Olympians Cruise Through First Day of AVP Manhattan Beach Open

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - July 15, 2016 - PRLog -- The 32-team women's and men's AVP Manhattan Beach Open draws had plenty of action spread across the historic Manhattan Beach Pier Friday, with U.S. Olympians Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson all advancing to Saturday's action undefeated. Play in the double-elimination main-draw tournament continues tomorrow at 8 a.m. and runs through Sunday's finals, which will be televised live on NBC at noon PT.

On the women's side, the Rio-bound tandem of Fendrick and Sweat zipped past Michelle Iafigliola/Jennifer Solm 21-16, 21-9 and Katey Schroeder / LeeAnn Starr 21-17, 21-11. Top seeded Lane Carico and Summer Ross swept Jess Clausen and Xi Zhang, 21-17, 21-16, then dispatched Aurora Davis/Bree Scarbrough 21-8, 23-21. Other women's teams with a clean sheet going into tomorrow's play include Sheila Shaw/Emily Stockman, Angela Bensend/Geena Urango, Jennifer Fopma/Jennifer Kessy, Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar, Whitney Pavlik/Amanda Dowdy, and Kim DiCello/Kendra VanZwieten.

For the men, top-seeded Gibb and Patterson topped Andy Ces/Dylan Maarek 21-17, 21-15 in the first round and followed with a 22-20, 21-16 win over Paul Araiza/Alejandro Parra in the second round. Second seeds Dalhausser and Lucena stopped Connor Hughes and Travis Woloson 21-13, 21-17, then beat Ed Ratledge/Adam Roberts, 21-19, 21-17. The heralded Crabb brothers, Taylor and Trevor, seeded fourth, defeated Marcas Black and Teddy Cook 21-11, 21-11, then advanced with a win over Casey Jennings and Robbie Page 21-16, 21-14 in their second match of the day. Rounding up tomorrow's remaining undefeated teams are Todd Rogers/Stafford Slick, Ryan Doherty/John Mayer, Tri Bourne/John Hyden, Billy Allen/Theo Brunner, and Jeremy Casebeer/Sean Rosenthal.

After Main Draw play ended on Stadium Court on Friday, Reggie Bush, San Diego-native and NFL Super Bowl winning running back, continued his charity weekend at the AVP Manhattan Beach Open with a celebrity volleyball tournament. Joined on the sand by his friends from the NFL, NBA, and Hollywood including Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate, Matt Barnes, Dashon Goldson, Marcedes Lewis, Andre Branch, Jeryl Scott, Sue Lasmar, Jessica Arevelo, Sarah Rice, and Paige Hathaway, as well as some of AVP's own Emily Day, Brittany Hochevar, Kristin Hildebrand, and Alix Klineman, the celebrity volleyball tournament, which saw Reggie Bush and his team win it all, was part of the Reggie Bush Charity Weekend which helps raise money for two charities (St. Jude Children's Hospital and The Birthday Party Project) Reggie feels represent the most important things in a child's life: health and happiness

Results and brackets from Friday's action and Saturday's schedule can be found here:

Men: http://avp.com/stats/mens-manhattan-beach-open-2016/

Women: http://avp.com/stats/womens-manhattan-beach-open-2016/

Saturday's highlighted matches include:

• 8 a.m., Lane Carico / Summer Ross (1) vs. Sheila Shaw / Emily Stockman (9)
• 9 a.m., Lauren Fendrick / Brooke Sweat (3) vs. Emily Day / Brittany Hochevar (6)
• 8 a.m., Jake Gibb / Casey Patterson (1) vs. Todd Rogers / Stafford Slick (8)
• 8 a.m., Taylor Crabb / Trevor Crabb (4) vs. Ryan Doherty / John Mayer (5)
• 9 a.m., Phil Dalhausser / Nick Lucena (2) vs. Jeremy Casebeer / Sean Rosenthal (7)

In addition to the world's finest volleyball talent, the AVP Manhattan Beach Open doubles as the ultimate beach festival with fun interactive activities, high energy music, great food and more. The AVP Manhattan Beach Open is the seventh stop on the AVP's 2016 schedule, and the last time fans can see the Olympians play before they head to Brazil. General Admission is free. Premium packages and VIP seating can be purchased at https://avp.ticketspice.com/mbo-ticketing. Matches will be streamed live at www.avp.com with the men's and women's Finals televised live on NBC.

The AVP thanks its partners: Barefoot, Jaybird, Samuel Adams, Smartypants Vitamins, Wescom, Hydro Flask, Obrigado, Ocean Spray, UCLA Health and Wilson for their support of the AVP Manhattan Beach Open.

ABOUT THE AVP:

The AVP, entering its 33rd 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 eight throughout 2016.