AVP Gold Series Chalks Up Another Success!

(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: Let the world’s beach volleyball fans know that AVP Gold Series, 2022 Manhattan Beach Open Tournament has come to a rousing and  exciting close with surprising twists in the outcome of both the Men’s and Women’s Divisions respectively.

Pro Beach volleyball was the sport to see and Manhattan Beach was certainly the place to be from the opening Day, Thursday, August 18th to today, Sunday, August 21.

All who played and all who spectated couldn’t have been happier to experience one the most inviting and exciting sports spectacles that was created, thanks in great pat to AVP. Many thanks for including us on your media distribution list. We really enjoyed bringing coverage of this outstanding event to our viewers.

Here’s our brief summary of the Final day of competition)—For the Men’s Division, in semifinal #1, (1) Theo Brunner and Chaim Schalk defeated the #7 seed Andy Benesh and Miles Evans, in two straight sets. On the other bracket, Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb beat the #5 seed, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander, in two out of three sets.

In the Championship match Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, playing as the #2 seeded team, pulled off a big upset by defeating the #1 seed, Theo Brunner and Chaim Shalk in two sets.

And in the Women’s Division, the #2 seeded Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske first defeated the #1 seeded, Sarah Sponscil and Terese Canon to win their semifinal, and moved on to Finals. In the other bracket, Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint stopped their opponents, the 5 seeded  Zana Muno and Brandie Wilkerson in two out of three sets to complete the Finals match-up.

In the Gold Series tournament format, both Men’s and Women’s semifinalist winners earned the right to compete for the Tournaments’ highly coveted  Championships.

Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb secure back-to-back wins at the AVP Gold Series Manhattan BeachOpen 

MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA (AUGUST 21, 2022) – Second-seeded Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske culminated their battle through the contenders’ bracket Sunday by securing their first ever AVP Gold Series Manhattan Beach Open victory – joining beach volleyball’s legends with a plaque on the Manhattan Beach Pier Walk of Fame.  

On the men’s side, second-seeded Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb defended their Manhattan Beach Open title, as Crabb won the tournament for a third straight playing and Bourne won his second consecutive MBO. 

For Hughes and Kolinske, the women’s final was an opportunity to get revenge on third-seeded Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint, who knocked them into the contenders’ bracket in a fourth-round sweep Saturday afternoon. While Cheng and Flint were the statistical favorites, going undefeated all tournament and boasting three of three wins against this duo, Hughes and Kolinske were the crowd favorites and relied on the energy of their friends, families and fans to pull out a 21-18, 11-21, 15-13 win in the women’s final. 

“I think the fans see how hard we’re working. We are grinding. We are never giving up. We are working with our trainer. We’re working with our coach, Evie (Matthews), on all the little things,” explained Hughes. “I really truly believe that (the fans) see that and appreciate that.” 

The men’s final was an exact replica of the Fort Lauderdale Open final matchup, featuring Bourne and Crabb across the net from top-seeded Brunner and Schalk. While Bourne and Crabb swept the number one seed in straight sets along the Atlantic, they had to battle through a third set here on Pacific sand. Although Bourne and Crabb struggled to make it into the finals earlier this season, they found their groove and have secured AVP victories from coast to coast. Sunday, they cruised to a 21-17, 21-14 victory in the men’s final. 

Crabb became the first male player to win the Manhattan Beach Open three straight times since Olympic gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers did it as a pair from 2006-08. 

The AVP Gold Series Manhattan Beach Open ran Thursday through Sunday and featured 32 men’s and 32 women’s teams competing in the main draw for a $300,000 purse, tied for the largest of the season. It was the tenth event in a 2022 AVP schedule that includes 16 tournaments in 12 states across the country and offers $2 million in prize money – the most comprehensive tournament slate for the AVP since 2009. 

Complete brackets for both the men’s and women’s draw can be viewed here. 

Sunday’s Notable Results 

Men: 

Women: