The Tempe Open Presented by Bud Light is the second pro beach volleyball tournament of the year, but in several ways it is the true season opener. While the first event was in Florida a month ago, the four weekends off since then nearly equals the combined number of weekends off until the season ends in mid-September. And after all, since CROCS signed on in mid-April to become the title sponsor of the tour, this will literally be the first event of the 2006 AVP CROCS Tour.

If history repeats itself, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, along with Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, will be the ones once again hoisting the oversized checks at the end of the tournament on Sunday afternoon. Both of those teams won in Florida, and they also have some Tempe history on their sides. May-Treanor and Walsh have won each of the last three tournaments in this college town, all three times being seeded first as they will be this year. And on the men’s side the last three winners have all been seeded second, as will Gibb and Rosenthal for this event.

Both genders have had some shake-ups since the Florida event, but perhaps the biggest effect will be seen on the women’s side. Tyra Turner and Makare Wilson, the fourth-ranked team last year, missed the season opener but will be playing in Tempe. They will be looking to show exactly how far they’ve come in a short period of time, as just two years ago they did not even make it out of the qualifier in Tempe, their only domestic event not making it to the main draw. Since then, though, Turner and Wilson have finished fifth or higher 12 times.

All of the buzz will be about a player from Utah though, who will be making her pro beach volleyball debut. Logan Tom, a four-time first-team All-American, a two-time NCAA Player of the Year, and a two-time Olympian, is hoping to translate all of her indoor achievements into success on the sand. She won’t be playing with a wily veteran; instead she will be playing someone one day younger than her, Brittany Hochevar. Hochevar has experience in just four main draws, with three different partners. But she too has experienced success indoors, having been a second-team All-American for Long Beach State, an alternate on the 2004 Olympic team, and professional experience outside of the U.S.

With Tempe being a smaller event in terms of number of courts used and therefore the number of teams that can participate, this added depth will make for a challenging road for the eventual winner. In the Ft. Lauderdale Open, three women’s teams seeded 15th or lower pulled upsets and finished in seventh place or better. One of those teams was Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger, former college teammates who placed a career-best fifth place after knocking off three teams in a row seeded above them.

Also registering three upsets was the tandem of Jennifer (Kessy) Boss and Nancy Mason, who were playing together domestically for the first time. In four international events together last year, the duo finished fifth three times and fourth once. A second-round defeat in Ft. Lauderdale sent them to the contender’s bracket, where they battled all the way back to the championship match. Boss and Mason won the first game, but were unable to put away the eventual champions, May-Treanor and Walsh.

Another sign of how the women’s field is strengthening is the fact that Holly McPeak, the all-time wins leader with 72 victories and the fifth-ranked individual last season, is seeded eighth this event with her partner Nicole Branagh. That seed marks her lowest in a domestic event since the 1995 season opener, in part due to their having to forfeit the ninth-place match in Florida because of the heat. The duo should be better prepared for Tempe, which will feature 90-degree temperatures and likely little relief from clouds. Each of the three years the AVP has visited Tempe McPeak has advanced to the semifinals, and this season she will be looking to do so with her third different partner.

Despite all the partner changes that occurred on the men’s side during the off-season, the top seeds in Ft. Lauderdale performed pretty much as expected; the top four teams all finished in fifth place or better despite each team playing together for the first time. Gibb and Rosenthal swept through all of their competition, including top-seeded Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger in the finals. One of the biggest surprises was 13th-seeded Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana advancing to the semifinals, though perhaps it should not have been. The gold medalists from the 2000 Olympics, they have years of experience together, although not having played together since 2001.

Helped by their strong finish in Ft. Lauderdale, Blanton and Fonoimoana worked their way up to a coveted spot for Tempe, a top eight seed. With a 24-team bracket being used for both the men’s and women’s fields, the top eight seeds in both genders receive a bye in the first round. That could play a big part in this event, as those teams would have to play just two matches on Saturday (assuming they win both), helping to avoid all of the heat-related problems that players encountered in Florida last month.

In addition to Blanton and Fonoimoana, the only other main draw team in Tempe that has played together in more than 12 events is the team of Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer. They won two tournaments last year and will be looking to, if not win the tournament, at least advance to the semifinals, which they have yet to do in three previous outings in Tempe. Tempe has not been a good place for repeat performances though. In the three years the AVP has held an event there, no team has been able to participate in more than one semifinal; there have been 12 different teams advancing to the Final Four.

Due to a knee injury, the men’s career victory leader, Karch Kiraly, won’t be playing. Kiraly, who in his career played in eight finals in the state of Arizona, will have to wait until a future tournament to build upon the fifth-place finish he got in his first tournament with Larry Witt. Witt will compete in Tempe with Chad Mowrey instead.

Mike Lambert won three events in 2005, and two of them came in the only events played at least partially under the lights. In Cincinnati in July, Lambert and John Hyden teamed together for the first time, and won in an event which, like Tempe this year, featured some night matches. In Las Vegas, another tournament held under the lights, Lambert claimed a win in the individual format event that gave him his seventh career victory. The AVP Tempe Open Presented by Bud Light will feature three matches under the lights on Saturday night; a men’s ninth-place match and a pair of women’s winner bracket semifinal matches. Nine of the 14 open events this season will include play at night.

All the new partnerships also mean that a new winner is likely. Only four men’s teams entered in Tempe have won a title; Blanton and Fonoimoana have won five, Fuerbringer and Jennings three, Gibb and Rosenthal one, and Jason Ring and George Roumain one. Just three women’s partnerships have yielded tournament titles; May-Treanor and Walsh have a record-best 48 wins, Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan have eight, and Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs have won three times.

With the tournament in the same town as Arizona State, Tammy Leibl will feel right at home. Leibl, formerly Tammy Liley, enjoyed an outstanding career at ASU, getting elected into the ASU Hall of Fame. She is teaming with Dianne DeNecochea, and as a top eight seed will have a first-round bye in the main draw. At least four other former Sun Devils will be striving to reach the main draw; as Shannon Sneed, Timothy Cornelissen, Tom Slauterbeck and Tom Witt all are playing in the qualifiers.

AVP Annals

For the fourth straight year, the AVP is including Tempe on the schedule. The men have had 12 unique teams reach the semifinals, with Jake Gibb, Jeff Nygaard, and Dax Holdren the only individuals to appear in two Final Fours. The 2003 event marked Mike Whitmarsh’s final career victory, while the next season Sean Scott logged his first career win. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have won all three events, defeating three different teams. Twice the women’s championship match went three games, but May-Treanor and Walsh swept all other opponents leading up to the finals.