Whether you’re a dedicated volleyball fan or just curious about the sport, we’ve got all the exciting details from the championship matches, as well as some standout individual performances at this year’s Huntington Beach Open.
Men’s Finals Recap + More Stats:
The top-seeded duo of Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander clinched the 2024 Huntington Beach Open title and punched their ticket to the AVP League by defeating first-time AVP finalists Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook, who entered the finals as the 5 seed. The match ended with a convincing scoreline of 21-15, 21-15.
Crabb and Sander’s impressive teamwork resulted in the best hitting percentage in any 2-set men’s match of the tournament at .639. They also recorded the most aces by a team in a single match with 6.
Caldwell and Cook’s journey to the finals was equally impressive. In the semifinals, they upset the 3-seed Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk, who had been undefeated until then, 18-16 in a very dramatic 3rd set. Despite their semifinal loss, offensively Tri and Chaim were on point, ranking 2nd and 4th in individual hitting percentage, respectively.
Women’s Finals Recap + More Stats:
The women’s final was an absolute nail-biter, with 4th-ranked Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa
Humana-Paredes overcoming top seeded Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss. The match went to three sets, 23-21, 18-21, 15-13, arguably the best match of the tournament.
Melissa Humana-Paredes recorded the most hitting attempts (56) and the most digs (30) in a single match in the entire tournament. She also had the most digs in the tournament overall (98) and tied for the highest average digs per set (7) with none other than Kristen Nuss.
Despite the loss, Taryn Kloth had an exceptional tournament. She recorded six blocks in the
finals, tying for the most blocks in a finals match since the start of 2020. Kloth also led the entire tournament in hitting percentage (.546) and tied for the highest average blocks per set (1.70). She however finished second in total blocks with 17 behind Brandie Wilkerson.
Brandie dominated defensively, achieving the most blocks in the tournament with 23 (and 33 digs!). Brandie also recorded 7 blocks in a single match against Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, the most blocks in a 2-set match. Offensively, she came out with the most kills in the tournament (91) while managing to retain the 3rd highest hitting percentage at .479.
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Other Notable Performances:
Kylie Deberg:
Not only was Kylie tied for 1st in blocks per set with Taryn Kloth (1.70) but she led the tournament in total aces (14) and aces per set (1.40). Deberg’s performance is especially impressive considering 2022 was her first official AVP season. In 2023, she played in one AVP major, the Manhattan Beach Open, where she finished in 7th place despite being seeded 24th.
Kylie and her partner, Hailey Harward entered the 2024 AVP Huntington Beach Open seeded 10th finishing with a 5th.
James Shaw:
Coming out of the qualifier, James Shaw led all of Huntington Beach with the most aces in the tournament (19) and played in only 4 main draw matches. This was the highest amount of aces in a 16-team draw since 2019 when Jeremy Casebeer rattled off 25 aces in 5 matches at the AVP Seattle Open. For context, the second-most total aces in the tournament was Cody Caldwell with 10 aces, however in 6 matches. James Shaw also led the tournament in aces per set (1.73), Gage Basey coming in 2nd place (1.2).
Dehana Kraft:
It’s fairly normal to see Melissa Humana-Paredes or Kristen Nuss at top of the leaderboard for digs (and digs per set) but a new name rose to the top in Huntington, Dehana Kraft, which was especially noteworthy because she has primarily played as a blocker up until this point. Nuss and Melissa tied 1st with 7 digs per set, yet Dehana was right behind them at 3rd with 6.78 digs per set.
Logan Webber:
Logan Webber led the tournament in highest average blocks per set (2.00) and led the tournament in average kills per set (10.17), which are impressive stats all on their own but Logan also finished the tournament 5th in hitting percentage at .485, rendering his feat of averaging that amount of kills per set even more impressive. In addition to that Webber is the first player to average at least 10 kills per set in any tournament since Jeremy Casebeer in the 2020 AVP Long Beach Cup Series.
Billy Allen:
A very notable performance came from Billy Allen, who recorded the most digs in a 2-set match with 19 against Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk. Allen also had the highest digs per set average at 5.60.
Ryan Wilcox and Devon Burki:
The Cinderella Team of Ryan Wilcox and Devon Burki, who began their tournament on Thursday deep in the Qualifier as the 41 seed (3rd to last!) went back-to-back-to-back upsets to qualify for their very first AVP main draw. They then went on to upset the 9th seed, DJ Klasnic and Brian Miller and finished the tournament with a 9th.
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The 2024 Huntington Beach Open showcased some of the best talents in the sport, with thrilling matches and record-breaking performances. Stay tuned for more updates and highlights from the AVP!