The first day of the AVP Gold Series Atlanta Open brought few surprises, as the top-seeded women’s and men’s teams navigated through their opening two matches unscathed Friday, leaving them two victories shy of advancing to Sunday’s championships.
Playing on 900 tons of sand trucked in to create three beach volleyball courts at Atlantic Station, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, the top-ranked American team in pursuit of a berth in the 2024 Paris Olympics, made things look easy on Day 1. They toppled 16th-seeded Xolani Hodel and Kahlee York, 21-19, 22-20, and then dispatched ninth-seeded Toni Rodriguez and Savvy Simo, 21-16, 21-19.
Cheng, a 2020 U.S. Olympian, and Hughes won two NCAA national championships as teammates at University of Southern California and started their professional careers as partners in 2017, though they split shortly thereafter. Since reuniting late last year to make a run at next summer’s Olympic Games, they have been nearly unstoppable.
The pair has won both AVP tournaments they have entered this season, in New Orleans and Huntington Beach, and entering Atlanta they had won 21 consecutive matches. They have also won four international tournaments in the last nine months.
Cheng and Hughes will meet 13th-seeded Brook Bauer and Katie Horton in the third round at 4:20 p.m. Saturday.
Top-seeded men Andy Benesh and Miles Partain also cruised through their opening two matches, a 21-14, 21-9 victory over 16th-seeded Michael Groselle and Nathan Yang, and a 21-19, 21-13 triumph over eight-seeded Evan Cory and Troy Field.
In their third-round match Saturday at 6:30 p.m., they will take on fifth-seeded Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, a former small forward who played seven seasons in the NBA and has won three times on the AVP Tour, including the 2021 Atlanta Open.
Partain, a 21-year-old UCLA student, won last season’s AVP Atlanta Open with former partner Paul Lotman. He and Benesh won pair won their first AVP tournament as partners in May and have also won twice overseas since last fall.
Play is scheduled to resume at noon Saturday, with the women’s final set for noon Sunday, followed by the men’s final. Both will be televised on ESPN2.
About the Author
