Breaking up easy to do on this tour

Breakups and shake-ups are the talk of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour as the Long Beach Open begins today at Marina Green Park.

Other story lines include the absence of Karch Kiraly, who is resting his 46-year-old body this week, and the return of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who skipped the last AVP event in lieu of an international tour stop at Montreal.

But the reunion of Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer and the breakup of Holly McPeak and Logan Tom have had trickle-down effects that could change the face of the competition as the season begins its stretch run.

Long Beach is the first in a five-tournament stretch of double-points events where there is additional prize money because of the national television audience. And with six regular-season events remaining, it’s also not too late to accumulate enough points to qualify for two season-ending, guaranteed-money events.

“At this point in the season, there were going to be lots of changes,” Fuerbringer said. “With all the big tournaments coming up, it’s kind of now or never.”

Fuerbringer and Jennings spent the first 10 tournaments this season with other partners. They had the longest-running partnership on tour, but broke up despite finishing among the top four in the points standings for four consecutive seasons, from 2003 to ’06.

They won four times and reached the semifinals 21 times in 54 AVP tournaments, but split up thinking they could find greener pastures.

“Everyone has their wall,” Fuerbringer said. “Casey and I had that final-four wall and we wanted to see if we could get past it with someone else.”

Consistent final-four appearances sound pretty good now. Fuerbringer and Jennings each made the semifinals only twice in 10 tournaments this season with other partners.

“We got halfway through the season and it just wasn’t working out,” Jennings said of his time with Mark Williams. “We were fighting for thirds and fifths and I didn’t know if we could win. We could finish in the top 10, but you’re out here to win.”

Fuerbringer’s former partner, Sean Scott, has teamed with Dax Holdren, another reunited team. They had eight semifinal appearances in 15 tournaments last season, but did not win.

Those teams figure to threaten the dominance of the “Big Three” -- Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, and Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert -- teams that have combined to win every tournament this season.

The split of McPeak and Tom came after they made only one semifinal this season. McPeak is playing with Brittany Hochevar and Tom will play with Dianne DeNecochea as each scrambles to try to qualify for the season-ending events.

Neither team figures to threaten the dominance of May-Treanor and Walsh, who had won eight consecutive AVP events before missing the last one in New Jersey. They have also won three of four tournaments on the international tour.

peter.yoon@latimes.com