CARSON – The semifinal rounds of the AVP Championship took place at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday as the Dallas Dream took on the Miami Mayhem and New York Nitro took on the San Diego Smash for the two spots in Sunday’s finals.

The Dream defeated the Mayhem, winning a combined five sets to one. The men of Smash beat the men of Nitro in three sets, and the women’s match between those two teams was scheduled to begin at the time of this publication.

Miami Mayhem vs. Dallas Dream

women’s party

Hailey Harward’s precise placement of her shots made it nearly impossible for Alix Klineman to make a clean return, despite having her hands on the ball.

“I knew she was shooting a lot,” Harward said of Klineman’s strategy of retreating from the net just before Harward’s return. “So I’m just trying to find it in outside hands.”

He did it at the most crucial moment, overpowering Klineman to break an 11-11 tie in the second set, and again on the next point to increase the margin to 13-11. After a block by teammate Kylie Deberg, a kill by Klineman on Dream’s first match point made the score 14-12.

But on the second match point, Harward again found Klineman’s outside hand to end the chaos in straight sets. Harward’s calculated approach was complemented by Deberg’s ability to win the net. He had five blocks, including the one that led to the initial match point.

“She was doing really well at the net,” Harward said of her teammate.

men’s party

After losing the first set, the Dallas Dream duo of Andy Benesh and Miles Partain took a 9-4 lead in the second set. Nine consecutive eliminations followed and neither team was able to take control of the set before Benesh collected a couple of points to win it.

“They’re the best team in the AVP,” Partain said of Mayhem men Trevor Crabbe and Theo Bruner. “They are a really confident and consistent team. “It’s hard to get them out of the system and it’s hard to kill them.”

Banesh surely found a way towards the end of that second set and throughout the third. He hit the ball over the Mayhem block to give them an 11-8 lead. He blocked Crabb’s attack to make the score 13-8 and made an attack to set up his first match point.

With the score at 14-10, Crabb threw the ball to Banesh, who stopped it, and his touch gave Partain the option to pass it to his teammate. Instead, Partain caught Mayhem off guard, hitting the ball with the side of his left fist and Mayhem was slow to react.

The Dallas Dream won a combined five sets to one to advance to Sunday’s final.

While the Miami Mayhem will appear in the third-place game on Sunday, the AVP honored its women’s duo April Ross and Alix Klineman, who announced they will retire after this weekend.

Ross and Klineman won a gold medal together at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and, despite lowering their expectations for this AVP season due to their responsibilities as mothers, qualified for the playoffs. Ross’ decision to retire was well-documented, but Klineman informed the AVP of her impending departure from volleyball just five days ago.

After a tribute video for her, Ross choked back tears to tell fans, “I have so much love for everyone and I’m so grateful to the people who continue to support our sport.”

New York Nitro vs. San Diego Smash

men’s party

After splitting the first two sets, the San Diego Smash men’s duo of Chase Budinger and Miles Evans took a 10-3 lead in the third set. His strategy of having Evans pass to Budinger, giving him options to dictate the point, was working smoothly. However, it was a spike from Evans that made the score 12-5 before a pair of service errors from Nitro’s Taylor Crabb set up match point for the Smash.

On their second attempt, they returned to that tried and true form, as Evans lofted the ball to Budinger, who killed just above Crabb’s outstretched arms to win the match.

women’s party

As in the men’s match, the San Diego Smash and the women’s New York Nitro needed a third set, which for the Smash was a win-and-get-into (the Championship) scenario. But unlike the men’s match, it was the Nitro pair that took the lead at the start of the final set.

Kelly Cheng’s shot was so powerful that it bounced off Toni Rodríguez and into the stands. Cheng’s reaction said it all, a smile spread across his face as he threw sand at his partner Sara Hughes. But Smash fought back and took an 8-7 lead before the team switched sides.

After the break they extended that lead by adding five consecutive points. Cheng seemingly blocked Urango’s comeback, but his dive found Rodriguez, who fired a shot over Cheng to make the score 12-7. The Nitro didn’t finish, winning five of the next six points, but couldn’t prevent a final push from the Smash, who won that set 15-12.

After starting the season 2-2, the men and women of Smash met for lunch, each side expressing how they wanted the other to give it their all, Urango said. However, they did not win a single match in their hometown tournament, falling to 2-6.

They had a month off from games and then used it to practice together and plan bonding activities.

“I think one of the biggest things about San Diego is that we’ve developed a lot of team camaraderie with the guys,” Urango said. “We’ve done things besides training.”

It began to pay off in Anaheim, where the team went a combined 3-1, and Miles Evans later declared they would go undefeated into the final weekend in Dallas. While they didn’t complete that, they made it to the championship with another 3-1 performance and carried that momentum into Saturday.

The Smash will face the Dallas Dream in the AVP Finals on Sunday. The third place game will feature Nitro and Mayhem.

Originally Posted: November 9, 2024 at 9:51 pm PST