AVP returns to HB

The Huntington Beach Pier has been the final stop for the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour the past few years but this year, the tour has made Surf City its second stop.

The Huntington Beach Open, the site last year of the AVP Championships, starts up with qualifying rounds Thursday and Friday. Elimination rounds are Saturday and the women’s and men’s semifinals and finals are Sunday at the south side of the pier.

Last September, April Ross (Costa Mesa) and Lauren Fendrick (Hermosa Beach), playing together for the first time, won the women’s title at the pier. The men’s team of Tri Bourne (Manhattan Beach) and veteran John Hyden (Sherman Oaks), won their first title in Huntington.

The second of a seven-city 2016 tour, the Huntington Beach Open is set to feature some of the world’s top volleyball players including several local players in addition to teams vying to represent the USA at the Summer Olympic Games on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August. Among those teams looking for a spot at the Olympic games are Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross on the women’s side, and the local team of Huntington Beach’s Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb, and Phil Dalhausser (Olympic gold medal) and Nick Lucena, on the men’s side.

Walsh-Jennings and Ross are the top-ranked women’s team nationally, and rank sixth in the Fédération de Internationale de Volleyball Provisional Olympic Women’s Team Rankings in total points (through Monday. Gibb and Patterson are currently the top U.S. men’s team and are No. 5 in the Provisional Olympic Men’s Team Rankings. Dalhausser and Lucena are second nationally, and rank seventh in the Provisional Olympic Men’s Team Rankings.

Patterson and Gibb are coming off a fifth-place finish, their sixth top-five placement in Olympic qualification play, at the FIVB Fortaleza Open which ended Sunday in Fortaleza, Brazil. Three USA women’s teams tied for ninth at the Fortaleza Open: Jennifer Fopma/Brittany Hochevar, Kim DiCello/Kendra VanZwieten and Lane Carico/Summer Ross.

The 2016 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour kicked off in Louisiana last month with the New Orleans Open. DiCello and VanZwieten won the women’s title, and Ryan Doherty and John Mayer the men’s title by defeating Gibb/Patterson in the men’s final.

In addition to the semifinals and finals action on Mother’s Day, Sunday will feature several Mom & Me @ AVP activities. All moms who attend the AVP event with their children will be invited to join AVP Mom Players for a pre-match warm-up/skills session on the beach. Special photo opportunities and a raffle for AVP prizes also are included.

Tickets for the Huntington Beach Open will be available on-site and at the AVP Box Office, or online at https://avp.ticketspice.com/huntington-beach-ticketing.

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AVP Huntington Beach Open

Thursday: Qualifying rounds, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Friday: Opening rounds, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday May 7, 2016 9:30am-6pm Elimination Rounds, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday: Finals rounds, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

— From staff reports