Long Beach, United States, July 20, 2020 – April Ross/Alix Klineman and Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena were the winners of the first of the three tournaments of the 2020 AVP Champions Cup in Long Beach, California, on Sunday.
Ross and Klineman, the silver medallists of the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, won their eighth title in 13 AVP events together after a straight-set 2-0 (24-22, 21-19) victory over Sara Hughes and Canadian FIVB World Tour standout Brandie Wilkerson.
The second day of competition in Long Beach was a good summary of the 'A-Team'’s play overall as Alix and April topped Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 15-12) in a rematch of last year’s World Championships.
“When we’re down it actually fuels some of our best play because we get fired up and we start thinking about what we need to do to play better,” Klineman commented. “It wasn’t maybe our most consistent tournament but mentally, we were there, we had good attitudes, we were resetting. I’m proud of the way we battled.”
Pavan and Humana-Paredes shared the third place spot with Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil, the silver medallists of last year’s World Tour events in The Hague and Espinho, who also made it to the semifinals in Long Beach.
The men’s gold medal match saw Dalhausser and Lucena clash with Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb for the 14th time in three years – with five of these meetings taking place at AVP finals. The 40-year-olds tied the series between the teams at 7-7 after they prevailed 2-1 (21-19, 13-21, 15-13) to win their 13th title together on American sand.
“They’re one of the best teams in the world, so you just expect it's going three and 15-13, that’s what it was,” Lucena reacted afterwards. “I think Taylor is the best defender right now, so for me as a defender, I just want to play up to his level. It’s fun competing against someone like Jake, he’s one of the most mentally tough people, he’s tough to play against.”
The third-place spot in the men’s tournament was split by Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb and Chase Budinger/Chaim Schalk.