The beach volleyball teams of Macy Jerger/Megan Rice and Hagen Smith/Logan Webber won the women’s and men’s championships Sunday at the $20,000 AVP Tour Series Virginia Beach Open.
It was the first AVP title at any level for both tandems. Like the other $20K tournaments on the schedule, the Virginia Beach Open is a springboard toward larger AVP events, which carry prize money of $125,000 or $300,000.
The top four women’s teams and men’s pairs earned entry into tbhe main draw of AVP Pro Series Hermosa Beach Open, set for July 7-9 in California.
The women’s teams that secured spots are Jerger/Rice, Lexy Denaburg/Carly Kan, Kelly Reeves/Jessica Gaffney and Ashley Pater/Sarah Wood. The men’s teams are Smith/Webber, John-Michael Plummer/Lev Priima, John Hamilton/Travis Mewhirter and Andrew Dentler/Jacob Landel.
The tournament began with an open qualifier Friday, followed by 24-team main draws for women and men. After pool play, 16 men’s and 16 women’s pairs competed in single-elimination brackets.
Jerger and Rice, the fifth seeds, knocked off top-seeded Kimberly Hildreth/Teegan Van Gunst 23-25, 21-14, 15-11 in the semifinals. In the final, Jerger and Rice overcame third-seeded Carly Skojdt and Geena Urango 22-20, 21-16.
The hardest challenge in single elimination for Smith and Webber came against top-seeded Billy Allen and Alison Cerutti – a three-time Brazilian Olympian and 2016 gold medalist – in the final, a 21-13, 22-20 match.
Smith is the son of beach volleyball Hall of Famer Sinjin Smith, who won 139 tournaments between 1977 and 2001 and represented the United States in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
