DJ Roueche may have left his heart in San Francisco…
With the AVP not having an event in San Francisco since 2009, I didn’t know what size of crowds to expect this past weekend. Any fears I may have had of the stands not being packed was quickly put to rest by midday Friday afternoon when it was standing room only on Stadium Court. I’ve talked about this on The Net Live, with friends and volleyball fans, but there is something special about this AVP season. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there is a vibe in the air at each AVP event that seems to be a mixture of anticipation, optimism and enthusiasm that is turning this 2016 into something I haven’t experienced in my 13 years of being the DJ for the tour.
Here are the two takeaways from the San Francisco Open, the Crabb brother’s will win an AVP finals sooner than later and the ladies from USC, Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes, are the real deal. The Crabb brother’s are knocking, loudly, on the door and once again pushed a top team on tour, Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson, to a third 3 set. They’ve made it to three finals in five tournaments and if they keep putting the pressure on their opponents, I expect them to be standing tall with winner’s trophies very soon. Hughes and Claues did something that no other team has done on the AVP tour since August of 2014 and that’s take a set off of Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross. They very easily could have won the quarter final match as the final score was 15-17 in the third set. However, Kerri and April do what champions do, they regrouped and when they met Sara and Kelly again in the finals they had a more focused game plan and let the girls from USC know that it’s not their time just yet by beating them 21-17 & 21-13.
We may not have had the time to do the “Tweet The DJ” promotion at this tournament, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t prepared with some San Francisco/ West Coast Themed music. Check out my Spotify Playlist from the AVP San Francisco Open.
— DJ Roueche —
DJ Roueche has been controlling dance floors for over 20 years with his seamless genre-blending style. He has been the official DJ for the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour for over 13 years now.
JRo is also the contributing music editor to Volleyball magazine and President of VALA Entertainment. He received the AVP Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and is a voting member of the USAV All Time Great Beach Volleyball Player Committee.
You can also listen to Jeremy on his weekly volley podcast and live radio show, The Net Live.