.(EDT), with 48 Main Draw matches being played.
Sunday's competition starts at 7:30 a.m., with the final 14 matches being played. The final two matches will begin approximately at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The men's main draw competition will feature Brent Doble and LeGrande, who teamed the last two Sundays (July 15 in Muskegon and July 22 in Belmar) to win AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour titles. The two crowns give the Doble/LeGrande partnership three AVP titles the past two seasons. Doble and LeGrande will also be seeking to become the first AVP team since August 1998 to win three straight titles, when Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson won events in Milwaukee, Atlanta and Hermosa Beach.
Doble and LeGrande scored a 21-16, 23-21 upset win over Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh to win the 49-minute finale in Muskegon. Doble and LeGrande defeated Ceman and Whitmarsh in the Belmar semifinals, before scoring a 21-16, 20-22, 15-9 win over Albert Hannemann and Scott in the 64-minute New Jersey title match.
Scott Ayakatubby and Eduardo Bacil, who won the Huntington Beach event when they defeated Ceman and Whitmarsh in the finals, are also expected to battle for this week's Virginia Beach title. Ayakatubby and Bacil placed fourth in Belmar after dropping their final match to Ceman and Whitmarsh. Ayakatubby is returning to the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour after being sidelined much of the past four seasons with injuries.
Whitmarsh, who captured the Silver Medal with Mike Dodd at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, is the AVP's reigning "King of the Beach" after winning the crown last October in Las Vegas. With his third-place Belmar finish, Whitmarsh became the seventh pro beach volleyball player to surpass the $1.5-million mark in earnings. With 27 titles and an Olympic Silver Medal finish in 1996 at Atlanta with Mike Dodd, Whitmarsh has now totaled $1,501,716 in his career.
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