AVP New Orleans Open Kicks-off with Qualifying Action Taking Place Today

NEW ORLEANS - April 15, 2016 - PRLog -- The 2016 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour kicked-off its season opener in the state of Louisiana for the second straight year, with men's and women's open qualifying action being played throughout the day by teams fighting for coveted spots in the main draw. Play in the 16-team, double-elimination main-draw tournament begins Friday, April 15 at 11:00am, and runs through Sunday's finals, which will be played on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

General admission for the AVP New Orleans Open is free. Premium ticket packages are available for fans who want to enjoy the tournament in style at www.avp.com/tickets.

Today featured open qualifying action for both men and women, with 41 men's teams battling for four spots into the main draw, and 27 women's teams looking to secure four berths into their main draw. The women's teams that advanced from open qualifying to the main draw were as follows:

• Kristine Monforte & Traci Morin
• Bree Scarbrough & Brittany Tiegs
• Aurora Davis & Traci Weamer
• Brook Bauer & Madison Fitzpatrick

Due to weather, the final qualification for the men's side will be held Friday morning starting at 8:30am.

Results and brackets from Thursday's open qualifiers can be found here:

Men: http://avp.com/stats/mens-new-orleans-open-2016/

Women: http://avp.com/stats/mens-new-orleans-open-2016/

Friday's highlighted matches include:

• 11:00am: The Crabb brothers (Traylor and Trevor), one of two sets of brothers competing in the open competition.
• 1:00pm: Top-seeded Kim DiCello and Kendra VanZwieten play a first-round match.
• 2:00pm: Jenny Kropp and Misty May-Treanor (a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist) begin their partnership with a first-round match.
• 2:20pm: Defending New Orleans champions Jake Gibb (a two-time Olympian) and Casey Patterson play a first-round match.

Play on Friday will feature a night session, which runs from 6pm-11pm, one of the few times on this year's AVP schedule that matches will be played under the lights.

Main draw brackets, including results and schedules, are available at:

Men: http://avp.com/stats/mens-new-orleans-open-2016/

Women: http://avp.com/stats/mens-new-orleans-open-2016/

Matches will be streamed live at www.avp. (http://www.avp.com/)com (http://www.avp.com/), with the men's and women's finals televised live on NBC. The AVP thanks its partners: Barefoot, Dasani, Jaybird, Samuel Adams, Smartypants Vitamins, Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine, and Wilson for their support of the AVP New Orleans Open.

ABOUT THE AVP:

The AVP, entering its 33^rd season, is the premiere American professional beach volleyball tour and exclusive U.S. beach volleyball home of the nation's top male and female athletes, including those who have won gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic Games. Under the ownership of Donald Sun since 2012, the AVP held seven tournaments across the U.S. in 2014, eight in 2015 and is scheduled for eight more throughout 2016.