Five Must-Watch Matches From the 2016 AVP Season

Relive the action of the 2016 beach volleyball season with these five must-watch AVP matches.

Nov 4, 2016 by Megan Kaplon

Five Must-Watch Matches From the 2016 AVP Season

The 2016 AVP beach volleyball season wrapped up in early September, but if you're still dying to watch your favorite pros giving it their all on the sand, there's still hope. The AVP recently added many of the semifinals and finals from the 2016 tour to its YouTube channel, and here are the five matches we recommend watching first.

1. San Francisco Open Men's Final

Jake Gibb | Casey Patterson vs. Taylor | Trevor Crabb

Crabb brothers Taylor and Trevor pulled off a huge upset of Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb in the contenders' bracket of the 2015 Manhattan Beach Open, thus starting a rivalry that would continue through the 2016 season. This championship match from the San Francisco Open was the second time these two duos met in a final in 2016. In case you don't know, we won't give away who wins, but we will say this match goes to three, so go ahead and get comfortable.

2. New York City Open Women's Semifinal

Kerri Walsh Jennings | April Ross vs. Sara Hughes | Kelly Claes

Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes exploded onto the AVP tour a year and a half ago, taking third at the 2015 New York City Open. At this year's NYC Open, the duo of USC seniors once again made it to the semifinals, this time meeting Olympians Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross. After watching this match, you'll have no doubt this young team is the future of USA beach volleyball.

3. Manhattan Beach Open Women's Final

Emily Day | Brittany Hochevar vs. Lane Carico | Summer Ross

Emily Day paired up with Brittany Hochevar after her four-year partnership with Jen Kessy dissolved. The Day-Hochevar team debuted at the San Francisco Open where the duo finished third, but Manhattan Beach was a different story. When a plaque on the pier is on the line, everybody fights a little harder, and this three-set match that went to extra points in the third is evidence of that.

4. Chicago Open Men's Semifinal

Phil Dalhausser | Nick Lucena vs. Ryan Doherty | John Mayer

In Chicago, the AVP enacted a couple of new rules. First, any serve that touched the net on its way over would have to be reserved, and second, when either team reached match point, the score would switch from rallying scoring to side-out. In this semifinal match between Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena and Ryan Doherty and John Mayer, the viewer gets the full experience of those new rules, as the third set goes all the way to 19-17 before either team could earn a two-point advantage with the side-out scoring.

5. New Orleans Open Women's Semifinal

Misty May-Treanor | Jenny Kropp vs. Kendra VanZwieten | Kim DiCello

Misty May-Treanor officially retired after the 2012 Olympics, but she's made a handful of appearances on the AVP since then. The only time she came out in 2016 was for the New Orleans Open where she played with Jenny Kropp. May-Treanor, who was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame last month, clearly still has it, as evidenced by her sick shots and sweet digs in this match.