The courageous new world of the AVP League will additional break from seaside volleyball custom with the introduction of a novel “Golden Set” tiebreaker within the playoffs.
The Golden Set will kick in if any of the 4 video games of the AVP League Championship this weekend wind up with the boys’s and ladies’s pairs splitting their matches. The tantalizing new aspect to the 15-point (win by two with no cap) tiebreaker is that each genders will affect the end result.
The upper seeded staff, as decided by match information over eight video games of the League common season, will obtain the selection of whether or not to begin the Golden Set with the boys or the ladies. After one pair reaches eight factors, the opposite pairs will end the set.
Such strategic variables determine to make for compelling TV and spark debate amongst followers, to not point out that the winners and losers will probably be determined by the efforts of the entire groups’ gamers on the sand. Isn’t that the way it must be?
How probably is it {that a} Golden Set would possibly happen through the two semifinals on Saturday evening or the third-place sport or finals on Sunday afternoon?
Contemplate that the 4 groups left standing within the single-elimination playoffs at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in Carson, California, noticed 46.8% of their mixed 32 AVP League video games end in splits, 17 going 2-for-2 and 15 1-and-1. Given these odds, followers would possibly need to familiarize themselves with the brand new process.
In the course of the common season, the League used a system awarding tiebreaker factors in every match on a scale of three for a two-set victory, two for profitable in three units and one for a loss in a deciding third set. After eight weekends of competitors, the 4 playoff groups had been determined by the primary normal, profitable share, and no subsequent tiebreakers had been wanted.
On Saturday evening, the top-seeded New York Nitro (12-4) will face the surging San Diego Smash (8-8), who earned their spot because the No. 4 seed within the semifinals by going 6-2 over the League’s final two weeks.
Additionally, the second-seeded Dallas Dream (11-5) will sq. off towards the Miami Mayhem (10-6), the No. 3 seed. The winners will battle for the AVP League title on Sunday afternoon (nationally televised on CBS Sports activities Community) after the losers play within the third-place sport.
The Nitro seemingly sit within the catbird’s seat due to the steadiness they get pleasure from between their two pairs. AVP Huntington Seaside Heritage Collection champions Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander on the boys’s facet and reigning ladies’s world champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes every went 6-2 through the common season. The Nitro had been the one staff to see each pairs wind up with a better-than-.500 document. USA Olympians Cheng and Hughes hit a mixed .528, greatest within the League among the many eight feminine duos, and Kelly’s .550 assault share was No. 1 individually.
“It feels actually good going into the playoffs because the No. 1 seed, however we couldn’t have performed it with out our males’s (pair) doing very well, too, so total it’s only a nice staff effort,” Hughes informed Volleyball Journal. “However I don’t essentially suppose that being the 1 seed is a large benefit coming into the (postseason). We’re going to go up towards actually good opponents.”
The Smash’s current kind validates Hughes’ assertion. USA Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (4-4) are battle-tested. incomes their spot within the Paris Video games via clutch performances within the late levels of the qualifying course of. Chase identified final weekend that he and Evans “play on the highest stage, performed within the Olympics, so stress is nothing new to us.”
Artful veteran Geena Urango and bubbly Toni Rodriquez (4-4) had been lights-out over the past two League weekends, taking down USA Olympians Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss of the Austin Aces in a sweep and pulling out three-set victories over the Dream’s Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg and the LA Launch’s Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles. Their solely setback got here in a three-set heartbreaker (16-14 within the tiebreaker) towards Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of the Palm Seaside Ardour.
Urango and Rodriguez have put large stress on their opponents from the serving line. The athletic 6-foot-1 Rodriguez is No. 1 among the many League’s ladies in aces with a mean of 1.05 per set. Cheng-Hughes swept the Smash pair in businesslike trend 15-12, 15-11 in Week 3 of the League schedule, however Hughes remained cautious.
“Geena and Toni are taking part in superb and we all the time have a tricky time taking part in towards them,” Sara stated. “Their serving has been unbelievable and we’re going to have to organize for that. They’re going to attempt to get us out of system.
“Toni is a extremely good ‘delay’ blocker on the internet. It’s important to watch out with a blocker who’s so sneaky. Then you’ve gotten Geena. She’s a veteran, we have now a lot respect for her, and she or he’s taking part in nice protection. We’re going to need to play our greatest to have the ability to beat them.
“Whenever you have a look at the boys’s facet, our staff goes to need to beat Chase and Miles, the Olympians,” Hughes added. “It’s not a simple path to the ultimate.”
The Taylors wanted three units (15-11 within the tiebreaker) to high Budinger and Evans after they met in Week 3. Former NBA participant Budinger seemingly has ratcheted up his sport on the proper time. Chase is the highest share hitter, at .623, among the many League’s males, however within the loss to the Nitro was held to a more-mortal .526 (12-for-19 towards two errors).
In the meantime, the semifinal between the Dream and the Mayhem options two compelling storylines: 1) Can the Dream’s Miles Partain and Andy Benesh prolong their undefeated document? And a pair of) Will this be the final hurrah for Mayhem superstars April Ross and Alix Klineman, each of whom have introduced that they may retire?
USA Olympians Pertain and Benesh (8-0) are the one staff in both gender with no loss and that looms massive, notably if the X-factor of the Golden Set comes into play. The AVP Chicago Heritage Collection champions received seven of their League matches in two units, however the lone exception is telling.
The Mayhem’s Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (6-2), winners of the celebrated Manhattan Seaside Open, took the primary set towards Partain and Benesh earlier than shedding 13-15, 15-9, 15-10 again in Week 3. Benesh was a beast with six kills on seven errorless assaults and two aces within the tiebreaker. However Trevor and Theo (the League’s No. 1 blocker among the many males with 1.74 rejections per set) swept Miles and Andy within the MBO title match, and positively sport the credentials to finish that unbeaten streak.
Flipping to the ladies’s facet, 2021 Olympic gold medalists Ross and Klineman (4-4) possess the big-match expertise and have ample motivation to shut out their storied careers as winners. In the course of the festivities of the championship weekend in Southern California, the AVP will acknowledge their retirements.
However the fast-rising Dream duo of Harward and Deberg (3-5) poses a considerable risk. Hailey has become a digging machine, standing No. 1 among the many ladies with 5.1 per set, and the 6-foot-4 Deberg has change into extra dominant on the internet because the league has progressed. The kicker is that Harward and Deberg upset April and Alix in a three-set marathon (15-12, 12-16, 18-16) in Week 3, and swept the comebacking new mothers within the AVP Huntington Seaside bracket-style occasion again in Could. The younger Dreamers additionally shocked Kloth and Nuss final weekend, so it’s tough to fee this match as something however a toss-up.
The weekend streaming/TV schedule will see the semifinals on Saturday evening and the third-place sport on Sunday afternoon streamed stay on the free Bally Dwell app and ballylive.com. These six matches will probably be archived on the AVP’s free YouTube channel shortly after completion.
The AVP League last on Sunday will air completely on the CBSSN cable channel from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Jap. A replay will probably be proven at 11 a.m. Jap. These two matches from Sunday will go up on the AVP’s YouTube channel 10 days after the stay telecast, in accordance with the AVP’s media-rights settlement with CBS Sports activities.
The climate outlook for Saturday and Sunday is superb with minimal threats of rain below partly cloudy skies. Temperatures on Saturday evening are forecast to be within the 60s with nearly no wind. Sunday afternoon ought to have temperatures within the low 70s and wind blowing 8 mph from the southwest.
Listed here are the pairings for the AVP League Championship within the outside 7,259-seat tennis stadium on the Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in Carson, California:
Saturday’s semifinals
No. 2 seed Dallas Dream (11-5 within the common season) vs. No. 3 seed Miami Miami Mayhem (10-6)
Girls (6 p.m. Pacific): Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dream, 3-5) vs. April Ross and Alex Klineman (Mayhem, 4-4).
Males (7 p.m.): Miles Partain and Andy Benesh (Dream, 8-0) vs. Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (Mayhem, 6-2).
No. 1 seed New York Nitro (12-4) vs. No. 4 seed San Diego Smash (8-8)
Males (8 p.m.): Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander (Nitro, 6-2) vs. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (Smash, 4-4).
Girls (9 p.m.): Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (Nitro, 6-2) vs. Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez (Smash, 2-4).
Sunday
Third-place sport (1 p.m. Pacific): Semifinal losers.
Championship sport (3 p.m.): Semifinal winners.
NOTE: All video games through the AVP League Championship are topic to a “Golden Set” tiebreaker if pairs break up their matches, whether or not the matches finish in two or three units. The tiebreaking standards used through the common season won’t be in impact.