AVP Austin Open Starts Tournament Play

The 2018 AVP Pro Tour kicked off it first competition of the season with the Austin Open.  Included in this year’s draw are top-tier athletes including two-time Olympian and defending Austin Open champion April Ross, three-time Olympian, defending Austin Open team of Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, three-time Olympic Gold medalist Reid Priddy and 29 additional teams of athletes in the main draw.  
 
Over 100 teams (60 men’s matches and 49 women’s matches) competed in Thursday’s Qualification Rounds to earn spots in the main draw.   at three locations.  

The top 4 teams to advance to the Main Draw include: 

Women’s 

• Sarah Day / Nicolette Martin  (No. 13 seed)
• Janelle Ruen Allen  / Kerri Schuh (No. 14 seed)
• Priscilla Piantadosi-Lima / Jessica Sykora (No. 15 seed)
• Falyn Fonoimoana / Alexa Strange (No. 16 seed)

Men’s

• Maddison McKibbin  / Riley McKibbin  (No. 13 seed)
• Troy Field / David Vander Meer (No. 14 seed)
• Travis Mewhirter / Raffe Paulis (No. 15 seed)
• Bruno Amorim / Chris Luers  (No. 16 seed)

On the women’s draw, top seeds advancing to Saturday’s elimination round include:  No. 1 seed Alix Klineman / April Ross and No. 7 seed Lauren Fendrick / Sarah Sponcil.  

Top seeds advancing in the men’s draw were No. 1 seed Phil Dalhausser / Nick Lucena, No. 3 seed Billy Allen / Ryan Doherty, and No. 4 seed Trevor Crabb / John Mayer.  

Teams losing on Friday can earning themselves back into the competition via the Contender’s Bracket.  Notables working themselves back include women’s No. 2 seed Caitlin Ladoux / Kendra Van Zwieten, No. 5 seed Brittany Howard / Kelly Reeves and No. 6 seed Lane Carico / Karolina Marciniak.  Higher seed men’s team competing in the Contender’s Bracket include No. 2 seed Theo Brunner / John Hyden, No. 5 seed Casey Patterson  / Stafford Slick, and No. 6 seed Tim Bomgren / Taylor Crabb.