AVP League play made its way to the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday afternoon as the San Diego Slam earned a hard-fought sweep over the Austin Aces, dashing the Aces’ chances for a spot in the AVP League championships.
San Diego Slam’s Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez defeated Austin’s 2024 Olympic duo of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss in straight sets to get the Slam started.
Urango and Rodriguez swept Austin’s Kloth and Nuss, 15-10 and 15-12, but it took a complete effort from the Slam to pull off the win.
“We know we needed to do well these last couple of weeks, but it’s one of those things where you go into it like you don’t have anything to lose, ” Urango said. “We came out aggressive and played free, having fun.”
The Slam’s duo had to dig deep as they trailed early in each set, but the pair didn’t worry as they kept their composure and held on to win.
The Slam finished with eight aces in the match, which Rodriguez said was the difference maker.
“It’s always really important to put pressure on the opponent … it’s always important to keep the pressure on in these short matches,” Rodriguez noted. “I felt like we never let them off the hook.”
The 2024 Olympic team of Chase Budinger and Miles Evans of the San Diego Slam followed up their teammates’ victory with a win of their own.
Budinger and Evans rallied after dropping the first set for a 15-13, 16-14, 15-10 triumph over Billy Allen and Paul Lotman of the Austin Aces.
Budinger emphasized how he and Evans played off momentum set by Urango and Rodriguez.
“Our girls set the tempo in a huge, huge win over TKN (Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss),” Budinger said. “We had to match the energy and come out and get that win too. It was a huge win for both of us.”
Budinger, a former NBA player who made the transition to beach volleyball, said playing the Honda Center reminded him of his days on the hardwood.
“In this new AVP League format, we’re playing in these arenas and every time I walk in, it brings back a lot of memories because this is what I was used to playing in the NBA,” Budinger said.
The Palm Beach Passion’s duo of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes came into their match facing arguably the best duo in the league in Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng of the New York Nitro.
Hughes and Cheng took a commanding 1-0 set lead and looked to be in control of the second set before Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson worked some late-set magic and evened it up at 1-1. The Paris Olympic silver medalists completed the comeback, picking up an important 15-11, 15-13, 15-13 win.
“There’s tons on the line right now, we know that. We know what’s at stake right now … and that’s taking control of every game we can,” Humana-Paredes said. “We’re not gonna let the ball drop that easily.”
The final match saw the most dominant performance of the night. Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander of the New York Nitro defeated Phil Dalhausser and Avery Drost of the Palm Beach Passion in straight sets to pick up the 15-7 and 15-8 win.
Sander was dominant from behind the service line and near the net. He would finish with four aces and five blocks as he helped led the Nitro to a bounceback win. He credited his play to his demeanor heading into the match.
“Just playing loose, the last couple stops I’ve been a little bit uptight. Just going out there having fun and just playing,” Crabb said.
“We had a good game plan … we came out and executed it,” Crabb said. “Everything felt on time, me and him (Taylor Sander) synchronized perfectly. Our timings matched up tonight and we didn’t give anything away.”
The AVP League will continue play on Nov. 2-3 at the Comerica Center in Dallas before the league championship Nov. 9-10 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.
