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The New York Nitro threw down the gauntlet by profitable all 4 of its matches because the sand-breaking AVP League made its debut this previous weekend.
Tabbed as one of many preseason League favorites, the Nitro’s dynamic duos of USA Olympians and reigning world champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes and fan favorites Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander collectively dropped one set whereas defeating the Brooklyn Blaze on Saturday night time and the LA Launch on Sunday afternoon on the Los Angeles Tennis Heart on the campus of UCLA.
“We’ve acquired a fantastic vibe occurring with our staff. The Taylors are superior,” Hughes mentioned after hitting .900 (9-for-10 with no errors) and making 11 digs in a 17-15, 15-9 victory over the Launch’s Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles that closed out Sunday’s doubleheader.
Crabb and Sander weathered no little adversity in pulling out an air-tight 14-16, 17-15, 15-12 conquer Tim Bomgren and Troy Area of the Launch. Crabb this weekend ditched the athletic footwear and tube socks he wore to guard an harm to his left foot throughout a run to the Heritage Collection remaining in Chicago two weeks in the past.
A relentless theme of the primary two twin payments was how the shorter units to fifteen factors (somewhat than the usual 21-21-15 best-of-three format utilized in bracket-style occasions) created a right away sense of urgency
“You’ve acquired to return out robust, which is a problem for us as a result of generally we come out sluggish and end quick,” Cheng mentioned.
The primary set towards Flint and Scoles mirrored that tendency. Cheng-Hughes trailed 12-8 — an enormous gap to crawl out of — after the 6-foot-1 Scoles’ thunderous kill from eight ft off the web that chiseled Cheng’s block.
However three consecutive factors on Flint’s service error, Hughes’ spike in transition and a double referred to as on Scoles’ hand-set gave the Nitro pair new hope. They survived two set factors, pulling even at 14 on an open-net detonation by Hughes, then gained a one-point edge on a intelligent again bump to the far cross-court nook by Cheng. Hughes put an exclamation level on the set by calmly digging Scoles’ scorching spike, hovering excessive off of the newly laid jumper’s sand on the UCLA tennis stadium, and pounding down a ball previous a frantically retreating Scoles.
The groups performed even by means of the primary half of the second set, till a knuckle-poke by Flint sailed simply previous the baseline and the Blaze’s ladies discovered themselves at a 9-6 drawback that grew from there.
Cheng and Hughes gained the primary match in League historical past, opening the present on Saturday night time with a 15-13, 16-14 victory over the Blaze’s Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon. Hughes’ fleet ft once more performed a key position at a pivotal time. A 3-point push late within the first set was highlighted by Sara’s spectacular diving back-bump set that positioned Kelly for a straight-down dart, giving them a 13-11 lead. A back-and-forth second set was selected Hughes’ rising float-serve ace that ate up Cannon and a kill in transition by Cheng, who hit .481 (16-for-27 with three errors) whereas including six digs, a block and an ace.
The favored Taylors dispatched Cody Caldwell and Seain Prepare dinner of the Blaze in workmanlike style 15-10, 15-11, limiting Caldwell to .176 effectivity (7-for-17 with 4 errors). The Nitro’s 4-0 report earned 11 “tiebreaker” factors, three for every two-set sweep and two for a three-set triumph.
The San Diego Smash had been subsequent greatest within the standings after the opening weekend with a 2-2 mark and 5 tiebreaker factors. The Launch and the Blaze every completed 1-3 with 4 tiebreaker factors.
USA Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans of the Smash took a 13-15, 15-11, 16-14 nail-biter over Bomgren and Area on Saturday night time. The climactic factors within the tiebreaker got here when former NBA participant Budinger gained a joust on the web with Bomgren and Evans dialed up a top-spin jump-serve winner that break up the center.
Nonetheless, on Sunday, Caldwell and Prepare dinner produced arguably the largest shock of the weekend, taking down Budinger and Evans 15-12, 15-13. Caldwell bounced again in an enormous manner with 10 kills on 14 makes an attempt with one error (.643) three blocks and two aces.
Additionally splitting matches for the Smash had been Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez. Urango shrugged off relentless service stress to report 21 kills on 36 swings towards 5 errors (.444) and 11 digs in a 15-12, 11-15, 15-13 victory on Sunday over Kraft and Cannon. Rodriguez acquired solely 13 makes an attempt within the three-setter, however contributed three aces and three blocks.
On Saturday, Urango and Rodriguez dropped a heartbreaker to Flint and Scoles, failing to transform two match factors throughout a marathon second set, earlier than falling 9-15, 19-17, 15-12. The deciding level within the demoralizing second set was scored by Scoles on a tape-snake ace that trickled over the web.
Week 1 of the League was streamed reside on the Bally Reside app and the matches have been archived on the AVP’s free YouTube channel.
The 4 different groups within the AVP League will make their debuts on Week 2, when the sequence seeks to realize ticket-buying traction on Sept. 21-22 with doubleheaders each days on the Laborious Rock Tennis Heart in Miami Gardens, Florida. The venue is a part of the Miami Dolphins’ Laborious Rock Stadium advanced.
Listed here are the lineups for the second of eight regular-season League weekends:
Saturday: Austin Aces (Paul Lotman and Billy Allen; USA Olympians Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss) vs. Dallas Dream (USA Olympians Miles Partain and Andy Benesh; Kylie Deberg and Hailey Harward). Palm Seashore Ardour (Phil Dalhausser and Avery Drost; Paris Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada) vs. Miami Mayhem (Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner; 2021 Tokyo Olympic gold medalists April Ross and Alix Klineman).
Sunday: Aces vs. Mayhem and Dream vs. Ardour.
The outcomes from every match within the sequence will go towards figuring out the 4 qualifiers for the bracket-style championship rounds on Nov. 9 and 10 on the Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in Carson, California.
