CARSON — The AVP Championships semi-final rounds were held at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday as the Dallas Dream faced the Miami Mayhem and New York Nitro faced the San Diego Smash for the two spots in Sunday’s final.
The Dream beat the Mayhem, winning a combined five sets to one. The Smash’s men beat the Nitro’s men in three sets, and the women’s match between those two teams was set to begin at press time.
Miami Mayhem vs. Dallas Dream
Women’s match
Hailey Harward’s precise placement of her kills made it nearly impossible for Alix Klineman to deliver a clean return, despite getting her hands to the ball.
“I knew she was pulling a lot,” Harward said about Klineman’s strategy to retreat from the net just before Harward’s returns. “So just trying to find her outside hands.”
She did that in the most crucial juncture, outsmarting Klineman to break an 11-11 tie in the second set, and again on the following point to increase the margin to 13-11. After a block by her partner, Kylie Deberg, a kill from Klineman on the Dream’s first match point made it 14-12.
But on the second match point, Harward found Klineman’s outside hand again to finish the Mayhem in straight sets. Harward’s calculated approach was complemented by Deberg’s ability to win the net. She had five blocks, including the one that incited the initial match point.
“She was doing great at the net,” Harward said about her teammate.
Men’s match
After dropping the first set, the Dallas Dream duo of Andy Benesh and Miles Partain took a commanding 9-4 lead in the second set. Nine consecutive side-outs ensued as neither team could grab a stranglehold of the set before Benesh strung together a pair of points to win it.
“They’re the best side out team in the AVP,” Partain said of the Mayhem’s men Trevor Crabbe and Theo Bruner. “They’re a really safe, consistent team. Hard to get them out of system and hard to get kills on them.”
Banesh surely found a way toward the end of that second set and throughout the third one. He punched the ball over the Mayhem’s block to give them an 11-8 lead. He blocked Crabb’s kill to make it 13-8 and had a kill to set up their first match point.
With the score sitting at 14-10, Crabb smacked the ball at Banesh who parried it, his touch giving Partain the option to pass it back to his teammate. Instead, Partain caught the Mayhem off guard, punching the ball with the side of his left fist and the Mayhem were late to react.
The Dallas Dream won a combined five sets to one to advance to Sunday’s final
While the Miami Mayhem will appear in the third-place game on Sunday, the AVP honored its women’s duo April Ross and Alix Klineman, who announced they will retire after this weekend.
Ross and Klineman won a gold medal together in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and, despite lowering their expectation for this AVP season because of their responsibilities as mothers, they qualified for the playoffs. Ross’s decision to retire was well-documented but Klineman informed the AVP of her imminent departure from volleyball just five days ago.
Following a tribute video for her, Ross fought tears to tell fans: “I just have a lot of love for everybody, and I’m so grateful to the people who continue to support our sport.”
New York Nitro vs. San Diego Smash
Men’s match
After splitting the first two sets, the San Diego Smash men’s duo of Chase Budinger and Miles Evans burst to a 10-3 lead in the third set. Their strategy of Evans passing to Budinger, giving him options to dictate the point, was working smoothly. It was a kill from Evans, though, that made it 12-5 before a pair of service errors from the Nitro’s Taylor Crabb set up a match point for the Smash.
On their second try, they returned to that tried and true form, as Evans lofted the ball toward Budinger, who placed a kill just above Crabb’s outstretched arms to win the match.
Women’s match
Similar to the men’s match, the San Diego Smash and New York Nitro women needed a third set, which for the Smash was a win-and-your-in (to the Championship) scenario. But unlike that men’s match, it was the Nitro pair that jumped out to a lead early in the final set.
Kelly Cheng’s shot was so powerful it ricocheted off Toni Rodriguez and into the stands. Cheng’s reaction said it all, a smile splayed across her face as she splashed sand at her partner Sara Hughes. But the Smash fought back, taking an 8-7 lead before the team switched sides.
After the break, they extended that lead winning five consecutive points. Cheng seemingly blocked Urango’s return, but her diving dig found Rodriguez who lofted a shot over Cheng to make it 12-7. The Nitro weren’t done, winning five of the next six points, but couldn’t stave off a final push from the Smash, who won that set 15-12.
After starting the season 2-2, the Smash men and women met for lunch, each side expressing how they wanted the other to give it their all, Urango said. They didn’t win a single match, however, in their hometown event, dropping to 2-6.
They had a month off from matches, and after that, taking it to practice together and plan bonding activities.
“I think one of the big things that is unique about San Diego is that we’ve developed a lot of team camaraderie with the guys,” Urango said. “We’ve done stuff outside of just training.”
It began to pay off in Anaheim where the team went a combined 3-1, Miles Evans declaring afterward that they’d go undefeated at the final weekend in Dallas. While they didn’t complete that, they did claw into the Championship with another 3-1 performance and carried that momentum into Saturday.
The Smash will face the Dallas Dream in the AVP Finals on Sunday. The third-place game will feature the Nitro and the Mayhem.