AVP League: Retiring Ross, Miami Mayhem set for weekend in Oceanside

One of the greatest players to ever grace the sand, April Ross, told her legion of fans that she would retire from competitive beach volleyball after the AVP League season.

The formal announcement came on Monday in a post on April’s social-media accounts, but the news hardly came as a surprise, since her impending exit from the sport had been referenced multiple times by announcers during the League series.

“It is with a very fulfilled and grateful heart, and also some tears, that I am announcing my retirement (after the end of this AVP League season),” Ross, 42, wrote. “Eighteen years, 16 seasons, four quads – I’m glad I can say I lived it to the fullest and that it was an absolute BLAST. At the same time, I’m in disbelief it’s (almost) over, it feels like it went by in a heartbeat.”

After a stellar career as an indoor player (her USC teams were back-to-back NCAA champions in 2002 and ‘03, going 69-1), Ross forged a legacy of success and longevity on the beach that compares favorably with all-time American greats such as Karch Kiraly, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, Kent Steffes, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.

She owns Olympic medals of every color (each earned with different partners), a world championship and 74 titles in domestic or international tournaments, which ranks third-best worldwide among women behind Kerri and Misty. Her 41 first-place finishes on the AVP tour, which she joined in 2006, were won with six partners.

The AVP plans to hold a retirement ceremony for her on November 9 at the League Championship. But before that, fans have at least three more opportunities to see Ross compete.

April and Alix Klineman, the gold medalists in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, will play their last two matches of the League’s regular season this weekend at the spanking new 7,500-set Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California, north of San Diego. Their Miami Mayhem team, at 7-5, is in a strong position to qualify as one of the four squads that will advance to the single-elimination postseason.

Ross and Klineman are an up-and-down 3-3 in the League. They took significant victories over the reigning silver medalists from the Paris Games, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (Palm Beach Passion) of Canada and also defeated Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez (San Diego Smash). Returning to the sand from lengthy layoffs after giving birth, April and Alix have dropped matches against Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (New York Nitro), Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (Austin Aces), and Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dallas Dream).

The last go-round of the regular season presents challenges for the decorated  Mayhem pair. Ross-Klineman will face Manhattan Beach Open runners-up Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles (2-2) of the 3-5 LA Launch, a more-than-capable duo, on Saturday night. Their match on Sunday afternoon against Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon of the Brooklyn Blaze will air as part of the CBS Sports Network’s two-hour live telecast (5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern).

Kraft and Cannon come into Week 6 with a 2-4 record for the 4-8 Blaze, but last weekend in Delray Beach, Florida, the up-and-comers handed Cheng and Hughes (USA Olympians and the reigning world champions) their first League loss, and they also are the only pair to have beaten Kloth and Nuss (also USA Olympians and the Manhattan Beach Open winners).

Competing in the League has given Ross the chance to bid adieu to her myriad supporters before moving into her new job as the coach of the beach-volleyball program at El Camino College, a public community college in Los Angeles County.

“I didn’t want to leave the sport just by fading away,” April said in an interview with NBC Sports. “I wanted to play again, if only to retire. Essentially, that’s what this (AVP League) season has turned out to be, kind of like a farewell tour.

“This phase has made me appreciate how hard I worked for the entirety of my career. Now that I’m a little bit removed and trying to get back to a level that is competitive, I have so much more appreciation for how much actual commitment, dedication, sacrifice it took for all those years trying to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal.”

Also on the women’s side this weekend at Frontwave Arena – which opened for business in September – Kraft and Cannon will battle Harward and Deberg (1-3) on Saturday night, while Flint and Scoles are matched against the young Dream duo on Saturday afternoon.

The men’s pair representing the Mayhem, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (4-2), seemingly would be the “on paper” favorites in both of their matches.

The Manhattan Beach Open champions will meet the Launch’s hard-luck Tim Bomgren and Troy Field (1-3) on Saturday night. All of the losses incurred by Bomgren-Field have gone to a tiebreaker. Trevor and Theo then square off against Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook, who came into the weekend 2-4 with half of their matches extending to three sets.

Meanwhile, the Dream’s Miles Partain and Andy Benesh are 4-0 and the only undefeated pair left in the League among the 16 in both genders.

Seeking to upset the USA Olympians and AVP Chicago champs will be Caldwell-Cook (Saturday night) and Bomgren-Field (Sunday afternoon). The matchup between Partain-Benesh and Caldwell-Cook figures to score high on the flash scale since both pairs employ a fast-paced, jump-setting offensive scheme.

Standings implications are profound for the Blaze, who likely must sweep all four of their matches to have any hope of making the playoffs. At two games under .500, the Launch would greatly benefit from a better-than-break-even weekend. Going even 2-2 figures to put the Mayhem into the postseason. And a split or better would keep the Dream solidly in the mix to finish among the top four.

The weekend streaming/TV schedule will see the two games on Saturday night and the first game on Sunday 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 second game on Sunday will be telecast live exclusively on the CBS Sports Network cable channel.

Here are the lineups at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside for the sixth of eight regular-season AVP League weekends:

Saturday 

Miami Mayhem (7-5) vs. LA Launch (3-5) 

Women (6 p.m. Pacific): April Ross and Alix Klineman (Mayhem, 3-3) vs. Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles (Launch, 2-2).
Men (7 p.m.): Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (Mayhem, 4-2) vs. Tim Bomgren and Troy Field (Launch, 1-3).
Brooklyn Blaze (4-8) vs. Dallas Dream (5-3)
Women (8 p.m.): Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon (Blaze, 2-4) vs. Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dream, 1-3).
Men (9 p.m.): Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook (Blaze, 2-4) vs. Miles Partain and Andy Benesh (Dream, 4-0).

Sunday

Dallas Dream vs. LA Launch

Women (1 p.m. Pacific): Harward–Deberg (Dream) vs. Flint-Scoles (Launch).
Men (2 p.m.): Pertain-Benesh (Dream) vs. Bomgren-Field (Launch).
Brooklyn Blaze vs. Miami Mayhem
Women (3 p.m.): Kraft-Cannon (Blaze) vs. Ross-Klineman (Mayhem).
Men (4 p.m.): Caldwell-Cook (Blaze) vs. Crabb-Brunner (Mayhem).

The results from each match in the series will count toward determining the four qualifiers for the bracket-style championship rounds on Nov. 9 and 10 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Each team will play four regular-season games. The first criterion for advancing to the playoffs is team winning percentage.

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