2017 Association Of Volleyball Professionals Tour

Repeat Champs Dominate At 2017 AVP Manhattan Beach Open

Repeat Champs Dominate At 2017 AVP Manhattan Beach Open

Familiar names will be added to the Manhattan Beach Pier a year from now. Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar won their second consecutive AVP Manhattan Beach Open title, and Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena scored their second MBO victory as a team.

Aug 21, 2017 by Megan Kaplon
Repeat Champs Dominate At 2017 AVP Manhattan Beach Open
Familiar names will be added to the Manhattan Beach Pier a year from now. Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar won their second consecutive AVP Manhattan Beach Open title with a 21-18, 21-18 victory over Brandie Wilkerson and Nicole Branagh on Sunday, and Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena defeated Trevor Crabb and Sean Rosenthal on the men's side to mark their second victory as a team.

The 23-25, 21-18, 15-10 finals win marked Dalhausser's sixth MBO title and Lucena's second. The pair won together in 2015. Win No. 6 for Dalhausser puts him tied with six-time MBO winners Mike Dodd and Tim Hovland.

Hochevar and Day are officially the hottest team on the women's side of the tour, claiming their third title this season and repeating at MBO champs.

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Branagh and Wilkerson were somewhat of a Cinderella team, seeded 15th with Wilkerson playing in her first-ever AVP main draw. However, we shouldn't be too surprised that this pair stormed all the way to the final. Branagh has 17 AVP titles to her name and went to the 2008 Olympics with longtime partner Elaine Youngs. Wilkerson, although only 25, has two fifth-place FIVB World Tour finishes this year, playing for Canada alongside partner Heather Bansley, and is ranked ninth in the world.

Dalhausser and Lucena, along with Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner and women's pairs Lauren Fendrick/April Ross and Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross, will now head to Hamburg, Germany, for this week's Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals.


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