The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) made their second SoCal stop of 2008 in Hermosa Beach June 6-8. Top San Diego players who participated included fifth-seed Dianne DeNecochea, who reached the fifth-round quarterfinals before being bumped out Saturday morning, a game short of the finals.
The 7th of 18 AVP tournaments this season proved to be another battle among very competitive teams where games are decided by just two or three mistakes.
“I’m excited about the season. We took a third in Charleston,” DeNecochea said. “We have been playing well. We just need to execute more at some critical moments.”
Veteran players DeNecochea and partner Barbra Fontana are the only players on tour who were born in the 1960s. DeNecochea is now 40 while Fontana is 42. Both were winning tournaments 15 years ago.
“We have good chemistry,” DeNecochea said. “We are training real hard, but it’s difficult to practice when she lives in Manhattan (Beach) and I’m in San Diego. We travel each way once a week. But we are pros and we’re making ourselves prepared.”
The pair are coached by one of their peers during the 1990s, Angela Rock of Encinitas.
Fontana was an All-American at Stanford, then she went to the beach and has been a top contender on the tours ever since. She has 20 pro victories to her credit.
At 5 foot 6 inches, Fontana is the back-court defensive master while at 6 feet 4 inches, DeNecochea dominates the net.
San Diegan DeNecochea has built a career since college in Tennessee while competing on the National Team, the Bud-4 beach tour, some pro indoor play and time in European leagues before concentrating on AVP beach competition.
Both players are married and mothers of two children. Families and a lot of friends were among the fans at courtside in Hermosa Beach.
“We all love it when the family is able to go to the tournaments together,” DeNecochea said while husband Joel kept track of their daughters at courtside. “It can be a long day, but it’s a fun time at the beach.”
Other San Diego women who were successful in the Hermosa Beach main draw included Janelle Koester, Katie Lindquist, Alicia Polzin, Angela Lewis, Beth Van Fleet, Angela McHenry and Lisa Rutledge.
In the second round, Lindquist and sister Tracy took eventual semi-finalists to the final point of the tiebreaker before slipping into the contender’s bracket. The Lindquists made it to the fourth round.
Polzin also made it to the fourth round before being taken out by DeNecochea.
The eventual winners at Hermosa were the dominant teams this season ” Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh on the women’s side. The team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers prevailed on the men’s side. Both teams have won six of the seven AVP tournaments this year.
On the men’s side, the San Diegans in competition at Hermosa were Hans Stolfus and Mike Morrison. Seeded 18 and 16 respectively, both teams made it to the third round. Both teams were taken out by the eventual tournament finalists.
Stolfus, from San Diego and a former SDSU Aztec, was partnered with Larry Witt. Stolfus was rookie of the year in 2005.
“I’m optimistic about the season,” DeNecochea added. “We are always in contention. Plus during some of the remaining tournaments, some of the top teams will be off at FIVB (international) tournaments ” so anything can happen.”
The AVP tour will next be in Belmar, New Jersey. On July 24-27 they will be back in SoCal when the AVP returns to Long Beach. The following week, the AVP tour returns to San Diego for the first time in four years, August 1-3 at Mariner’s Point.
The Long Beach and San Diego events will be single-elimination formats.
The final SoCal stop will be in Manhattan Beach Sept 19-21. The format at the oldest place to host an event includes the eight most successful teams of the season versus eight teams who have to qualify in during a “huge” qualifying pre-tournament.
For tournament information visit www.avp.com.