The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) pro beach volleyball tour will return to San Diego Friday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 3, for the first time since 2004. The rosters of 32 of men’s and women’s teams will begin play at 9 a.m. Friday on Mariner’s Point across from Belmont Park.
“San Diego has a tremendous community of volleyball enthusiasts,” said AVP commissioner Leonard Armato. “We are excited to return to San Diego and hope volleyball fans will come out and support the event so that we can come back every year.”
The AVP will make its 13th stop of the 2008 tour when it visits San Diego. This will be the fourth of six SoCal events on the 18-stop tour. In September, the tour will also visit Santa Barbara and Manhattan Beach.
Top San Diego players participating will include seventh-seed Diane DeNecochea who has teamed with veteran Barbra Fontana of Manhattan Beach this season to battle for a piece of the $210,000 payday every week.
“I am really excited to play at home. It has been a long time since 2004,” DeNecochea said at Long Beach July 26. “There will be a lot of friends and family who will be there. It will be great. We are going to want to play our best.”
DeNecochea and Fontana earned a season-best third place at Coney Island July 20.
The top two women’s and men’s teams will be off to the Olympic Games in Beijing and will miss the San Diego AVP Crocs Slam.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal will be on their way to China by the time the San Diego tournament begins.
“We won’t make it to San Diego this year,” said former longtime Crown Point resident Liz Masakayan in Long Beach. “I miss San Diego, but we have to go to Beijing sometime.”
Masakayan holds records for her pro beach victories. She is now coach to the women’s team of Youngs/Branagh.
The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games will be held Aug. 8, and the volleyball competition begins on Aug. 9.
Veteran players DeNecochea and partner Fontana are the only players on tour born in the ’60s. DeNecochea is now 40. Fontana is 42. Both were winning tournaments 15 years ago and continue to challenge every player on the tour.
At 5 feet, 6 inches tall, Fontana is the back-court defensive master while 6-foot, 4-inch DeNecochea dominates play at the net.
Both players are married and mothers of two children. Families and a lot of friends join them at each SoCal tournament.
Long Beach was a 24-team tournament. San Diego is scheduled to be a 32-team event. The larger format and the absence of the top two teams will open up the San Diego tournament to more local players to be successful than any other yet this season.
Other San Diego women who participated in the Long Beach tournament included Angela Lewis, who finished 5th and teamed with Priscilla Lima. Beth Van Fleet, Erin Byrd, Paige Davis, Lynne Brinkman and Carol Hamilton also represented San Diego at Long Beach.
During the season, Van Fleet and Davis have earned 9th-place finishes, while Byrd has earned a 5th.
On the men’s side, the San Diegans in competition at Long Beach included Mike Morrison of Encinitas. Morrison finished 9th, partnered with Ty Tramblie. Hans Stolfus, a former SDSU Aztec who was also at Long Beach, has moved to Costa Mesa. Stolfus was rookie of the year in 2005.
The San Diego event is scheduled to be a single-elimination tournament, so a lot of action will take place Friday, while Saturday will feature more intense play. Sunday the play will begin at 11 a.m., with men’s final at 2:30 p.m. and the women’s at 4 p.m.
The final SoCal stop will be in Manhattan Beach Sept 19 through 21. The format at the oldest place to host an event includes the eight most successful teams of the season versus eight teams who have to qualify in during a huge qualifying pre-tournament.
Information about the AVP, tournaments and players is available at www.avp.com.