For three weeks running, the entire beach volleyball community has been shell-shocked by the recent news that America's largest pro tour has disbanded. Due to its tour's collapse, the near-bankrupt Association of Volleyball Professionals would no longer be managing its remaining five tournaments this summer, and possibly beyond.
With beach volleyball pro players, officials, and fans worried about this sport's future, the Reach Event Marketing company hurriedly picked up the idle reins to host one of these five AVP-canceled events. To the delight of 50 players and thousands of fans, this event organizer is conducting the last event of the season for America's elite athletes to compete in, the "2010 Pro Beach Volleyball Cincinnati Players Championship."
Dozens of players, excited about competing in this final hurrah, began arriving mid-week to compete in this two-part tournament at the Hahana Beach sports complex, just east of Cincinnati, OH.
Several men's pairs registered for the Thursday single elimination, qualification round to contend for the chance to advance to the big show starting on Friday.
Through this preliminary play, the Floridian tandem of Steve Grotowski and Adrian Carambula, who are mid-ranked players on the defunct AVP tour, swept through the qualis undefeated. In these finals, they upended John Mayer and Matt Prosser, 21-19, 25-23.
As the men's main draw begins tomorrow, seven invited teams will be joined by the scrappy Grotowski and Carambula pair in this double elimination format. Among these world-class competitors are Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, the Beijing 2008 Olympic champions.
Whereas, on the women's side, eight invitee teams will kick-off their play because no women registered for the qualification round. Two-time Olympics gold medalists, Misty May-Treanor and KerrI Walsh will be playing - this time with their own partners, and they may indeed face-off against each other.
Keep checking back for more news about the last pro event this year
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