April Ross and Alix Klineman Claim AVP Manhattan Beach Open Crown

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – USC women's volleyball All-American and two-time Olympic medalist April Ross teamed with partner Alix Klineman (Stanford) to win the 2018 AVP (American Volleyball Professionals) Gold Series Manhattan Beach Open championship on Sunday, Aug. 20. Ross-Klineman also won the AVP's Austin Open championship to kick off the American pro beach season.

This AVP win is the second for Ross and Klineman--a newly-formed pair this summer--but is the 31st-career victory for Ross. As a tradition, the winners of the Manhattan Beach Open (both the men's pair and the women's pair) are enshrined on the Manhattan Beach Pier the following summer with a commemorative medallion. Ross will have her name applied to the pier for the third time. She won the MBO in 2014 with Kerri Walsh-Jennings (Stanford) and then repeated in 2015 with Jennifer Fopma (Pepperdine/CSUN).

Ross' win represents the 50th individual Trojan AVP women's victory and marks the 37th event won by at least one female USC athlete. Between Ross, and beach volleyball All-Americans Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes, at least one USC player has won 15 of the last 28 AVP events since the 2015 season.

Ross-Klineman held the third seed in the MBO field and dropped just one set en route to the title. The duo opened with a 21-16, 21-13 win over sisters Annika and Teegan Van Gunst (Georgia Tech). They then earned a 21-15, 21-13 victory to take down Tory Paranagua (Florida State) and Jace Pardon (Florida State) in the second round. Ross-Klineman defeated 11th-seeded Janelle Allen (Eastern Washington) and Kerri Schuh (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) by a 21-17, 21-14 count in their third match.

Ross and Klineman earned their spot in the semifinal on an impressive 21-11, 21-16 win over the second-seeded tandem of Emily Day (Loyola Marymount) and Betsi Flint (Loyola Marymount). In the Sunday-morning semi, they won their 10th straight set with a 21-18, 21-16 victory to take down Kelley Larsen (Pepperdine) and Emily Stockman (Wichita State) and move into the championship match.

In a title match that lasted one hour and 25 minutes, Ross and Klineman pulled out a 27-25 win to take the first set over the top-seeded duo of Claes and Brittany Hochevar (Long Beach State). Claes-Hochevar came back and controlled the second set for a 21-17 win, but the two pairs went back and forth in the third set. Ross and Klineman fought off several match points in the freeze and sewed up their MBO championship run with a 17-15 win.

Among other Women of Troy in action at the MBO, Claes finished second with Hochevar. Geena Urango and All-American Allie Wheeler formed one of two USC duos and earned a fifth-place finish as the ninth seed in the tourney. All-American Alexa Strange partnered with Emily Hartong (Hawai'i) and Falyn Fonoimoana teamed with Priscilla Piantadosi-Lima (Louisiana) as both Women of Troy finished in 13th place. As the other all-USC pair, current senior Terese Cannon and Nicolette Martin were seeded 15th and finished in a 17th-place tie. Jenna Belton and Chanti Holroyd (UCLA) linked up and emerged out of the qualifier to also earn a 17th-place finish. Tracy Lindquist-Jones paired with Katie Jameson (San Diego) and earned a 25th-place finish. Current Trojan sophomore Haley Hallgren participated in the qualifier with Skylar Caputo (Pepperdine) and won two matches.

On the men's side, USC indoor volleyball star Tri Bourne returned to the sand and earned a 7th-place finish with partner Trevor Crabb. Brothers Maddison and Riley McKibbin finished in a 17th-place tie.

This past spring, the Women of Troy (27-14) finished as the runner-up at the Pac-12 Championship and were chosen as one of two at-large selections into the 2018 NCAA Championship. The Trojans advanced to the Saturday final at the championship and finished in fourth place. Seventh-year head coach Anna Collier collected her 170th victory this season. Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina were named AVCA All-Americans and were chosen as the Volleyball Magazine National Pair of the Year.

For more information on the three-time national champion USC beach volleyball team and a complete schedule, please visit USCTrojans.com and follow @USCBeach on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Players Mentioned

Jenna Belton

Abril Bustamante

Terese Cannon

Kelly Claes

Tina Graudina

Haley Hallgren

Sara Hughes

Nicolette Martin

Allie Wheeler