LOS ANGELES — The inaugural AVP League Championship will take place this weekend at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, as the league’s top four teams battle for the title. In order of seeding, the New York Nitro, Dallas Dream, Miami Mayhem and San Diego Smash will compete in single-elimination playoffs.
Each of those four teams had to navigate a slew of innovations in the league’s first season.
Men’s and women’s duos were paired together to represent eight respective teams. Their wins and losses were combined. Each of the eight teams competed in a total of 16 matches in venues like Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and Honda Center in Anaheim. Each game was best-of-3 sets, and each set was played to 15 points, rather than 21, as games were shorter.
And in an added twist, in the playoffs, if the men’s and women’s duos from each team split their respective matches, it would go to a Golden Set. The teams were allowed to choose which duo starts, and which duo comes in relief after one team has reached eight points.
Each advancement was made in a hope to increase entertainment and the popularity of beach volleyball. Competitors embraced these evolutions as they and the AVP agreed it would appeal to the fans and help grow the sport. They developed strategies to adapt to shorter sets and remained at the venues throughout each match-day supporting their teammates.
“There’s not much time to make crazy adjustments,” the Nitro’s Sara Hughes said. “You gotta figure it out really quick. I think we’re trying to come out really strong.”
Hughes and Kelly Cheng, who represented Team USA in the Paris Olympics, have transitioned smoothly, winning six of their eight matches this season as have the Nitro men, Taylor Sander and Taylor Crabb. The first-seeded Nitro will face the fourth-seeded San Diego Smash in Saturday night’s second semifinal for a spot in Sunday’s final (3 p.m., CBS Sports).
The Smash men, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, also earned a chance to compete in Paris, but their team, which is rounded out by women’s duo Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez, struggled through the first half of the AVP season. The Smash split their matches at the opening week in Los Angeles before dropping all four games at their home event at Snapdragon Stadium.
Heading into Weekend 7 in Anaheim, sitting at 2-6 overall, the Smash regrouped. Budinger and Evans beat the Austin Aces in three sets and the Palm Beach Passion in two, while Urango and Rodriguez split. With Weekend 8 in Dallas remaining, they were a game behind the Aces for the final spot in the championship.
This time, the women came through with a pair of victories that helped lift the team into the semifinals.
The third-seeded Miami Mayhem (April Ross and Alix Klineman, Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb), which will take on the second-seeded Dallas Dream (Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg) at 6 p.m. Saturday, had to traverse their share of difficulties, too.
Their women’s duo of Ross and Klineman, who won a gold medal together at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, have had to reset expectations for themselves, Ross said.
Both became mothers in 2023 and priorities shifted. Ross said she has 30 minutes or an hour to lift each day and has to do so in her garage. She’s cut out recovery methods such as physical therapy and seeing a chiropractor. She feels sleep deprived and her motivation, she says, is lacking.
“My quote, unquote ‘Why?’ wasn’t as strong as it was before,” she said.
Along with that gold medal, Ross won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze in Rio in 2016. There weren’t many more boxes left to be checked. After an unexpected loss at an AVP Heritage event this summer in Manhattan Beach, she and Klineman wanted to be a part of this AVP season “to give it one last push.”
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Ross and Klineman plan to retire after this weekend’s championship and the AVP plans to honor them. For the pair to have lowered their expectations and still be in a position to win a trophy, it’s a testament to their perseverance.
The new-look AVP was banking on the Olympic gold medalists’ presence appealing to fans. While the season is concluding Sunday and attendance has been sporadic, many hope it’s the beginning for the growth of beach volleyball.
AVP League Championships
When: Saturday and Sunday
Where: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson
How to watch: Saturday semifinals (6 p.m., BallyLIVE.com); Sunday third-place match (1 p.m., BallyLIVE.com); Sunday final (3 p.m., CBS Sports)