One of many best gamers to ever grace the sand, April Ross, informed her legion of followers that she would retire from aggressive seashore volleyball after the AVP League season.
The formal announcement got here on Monday in a put up on April’s social-media accounts, however the information hardly got here as a shock, since her impending exit from the game had been referenced a number of instances by announcers throughout the League sequence.
“It’s with a really fulfilled and grateful coronary heart, and likewise some tears, that I’m asserting my retirement (after the tip of this AVP League season),” Ross, 42, wrote. “Eighteen years, 16 seasons, 4 quads – I’m glad I can say I lived it to the fullest and that it was an absolute BLAST. On the identical time, I’m in disbelief it’s (virtually) over, it feels prefer it glided by in a heartbeat.”
After a stellar profession as an indoor participant (her USC groups had been back-to-back NCAA champions in 2002 and ‘03, going 69-1), Ross solid a legacy of success and longevity on the seashore that compares favorably with all-time American greats akin to Karch Kiraly, Misty Could-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, Kent Steffes, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.
She owns Olympic medals of each colour (every earned with completely different companions), a world championship and 74 titles in home or worldwide tournaments, which ranks third-best worldwide amongst girls behind Kerri and Misty. Her 41 first-place finishes on the AVP tour, which she joined in 2006, had been gained with six companions.
The AVP plans to carry a retirement ceremony for her on November 9 on the League Championship. However earlier than that, followers have at the very least three extra alternatives to see Ross compete.
April and Alix Klineman, the gold medalists within the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, will play their final two matches of the League’s common season this weekend on the spanking new 7,500-set Frontwave Enviornment in Oceanside, California, north of San Diego. Their Miami Mayhem crew, at 7-5, is in a powerful place to qualify as one of many 4 squads that can advance to the single-elimination postseason.
Ross and Klineman are an up-and-down 3-3 within the League. They took important victories over the reigning silver medalists from the Paris Video games, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (Palm Seaside Ardour) of Canada and likewise defeated Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez (San Diego Smash). Returning to the sand from prolonged layoffs after giving beginning, April and Alix have dropped matches in opposition to Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (New York Nitro), Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (Austin Aces), and Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dallas Dream).
The final go-round of the common season presents challenges for the adorned Mayhem pair. Ross-Klineman will face Manhattan Seaside Open runners-up Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles (2-2) of the 3-5 LA Launch, a more-than-capable duo, on Saturday night time. Their match on Sunday afternoon in opposition to Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon of the Brooklyn Blaze will air as a part of the CBS Sports activities Community’s two-hour reside telecast (5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Japanese).
Kraft and Cannon come into Week 6 with a 2-4 file for the 4-8 Blaze, however final weekend in Delray Seaside, Florida, the up-and-comers handed Cheng and Hughes (USA Olympians and the reigning world champions) their first League loss, and so they are also the one pair to have overwhelmed Kloth and Nuss (additionally USA Olympians and the Manhattan Seaside Open winners).
Competing within the League has given Ross the possibility to bid adieu to her myriad supporters earlier than transferring into her new job because the coach of the beach-volleyball program at El Camino Faculty, a public group school in Los Angeles County.
“I didn’t need to go away the game simply by fading away,” April mentioned in an interview with NBC Sports activities. “I needed to play once more, if solely to retire. Basically, that’s what this (AVP League) season has turned out to be, type of like a farewell tour.
“This part has made me admire how onerous I labored for the whole lot of my profession. Now that I’m a bit of bit eliminated and attempting to get again to a degree that’s aggressive, I’ve a lot extra appreciation for the way a lot precise dedication, dedication, sacrifice it took for all these years attempting to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal.”
Additionally on the ladies’s facet this weekend at Frontwave Enviornment – which opened for enterprise in September – Kraft and Cannon will battle Harward and Deberg (1-3) on Saturday night time, whereas Flint and Scoles are matched in opposition to the younger Dream duo on Saturday afternoon.
The lads’s pair representing the Mayhem, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (4-2), seemingly could be the “on paper” favorites in each of their matches.
The Manhattan Seaside Open champions will meet the Launch’s hard-luck Tim Bomgren and Troy Area (1-3) on Saturday night time. All the losses incurred by Bomgren-Area have gone to a tiebreaker. Trevor and Theo then sq. off in opposition to Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook dinner, who got here into the weekend 2-4 with half of their matches extending to 3 units.
In the meantime, the Dream’s Miles Partain and Andy Benesh are 4-0 and the one undefeated pair left within the League among the many 16 in each genders.
In search of to upset the USA Olympians and AVP Chicago champs can be Caldwell-Cook dinner (Saturday night time) and Bomgren-Area (Sunday afternoon). The matchup between Partain-Benesh and Caldwell-Cook dinner figures to attain excessive on the flash scale since each pairs make use of a fast-paced, jump-setting offensive scheme.
Standings implications are profound for the Blaze, who seemingly should sweep all 4 of their matches to have any hope of creating the playoffs. At two video games below .500, the Launch would drastically profit from a better-than-break-even weekend. Going even 2-2 figures to place the Mayhem into the postseason. And a break up or higher would hold the Dream solidly within the combine to complete among the many high 4.
The weekend streaming/TV schedule will see the 2 video games on Saturday night time and the primary recreation on Sunday streamed reside on the free Bally Reside app and ballylive.com. These six matches can be archived on the AVP’s free YouTube channel shortly after completion. The second recreation on Sunday can be telecast reside solely on the CBS Sports activities Community cable channel.
Listed here are the lineups on the Frontwave Enviornment in Oceanside for the sixth of eight regular-season AVP League weekends:
Saturday
Miami Mayhem (7-5) vs. LA Launch (3-5)
Girls (6 p.m. Pacific): April Ross and Alix Klineman (Mayhem, 3-3) vs. Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles (Launch, 2-2).
Males (7 p.m.): Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (Mayhem, 4-2) vs. Tim Bomgren and Troy Area (Launch, 1-3).
Brooklyn Blaze (4-8) vs. Dallas Dream (5-3)
Girls (8 p.m.): Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon (Blaze, 2-4) vs. Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dream, 1-3).
Males (9 p.m.): Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook dinner (Blaze, 2-4) vs. Miles Partain and Andy Benesh (Dream, 4-0).
Sunday
Dallas Dream vs. LA Launch
Girls (1 p.m. Pacific): Harward–Deberg (Dream) vs. Flint-Scoles (Launch).
Males (2 p.m.): Pertain-Benesh (Dream) vs. Bomgren-Area (Launch).
Brooklyn Blaze vs. Miami Mayhem
Girls (3 p.m.): Kraft-Cannon (Blaze) vs. Ross-Klineman (Mayhem).
Males (4 p.m.): Caldwell-Cook dinner (Blaze) vs. Crabb-Brunner (Mayhem).
The outcomes from every match within the sequence will depend towards figuring out the 4 qualifiers for the bracket-style championship rounds on Nov. 9 and 10 on the Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in Carson, California. Every crew will play 4 regular-season video games. The primary criterion for advancing to the playoffs is crew profitable share.
