The Association of Volleyball Professionals 2017 schedule was released in its entirety Monday, following the release of one event per day for the past week. The 2017 tour features eight domestic events compared to one international and seven domestic events in 2016.
Hermosa Beach (July 20-23) and Austin (May 18-21) volleyball fans are thrilled, as new events were announced at those locations. The deep sands of Hermosa Beach, of course, are one of the most storied venues in beach volleyball history, beginning in 1970, when Henry Bergman and Ron Von Hagen bested Mike Carey and Duncan McFarland. The AVP’s last event at Hermosa was in 2010.
Austin has served as an AVP site four times previously, in 1992, 1993, 2004 and 2005. Austin was a particularly auspicious stop for Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in 2005 for the duo’s first win together.
New Orleans and Cincinnati have been dropped from this year’s tour. Both cities have hosted AVP events six times. New Orleans was home for the AVP in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2015 and last year, while Cincinnati fans enjoyed AVP events in 1993, 1994, 1998, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Cincinnati was also the site of the AVP-promoted FIVB Open last year.
Fortunately for the players, the AVP schedule has very few conflicts with the FIVB international schedule, leaving plenty of opportunity for those willing to build frequent flier miles and continent-hop this summer.
The AVP San Francisco event (July 6-9) conflicts with the FIVB Gstaad Major (July 4-9). The Hermosa Beach (July 20-23) is held simultaneously with the four-star FIVB Poland event (July 19-23). The New York event (June 8-11) also has a potential conflict with a FIVB five-star event in Rome, Italy (June 7-11) that has yet to be confirmed, according to the FIVB website.
AVP 2017
May 4-7 — Huntington Beach
May 18-21 — Austin
June 8-11 — New York
June 22-25 — Seattle
July 6-9 — San Francisco
July 20-23 — Hermosa Beach
August 17-20 — Manhattan Beach
Aug. 31-Sept 3 — Chicago
For more information is available at AVP.com
