AVP League playoffs: Nitro, Smash, Dream, Mayhem fight for inaugural title

The brave new world of the AVP League will further break from beach volleyball tradition with the introduction of a novel “Golden Set” tiebreaker in the playoffs.

The Golden Set will kick in if any of the four games of the AVP League Championship this weekend wind up with the men’s and women’s pairs splitting their matches. The tantalizing new element to the 15-point (win by two with no cap) tiebreaker is that both genders will influence the outcome.

The higher seeded team, as determined by match records over eight games of the League regular season, will receive the choice of whether to start the Golden Set with the men or the women. After one pair reaches eight points, the other pairs will finish the set.

Such strategic variables figure to make for compelling TV and spark debate among fans, not to mention that the winners and losers will be decided by the efforts of all of the teams’ players on the sand. Isn’t that how it should be?

How likely is it that a Golden Set might occur during the two semifinals on Saturday night or the third-place game or finals on Sunday afternoon?

Consider that the four teams left standing in the single-elimination playoffs at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, saw 46.8% of their combined 32 AVP League games finish in splits, 17 going 2-for-2 and 15 1-and-1. Given those odds, fans might want to familiarize themselves with the new procedure.

During the regular season, the League used a system awarding tiebreaker points in each match on a scale of three for a two-set victory, two for winning in three sets and one for a loss in a deciding third set. After eight weekends of competition, the four playoff teams were decided by the first standard, winning percentage, and no subsequent tiebreakers were needed.

On Saturday night, the top-seeded New York Nitro (12-4) will face the surging San Diego Smash (8-8), who earned their spot as the No. 4 seed in the semifinals by going 6-2 over the League’s last two weeks.

Also, the second-seeded Dallas Dream (11-5) will square off against the Miami Mayhem (10-6), the No. 3 seed. The winners will battle for the AVP League title on Sunday afternoon (nationally televised on CBS Sports Network) after the losers play in the third-place game.

The Nitro seemingly sit in the catbird’s seat because of the balance they enjoy between their two pairs. AVP Huntington Beach Heritage Series champions Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander on the men’s side and reigning women’s world champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes each went 6-2 during the regular season. The Nitro were the only team to see both pairs wind up with a better-than-.500 record. USA Olympians Cheng and Hughes hit a combined .528, best in the League among the eight female duos, and Kelly’s .550 attack percentage was No. 1 individually.

“It feels really good going into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, but we couldn’t have done it without our men’s (pair) doing really well, too, so overall it’s just a great team effort,” Hughes told Volleyball Magazine. “But I don’t necessarily think that being the 1 seed is a huge advantage coming into the (postseason). We’re going to go up against really good opponents.”

The Smash’s recent form validates Hughes’ statement. USA Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (4-4) are battle-tested. earning their spot in the Paris Games through clutch performances in the late stages of the qualifying process. Chase pointed out last weekend that he and Evans “play at the highest level, played in the Olympics, so pressure is nothing new to us.”

Crafty veteran Geena Urango and bubbly Toni Rodriquez (4-4) were lights-out over the last two League weekends, taking down USA Olympians Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss of the Austin Aces in a sweep and pulling out three-set victories over the Dream’s Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg and the LA Launch’s Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles. Their only setback came in a three-set heartbreaker (16-14 in the tiebreaker) against Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of the Palm Beach Passion.

Urango and Rodriguez have put tremendous pressure on their opponents from the serving line. The athletic 6-foot-1 Rodriguez is No. 1 among the League’s women in aces with an average of 1.05 per set. Cheng-Hughes swept the Smash pair in businesslike fashion 15-12, 15-11 in Week 3 of the League schedule, but Hughes remained wary.

“Geena and Toni are playing amazing and we always have a tough time playing against them,” Sara said. “Their serving has been unbelievable and we’re going to have to prepare for that. They’re going to try to get us out of system.

“Toni is a really good ‘delay’ blocker at the net. You have to be careful with a blocker who’s so sneaky. Then you have Geena. She’s a veteran, we have so much respect for her, and she’s playing great defense. We’re going to have to play our best to be able to beat them.

“When you look at the men’s side, our team is going to have to beat Chase and Miles, the Olympians,” Hughes added. “It’s not an easy route to the final.”

The Taylors needed three sets (15-11 in the tiebreaker) to top Budinger and Evans when they met in Week 3. Former NBA player Budinger seemingly has ratcheted up his game at the right time. Chase is the top percentage hitter, at .623, among the League’s men, but in the loss to the Nitro was held to a more-mortal .526 (12-for-19 against two errors).

Meanwhile, the semifinal between the Dream and the Mayhem features two compelling storylines: 1) Can the Dream’s Miles Partain and Andy Benesh extend their undefeated record? And 2) Will this be the last hurrah for Mayhem superstars April Ross and Alix Klineman, both of whom have announced that they will retire?

USA Olympians Pertain and Benesh (8-0) are the only team in either gender without a loss and that looms large, particularly if the X-factor of the Golden Set comes into play. The AVP Chicago Heritage Series champions won seven of their League matches in two sets, but the lone exception is telling.

The Mayhem’s Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (6-2), winners of the prestigious Manhattan Beach Open, took the first set against Partain and Benesh before losing 13-15, 15-9, 15-10 back in Week 3. Benesh was a beast with six kills on seven errorless attacks and two aces in the tiebreaker. But Trevor and Theo (the League’s No. 1 blocker among the men with 1.74 rejections per set) swept Miles and Andy in the MBO title match, and certainly sport the credentials to end that unbeaten streak.

Flipping to the women’s side, 2021 Olympic gold medalists Ross and Klineman (4-4) possess the big-match experience and have ample motivation to close out their storied careers as winners. During the festivities of the championship weekend in Southern California, the AVP will acknowledge their retirements.

But the fast-rising Dream duo of Harward and Deberg (3-5) poses a substantial threat. Hailey has turned into a digging machine, standing No. 1 among the women with 5.1 per set, and the 6-foot-4 Deberg has become more dominant at the net as the league has progressed. The kicker is that Harward and Deberg upset April and Alix in a three-set marathon (15-12, 12-16, 18-16) in Week 3, and swept the comebacking new moms in the AVP Huntington Beach bracket-style event back in May. The young Dreamers also stunned Kloth and Nuss last weekend, so it’s difficult to rate this match as anything but a toss-up.

The weekend streaming/TV schedule will see the semifinals on Saturday night and the third-place game on Sunday afternoon streamed live on the free Bally Live app and ballylive.com. Those six matches will be archived on the AVP’s free YouTube channel shortly after completion.

The AVP League final on Sunday will air exclusively on the CBSSN cable channel from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern. A replay will be shown at 11 a.m. Eastern. Those two matches from Sunday will go up on the AVP’s YouTube channel 10 days after the live telecast, in accordance with the AVP’s media-rights agreement with CBS Sports.

The weather outlook for Saturday and Sunday is excellent with minimal threats of rain under partly cloudy skies. Temperatures on Saturday night are forecast to be in the 60s with almost no wind. Sunday afternoon should have temperatures in the low 70s and wind blowing 8 mph from the southwest.

Here are the pairings for the AVP League Championship in the outdoor 7,259-seat tennis stadium at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California:

Saturday’s semifinals 

No. 2 seed Dallas Dream (11-5 in the regular season) vs. No. 3 seed Miami Miami Mayhem (10-6) 

Women (6 p.m. Pacific): Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dream, 3-5) vs. April Ross and Alex Klineman (Mayhem, 4-4).
Men (7 p.m.): Miles Partain and Andy Benesh (Dream, 8-0) vs. Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (Mayhem, 6-2).

No. 1 seed New York Nitro (12-4) vs. No. 4 seed San Diego Smash (8-8)

Men (8 p.m.): Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander (Nitro, 6-2) vs. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (Smash, 4-4).
Women (9 p.m.): Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (Nitro, 6-2) vs. Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez (Smash, 2-4).

Sunday

Third-place game (1 p.m. Pacific): Semifinal losers.
Championship game (3 p.m.): Semifinal winners.

NOTE: All games during the AVP League Championship are subject to a “Golden Set” tiebreaker if pairs split their matches, whether the matches end in two or three sets. The tiebreaking criteria used during the regular season will not be in effect.

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