Photographer Rick Atwood remained in Frisco and a gallery of his finest shots follow. Click on any picture to see complete size and make certain to offer him credit if you share.

The San Diego Smash cashed their long-shot ticket, rising from last location in the standings to an area in the playoffs in the last 2 AVP League weekends.

The Smash had actually prowled at 2-6, apparently out of sight and out of mind, in the League cellar for 4 successive weeks, sitting idle for the middle month of the series’ eight-week schedule.

But when they lastly struck the sand once again, the Smash’s duos of Chase Budinger–Miles Evans (4-4) and Geena Urango-Toni Rodriguez (4-4), produced vibrant outcomes. They won 3 of their 4 matches throughout Week 7 in Anaheim, California, raising them into the postseason hunt.

In the League’s 8th and last stop at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, over the weekend, the Smash created another 3-1 effort to complete 8-8. That made them the 4th and last area in the semifinals, which will be objected to on Saturday night (Nov. 9) at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

How fitting that on the weekend the thoroughbred Breeders’ Cup extravaganza was raced “where the surf meets the turf” at historical Del Mar, the beach-volleyball group representing close-by San Diego closed like champs down the stretch.

The other group to receive the semifinals, the Dallas Dream, would have rewarded the chalk gamers. With Miles Partain and Andy Benesh putting the completing discuss an unbeaten routine season, the Dream won 3 of their 4 matches to land the No. 2 seed at 11-5. The Austin Aces (7-9) and LA Launch (5-11) saw their postseason hopes rushed, both going 1-3.

The rising Smash got strong footing on Saturday night when smart veteran Urango and the bubbly Rodriguez clawed to a 12-15, 15-11, 16-14 success over Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg of the Dream.

Consecutive aces by the 6-foot-1 Rodriquez got the Smash off to a roaring 4-1 start in the 2nd set. After the Dream duo knotted the count at 7, the Smash scored “real” points on 2 more service winners by Toni and an attack mistake by Deberg. The Dream were not able to cut onto that four-point cushion.

Geena and Toni developed a 10-5 benefit in the tiebreaker, however up-and-comers Harward and Deberg would not decrease silently, ultimately drawing even at 14 when Hailey dug Urango and scored in shift down the line with a shot that clipped the tape. However, Harward sent out a float serve simply long and Geena closed the program with an ace down the middle.

“Toni is the yin to my yang, so it’s an awesome balance,” Urango stated, as the ever-smiling Rodriguez chimed in, “I love it!”

Budinger and Evans came down with Partain and Benesh 15-12, 16-14 in a match pitting 2024 U.S.A. Olympians. The 2nd set was nip-and-tuck throughout with a kill on a second-ball choice by Chase connecting it at 14. Evans then crashed into the web, sustaining an infraction, in attempting to deal with a tight 3rd ball, and Budinger waffled a spike long on the choice for the last nail in the casket. The 6-foot-9 Benesh called a beast striking portion of .833 (10-for-12 with no mistakes) as the success by the Dream secured a playoff berth.

The motivating word for the Smash was that the Aces and Launch likewise had actually divided their matches in the opening session’s other video game, leaving all 3 alive for the last semifinal area heading into Sunday’s action.

Urango and Rodriguez stepped up once again versus the Launch’s Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles (3-5) taking out a 2nd three-set success (15-13, 12-15, 15-11), and removing the LA group from playoff contention. They burst 12-8 separation in the tiebreaker on a tape-snake ace by Rodriguez and Toni’s rejection of Scoles’ choice effort, then scored the match-winner on a darting hybrid-float service winner by Rodriguez that Julia might touch with just one arm.

Rodriquez tape-recorded 4 blocks, 3 digs and struck .625 (11-for-16 versus one mistake), plus 3 more aces ran her weekend count to 8. Toni’s average of 1.05 aces per set was tops amongst the League’s 16 ladies.

“When I’m on the court with Geena, she makes me feel that I can be my best,” Rodriguez stated. “The more we play together, the better we get, and it’s just frickin’ awesome.”

With the goal in sight, Chase and Miles required simply 25 minutes to put a 15-11, 15-8 beatdown on the Launch’s Tim Bomgren and Troy Field (2-6), who had actually rebounded from a dreadful very first set to exceed Billy Allen and (a hobbling) Paul Lotman of the Aces in 3 (7-15, 15-13, 15-9) the night before. Former NBA gamer Budinger increased to the event in the must-win circumstance with 11 eliminates on 14 errorless attacks (.786), one block and 3 digs.

“We play at the highest level, played in the Olympics, so pressure is nothing new to us,” Chase stated. “We just had to trust our game plan, trust what our coaches have given us and play as comfortably as we can.”

Now all the Smash required was a little assistance from the Dream, considering that the Aces needed to win both matches to snare the 4th playoff berth. The most tiebreaker points the Aces might score in a split was 4, which would put them even with the Smash because classification, however the Smash owned the benefit in the 2nd tiebreaker (head-to-head outcome) thanks to going 2-for-2 in Week 7.

U.S.A. Olympians Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (4-4) had actually finished the job for the Aces on Saturday, removing the Launch’s Flint and Scoles 12-15, 15-12, 15-12 behind Taryn’s 4 blocks and Kristen’s 17 digs. But spirited children Harward and Deberg (3-5) of the Dream, who had actually extended both sets to overtime in a loss to TKN (as they are called) on Week 2, increased to a greater level this time.

Hailey and Kylie shocked Kloth and Nuss 17-15, 12-15, 15-7, dominating in a lengthy opening set and putting the hammer down early in the tiebreaker versus among the elite groups on the planet. The active 6-foot-4 Deberg notched 3 of her 7 blocks in the 3rd set, while the fleet Harward got 8 of her 18 digs. Kloth struck .226 and Nuss .200 for the match.

Smash in, Aces folded.

Pertain and Benesh (8-0) then clinched the No. 2 seed in the semifinals with a workmanlike 15-11, 15-13 success over Allen and Lotman (3-5), restricting the veterans to a combined .148 attack portion (11-for-27 versus 7 mistakes). Andy was dandy once again, going 11-for-14 with one mistake (.714) with 2 aces.

The just unbeaten League set in either gender, Partain and Benesh were pressed to 3 sets as soon as, by the Miami Mayhem’s Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner. They will reunite in the semifinals.

“There are great teams in this league,” Benesh stated. “We’re playing the best teams in America, so to go undefeated all season has been really special. We played well every match, but it also takes luck, and I think we got lucky at certain times.”

The Saturday night event at the 4,000-seat Comerica Center (completely sized for volley ball) seemed the biggest of any of the 16 regular-season League sessions, filling the majority of the areas noticeable on the Bally Live app’s stream on the sideline and both end line. Sunday afternoon’s crowd was significantly smaller sized, following the pattern seen throughout these League weekends.

The 4 matches from Saturday and the very first 2 used Sunday throughout Week 8 in Frisco (a Dallas-Fort Worth suburban area) are archived on the AVP’s complimentary YouTube channel. The last 2 matches on Sunday aired solely on CBS Sports Network through tape hold-up and will be published to YouTube 10 days after the live telecast, in accordance with the AVP’s media-rights contract with CBS Sports.

Here are the pairings for the AVP League Championship on Nov. 8 and 9 outdoors in the 7,259-seat tennis arena at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California:

Saturday 

Semifinals 

No. 2 seed Dallas Dream (11-5; Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, 8-0; Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg, 3-5) vs. No. 3 seed Miami Mayhem (10-6, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, 6-2; April Ross and Alex Klineman, 4-4).

No. 1 seed New York Nitro (12-6, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander, 6-2; Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, 6-2) vs. No. 4 seed San Diego Smash (8-8; Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, 4-4; Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez, 4-4).

Sunday

Third-location match:  Semifinal losers. Championship:  Semifinal winners.

Roll shots

— The AVP will utilize an unique “Golden Set” as the tiebreaker in all of the postseason video games. If groups divided their 2 matches, no matter whether they end in 2 sets or 3, a Golden Set of 15 points (win by 2 without any cap) including the males’s and ladies’s sets from both teams will identify the winner. The greater seeded group will have the choice of picking whether the males or the ladies will begin the set. When one ratings 8 points, the groups will change sets along with sides (with the net height changed) and those duos will complete the set.

— Olympic gold medalist Alix Klineman on Monday revealed her retirement from competitive volley ball in a poignant video on Instagram. Alix will sign up with partner April Ross in making the AVP League Championship her swan tune. Klineman, 34, stated that she was retiring to dedicate more time to her household, that includes kid Theo, born in June.

The post AVP League: Smash — Budinger-Evans, Urango-Rodriguez — get into playoffs appeared initially on Volleyballmag.com.