A couple of notes about our VolleyballMag 2023 AVP Awards:
- The awards are subjective, as awards go, and we get pleasure from debating them. There was no polling course of. The awards have been selected a combination of stats, finishes, and movie from tournaments all through the 2023 AVP season.
- We didn’t consider Tour Collection occasions, aside from Rookie of the Yr and Most Improved.
- To qualify for a 2023 AVP Award, a participant should have competed in 10 foremost draw matches in Professional or Gold Collection occasions.
Beforehand: The 2023 AVP males’s award story
HERMOSA BEACH, California — There was little incentive for followers of girls’s seaside volleyball to depart the USA this summer season. Why catch a 10-plus-hour flight and pay hundreds of {dollars} to hit Gstaad or Ostrava or Doha when you could possibly simply go to New Orleans or Huntington Seashore or Atlanta or Chicago and see 5 groups ranked within the high 10 on the earth battle it out at residence as a substitute?
Certainly, this season offered a humiliation of riches in ladies’s seaside volleyball on the AVP Tour, a pattern that can solely proceed because the expertise manufacturing unit that’s the NCAA churns out one precocious prospect after one other. That embarrassment of riches offered an intriguing query this season on the AVP: Who was the perfect group in America?
It’s a query that actually hasn’t wanted asking for the reason that flip of the 21st century, for there was Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty Could-Treanor, then Walsh Jennings and April Ross, then Ross and Alix Klineman — one dominant dynamo after the subsequent. However with each Ross and Klineman out for the 2023 season with infants on the best way, it left a gulf, and a query to be answered: Who would take the mantle?
For months, no one may very well be fairly positive.
Nonetheless, greater than seven months after the primary serve, there is no such thing as a definitive reply.
Brandie Wilkerson gained the primary AVP of her profession in Miami alongside her new associate, Melissa Humana-Paredes. Maybe, armed with Wilkerson’s new leap serve, the Canadians have been the standard-bearer.
Then Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes gained again to again titles, in New Orleans and Huntington Seashore, recording wins over each Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth.
They wouldn’t win once more.
Neither would Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson.
The ultimate two tournaments by which each high group performed — Atlanta and Chicago, each Gold Collection occasions — went the best way of Nuss and Kloth. They gained Atlanta with out dropping a set and took Chicago with consecutive wins over Cheng and Hughes, and Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes, the identical group they vanquished within the Chicago finals in 2022.
By the point the ultimate ball hit the sand in Chicago, the AVP boasted 4 groups — Cheng and Hughes, Nuss and Kloth, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles — within the high 10 of the Olympic rankings, and would have had a fifth had Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil caught collectively (Sponcil is now prepping for an inaugural season with the Grand Rapids Rise of the Professional Volleyball Federation).
To decide on between the highest two — Cheng and Hughes, Nuss and Kloth — was a Sisyphean process. Cheng and Hughes completed 2023 with a 16-2 report to Nuss and Kloth’s 16-4. Each gained two of 4 AVPs and completed third within the two they didn’t win. Their head-to-head on the AVP was cut up at one win apiece. If we have been to incorporate the World Championships as an element, the nod would go to Cheng and Hughes, who gained the primary USA gold medal since 2009, when Ross and Jen Kessy took residence the enduring Stavanger Sword. However when deciding AVP awards, we use completely AVP outcomes. And when a choice between two groups is a coin flip, the deciding issue — for me — comes right down to the magnitude of the occasions gained.
Nuss and Kloth gained Gold Collection occasions.
Cheng and Hughes gained Professional Collection occasions.
We measure legacies in tour-based sports activities on the majors — what number of US Opens have you ever gained? Wimbledon? Masters?
On the AVP, for now, the Gold Collection are the majors. Provided that each groups skipped the Manhattan Seashore Open to play the Hamburg Elite16, it got here right down to the remaining Gold Collection occasions, in Atlanta and Chicago, each of which have been gained by Nuss and Kloth.
Which is why, in the end, Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth are the VolleyballMag 2023 AVP Staff of the Yr.
Honorable Point out
Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes
Brandie Wilkerson, Melissa Humana-Paredes
Betsi Flint, Julia Scoles
2023 AVP MVP: Taryn Kloth
Taryn Kloth’s dominance on each side of the ball this season is tough to overstate. She led the AVP in each significant class for her place — amongst these with the minimal 10 matches performed — rating first in hitting share (.516), blocks per set (1.41), complete tender blocks (84) and tender blocks per set (1.85). She tacked on 26 aces to simply 41 errors, including one other layer to the more and more unsolvable riddle that’s the Nuss-Kloth protection. A lot of the credit score for that protection is due, in fact, to Nuss, who digs extra balls than anybody on the earth, however that credit score can’t come on the disservice of Kloth, who had probably the most environment friendly season on the internet than anybody on the AVP.
Once you’re the No. 1 offensive participant and the perfect blocker, that’s recipe for the 2023 AVP MVP.
Honorable Point out
Brandie Wilkerson
Kristen Nuss
Kelly Cheng
2023 AVP Offensive Participant of the Yr: Taryn Kloth
The controversy amongst gamers for Offensive Participant of the Yr is an intriguing one. Phil Dalhausser was voted Finest Offensive Participant eight occasions in his profession between the FIVB and the AVP. But his good pal and longtime associate, Nick Lucena, argued, pretty, that Dalhausser shouldn’t win the award as a result of he was so hardly ever on offense… exactly as a result of he’s such an elite offensive participant.
An analogous argument may very well be made for Taryn Kloth.
Like Dalhausser did for thus a few years, Kloth led the AVP in hitting share however completed simply twenty fifth in complete assaults. An absence of assaults is a kind of unusual indicators of an incredible offensive participant, not like in basketball or indoor volleyball, the place your finest offensive participant will lead in makes an attempt. The AVP-leading .516 share at which Kloth hit this 12 months is proof sufficient that it’s, certainly, unwise to provide her the ball. It helps, in fact, that Nuss is without doubt one of the finest setters on the earth, however that shouldn’t take away from how effectively Kloth performed in 2023, as a result of not solely was Kloth hyper-efficient at placing the ball away, she additionally hardly ever, if ever, gifted opposing groups free factors.
In her 428 complete assaults, she hit simply 37 errors, a fee of simply 8 p.c, lowest among the many 4 gamers in rivalry for Finest Offensive Participant. When combining highest hitting share with the bottom error fee, you’ve the right components to be the Finest Offensive Participant.
Honorable Point out
Brandie Wilkerson
Kelly Cheng
Julia Scoles
2023 AVP Defensive Participant of the Yr: Kristen Nuss
There is no such thing as a participant on the planet who digs extra balls than Kristen Nuss. Her 303 complete digs on the 2023 season have been 90 lower than Betsi Flint’s main 393, however at 6.31 digs per set, Nuss picked up 1.5 digs extra per set, main the Tour. Among the many gamers who completed high 20 in complete digs, solely Brandie Wilkerson, Sara Hughes, and Sarah Sponcil had a better hitting share than Nuss’ .420, an indicator that not solely was Nuss digging probably the most of any participant on the AVP, she was additionally terminating these transition alternatives at a excessive clip — practically 5 p.c greater than in 2022.
If there ever have been an award the place there may be a unanimous opinion, this may be it.
Honorable Point out
Sara Hughes
Melissa Humana-Paredes
Hailey Harward
2023 AVP Blocker of the Yr: Taryn Kloth
Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are a kind of uncommon groups who’re larger than the sum of their components on the defensive finish. A lot of this may be attributed — and is, in each post-tournament interview with Nuss and Kloth — to their coach, Drew Hamilton. He has helped each gamers maximize their strengths, permitting them to be excellent enhances to the opposite. Is Kloth going to make the massive, dynamic strikes of, say, a Brandie Wilkerson? Or pull with the frequency and fluidity of a Kelly Cheng? No. Kloth may be probably the most disciplined, elementary blocker on the AVP Tour. She is aware of she has the perfect defender on the earth patrolling the court docket behind her. She is aware of that if she takes her area, with good, sturdy blocking strikes, it’ll take a Herculean effort for groups to constantly facet out towards them. And it does.
Kloth, in being precisely who Nuss wants her to be, led the AVP in blocks per set (1.41), tender blocks, and tender blocks per set. That’s each single class a blocker would need to lead. All of the whereas, she completed the season with simply three — three! — miscellaneous errors, that are attributed to internet touches, foot faults, and doubles or lifts. So she inflicted all of that harm whereas virtually by no means making an error herself on the internet.
Honorable Point out
Brandie Wilkerson
Kelly Cheng
Julia Scoles
2023 AVP Server of the Yr: Betsi Flint
This class could effectively at some point be named the Betsi Flint Award, as it’s hers and hers alone. Her 66 aces led the AVP by 15, with Brook Bauer coming in second at 51. It isn’t the 44-ace lead she had on April Ross on the finish of the 2019 season, however such is the usual Flint has set on the service line: A 15-ace lead over second place appears virtually ho-hum.
She was an incredible server earlier than ever working with John Mayer, who had a imply serve himself and has since taught a number of others the darkish arts of the float serve. However since Mayer started serving to out the place he might, her float has turn out to be a dancing satan, a quick, flat, spinless knuckle ball that may convey her again from any deficit — see: Montreal Elite16 quarterfinals — or break open a devastating lead. Whereas Ross earned nearly all of her aces on jump-serves — similar goes for honorable mentions Brandie Wilkerson and Julia Scoles — Flint is ready to decrease the danger whereas protecting the rewards greater than anybody on the AVP.
Honorable Point out
Brandie Wilkerson
Julia Scoles
Brook Bauer
2023 AVP Most Improved: Brook Bauer
This class, together with Rookie of the Yr, goes to be one of many stiffest when it comes to competitors for so long as seaside volleyball is an NCAA sport. The quantity of younger expertise making big strides on the AVP is astounding, however nobody made greater strides this season than Brook Bauer. A 12 months in the past, Bauer needed to come out of the qualifiers in Tour Collection occasions. This season? She had 4 top-five finishes in Professional or Gold Collection occasions, added a seventh in Manhattan Seashore, and closed the 12 months with a second in Laguna with Megan J. Rice (extra on her under). She is now ranked No. 18 on the AVP, a foremost draw mainstay the place a number of Sundays seemingly await her future come 2024.
Honorable Point out
Lexy Denaburg
Deahna Kraft
Carly Kan
2023 AVP Rookie of the Yr: Megan J. Rice
Who is aware of what would have occurred had Toni Rodriguez not damage her knee within the Denver Tour Collection. Who is aware of what would have occurred had Savvy Simo not referred to as Megan J. Rice with a day to spare previous to the Hermosa Seashore Open. Who is aware of what would have occurred had AVP Every part Man Josh Glazebrook not given Simo an additional hour to seek out an damage sub. And who is aware of what would have occurred had Rice performed within the Waupaca Tour Collection as a substitute of staying at residence in Hermosa to, she thought, cheer on her boyfriend, Troy Area, and spend her birthday at residence.
As a result of that is what occurred: Rodriguez did get damage, Glazebrook granted Simo an additional hour to seek out somebody, Simo referred to as Rice, Rice stated sure as a result of she was residence and never in Wisconsin, after which they promptly made the finals of the AVP Hermosa Seashore Professional Collection.
To borrow a phrase: “Boy, that escalated shortly.”
Rice proved her finals run in Hermosa, in her first skilled foremost draw, was no fluke, ending within the high 10 in Atlanta with Betsi Flint, Manhattan Seashore with Brook Bauer, and Chicago with Emily Stockman. Lastly taking part in a second occasion with the identical associate in Laguna, Rice completed runner-up alongside Bauer. An impressive debut that included a contact of serendipity, and a heavy dose of capitalizing on one alternative after the subsequent.
Honorable Point out
Maddie Anderson
Jaden Whitmarsh
Alaina Chacon
2023 AVP Coach of the Yr: Drew Hamilton
Dying, taxes, and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth lavishing all reward and credit score to their success upon their coach, Drew Hamilton. Such are the three issues we are actually assured of in life.
Hamilton is without doubt one of the most mysterious males in seaside volleyball. He has remained as far out of the limelight as he can, to the purpose that, when AVP emcee Mark Schuermann tried to interview him after Nuss and Kloth gained Atlanta with out a lot as dropping a set, he leaned into the mic and stated, quietly: “Women performed good.” Then he leaned again and tried to vanish out of the body. He gained’t take credit score for the success of Nuss and Kloth, which is why Nuss and Kloth will take any alternative they will to heap it upon him.
There’s a main cause probably the greatest groups in America has remained in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fairly than making the transfer to California, and that cause is Drew Hamilton. There’s a cause that Kloth, nonetheless comparatively new to the seaside, has transitioned from a 6-foot-4 exterior hitter right into a blocker on the seaside with among the finest ball management on the earth, and Hamilton performs a big function in that. There’s a cause Nuss has among the most beautiful imaginative and prescient of any participant on the earth; that’s additionally a credit score to Hamilton.
He gained’t take the credit score for himself, so permit Nuss and Kloth to take action of their post-match interviews, and permit us to do it right here, as Drew Hamilton is the 2023 Coach of the Yr.
Honorable Point out
April Ross
Jordan Cheng
Dan Waineraich
The Carly Kan Most Underrated Award: Katie Horton
Other than the Eric Zaun Award — given to Wyatt Harrison this 12 months — the Most Underrated is my favourite award on this listing. There are such a lot of proficient gamers, and it’s typically the quiet ones with out the flash and sizzle of their video games or the viral reels on social media who go unnoticed. This regardless of being supremely proficient gamers with wonderful outcomes.
That’s Katie Horton.
Final 12 months was Horton’s first competing full-time on the AVP whereas touring to the occasional Seashore Professional Tour occasion. It was a superb begin, with foremost attracts in each occasion she performed and a runner-up end on the Huntington Tour Collection.
In 2023, she greater than doubled that success. Her prize cash jumped from $5,550 to $13,925 regardless of solely taking part in yet one more occasion. 5 occasions, she completed fifth or higher, together with in Miami, Hermosa Seashore, and, critically, Atlanta. A little bit of an all the things girl, she blocks, performs protection, can facet out on both facet, and put collectively a 20-29 ace-to-error ratio, a fee that made her some of the environment friendly servers on the AVP.
And in true Most Underrated vogue, she’s now touring to a couple late Problem occasions with Ms. Underrated herself: Carly Kan.
Honorable Point out
Brook Bauer
Terese Cannon
Teegan Van Gunst
