The top seeded teams on the AVP Tour took home the domestic San Francisco Open titles on Sunday from California.
April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings met the third-place finishers from New York last week, Kelly Claes-Sara Hughes, taking them down for the top prize. Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson earned their second title of the 2016 season.
For Ross and Walsh Jennings, it marks their 12th AVP victory as a team, second consecutive in 2016. The pair met the San Francisco Open runners-up in the third round this week, winning in three, 17-21, 21-18, 17-15, only to see them again two matches later.
After winning against Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar in the semifinals, 21-13, 21-18, Ross and Walsh Jennings gritted out the victory in 53 minutes against the USC juniors, 21-17, 21-13.
To reenter the picture for the semifinals, Claes and Hughes beat 11-seeded Ali McColloch and Kelly Reeves, 21-13, 21-10, from the contender’s bracket. The No. 13-ranked pair then upset No. 2 Lane Carico and Summer Ross, 21-15, 23-21, for their first appearance in an AVP Tour finals.
No. 5 Day and Hochevar used three wins from the contender’s bracket to make their way back into the picture, only to be stopped short by the top-ranked Ross and Walsh Jennings.
Top-ranked Gibb and Patterson earned their second AVP title of the year, following up on their Huntington Beach victory. It’s their 12th AVP title together.
The AVP Tour’s next stop is July 14-17 at the Manhattan Beach Open.
By Corinne Calabro/USA volleyball
By Corinne Calabro/USA volleyball
By Corinne Calabro/USA volleyball