2 Manhattan Beach Players Out, 1 Left in AVP Wilson Cup Tourney

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —On Friday, two Manhattan Beach beach volleyball athletes competed in the AVP's Wilson Cup qualifying matches in Long Beach. But making it into this weekend's Main Draw matches just wasn't in the cards for Jace Pardon and Lane Carico. The good news, though, is that Alix Klineman of Manhattan Beach and partner April Ross, who won last weekend's AVP Monster Hydro Cup, start their quest tomorrow morning to win another AVP tourney and perhaps the Champions Cup, sans an in-person audience. The tourney is livestreamed.

Carico and partner Karolina Marciniak lost to Allie Wheeler and Corinne Quiggle, 18-21, 21-19 and 14-16 in heated competition. Pardon and Emily Hartong (Karissa Cook, her usual partner, is out with an elbow injury) handily defeated Molly Turner and Kathryn Hogan, 21-14 and 21-10. The duo then lost to Emily Day and Lauren Fendrick in a hard-fought match, 25-27 and 17-21, eliminating them from the tourney. Day and Fendrick beat their next competitors to clinch a berth in the Wilson Cup Main Draw. Klineman and Ross are the number 1 seeds and play at 8:15 a.m. tomorrow against Wheeler and Quiggle.

The Association of Volleyball Players canceled its 2020 season due to the international COVID-19 pandemic and pivoted to holding three events in Long Beach as part of the 2020 AVP Champions Cup Series. The new format awards six pairs with slots in the Main Draw. Two more slots are available through a one-day qualifying tournament, which was held today.

The Wilson Cup consists of 8 Main Draw teams (per gender) — 6 auto entries based on Monster Hydro Cup Seeding Index and 2 teams from Friday’s Qualifiers, which took place today. The Wilson Cup will be a $200K prize purse.

The Wilson Cup, the second weekend of competition in the three-weekend Champions Cup, will crown its own champions and award those teams with the Wilson Cup. However, every match and every point will affect each team’s run in the race to the Champions Cup and the additional $50K bonus purse per gender.

Saturday, July 25th
Main Draw Tournament

• Competition 8:15 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sunday, July 26th
Championship Rounds

• Competition 8:15 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
  • Women’s Final–12:45 p.m.
  • Men’s Final–2 p.m

*Competition times are subject to change and can be watched on Amazon Prime.