Two pairs earn coveted AVP League spots
Pro beach: Smith-Webber among the men and women's pair of Quiggle-Rice are victorious during the first no-prize-money qualifier on Huntington Beach
Hagen Smith and Logan Webber on the men’s side and Corinne Quiggle and Megan Rice on the women’s earned spots in the AVP League by winning the first single-elimination, no-prize-money qualifying tournament on Saturday on Huntington Beach.
Smith and Webber, seeded seventh, bounced Theo Brunner and Troy Field in the second round, Avery Drost and Wyatt Harrison in the semifinals and picked up the desirable AVP League berth (and its guaranteed appearance money) by sweeping fifth-seeded Seain Cook and Brian Miller 16-14, 15-9 in the final.
Cook and Miller moved into the title tussle after a three-set semifinals upset (15-12 in the tiebreaker) of top seeds Chaim Schalk and James Shaw, who were coming off a bronze-medal showing in the world tour Elite event in Quintana Roo.
The charismatic Smith, 30, is the son of all-time AVP great Sinjin Smith. The 6-foot-7 Webber, 29, has played on the domestic tour in earnest since 2019. Together they have one AVP victory, taken in the third-tier Virginia Beach Tour Series event in 2023. During the 2024 AVP season, they finished ninth in Huntington Beach, ninth in the Manhattan Beach Open and 13th in Chicago.
The second AVP League qualifier, also played under single-elimination, will be contested April 26 on Huntington Beach. The winners from that event also will receive spots in the summer League series.
The women’s final was a three-set barn-burner. Fourth-seeded Quiggle and Rice won the first set 15-13, seventh-seeded Whitmarsh and Newberry bounced back to take the second 15-12 and the back-and-forth-tiebreaker went to overtime. Consecutive top-spin jump-serve aces by Rice put an exclamation point on an 18-16 victory by Corinne and Megan.
Quiggle-Rice’s path through the single-elimination bracket almost was derailed in the opening round of the 16-team draw before pulling out a 15-13 tiebreaker against Amy Ozee and Hannah Rooks. Then they swept Xolani Hodel and Teegan Van Gunst 11 and 7 and took out top seeds Julia Scoles and Lexy Denaburg 18-16, 15-9.
Quiggle, who took the 2024 AVP season off, and Rice have never played together in an AVP or world-tour event.
Chacon sisters golden again
Alaina and Morgan Chacon made it back-to-back gold medals on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in Futures events when they defeated the Matsumotas, Ren and Non, of Japan in an air-tight three-setter in the final of the tournament in Songkhla, Thailand.
Indiana natives Alaina and Morgan, both of whom played collegiately for Florida State, pulled out a 21-19, 19-21, 20-18 victory in the gold-medal match to culminate a week that saw them go 1-1 during pool play and then win their three knockout round matches.
The Chacons took home gold last month in the Futures tournament in the tourney in Australia and were the bronze medalists in the New Zealand stop. They keep racking up points (if not prize money), with their first-place check this week worth $500 apiece.
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