GLENDALE, Ariz. -- As a fifth seed in the AVP Sanderson Ford Best of the Beach, Jake Gibb could have felt like he just missed out with the top four seeds getting byes to the second round. Instead, he looks at it like the ones with the free ride don't get to enjoy the ride as much. Gibb won twice Thursday on the first day of pool play in the AVP Crocs Tour's season-ending event.
In a sort of an all-star event where the top 12 men and top 12 women are invited, the players compete individually by switching partners. Gibb teamed with eighth-seeded Stein Metzger to beat ninth-seeded Bran Keenan and 12th-seeded Casey Jennings (21-18, 21-23, 15-10) in the tourney's first match Thursday and returned two hours later to team with Keenan for a 21-18, 21-18 victory over Metzger and Jennings.
"I just love it, just playing with different partners and getting to play with a guy like Brad," said Gibb, a tour winner with his usual partner, Sean Rosenthal, two weeks ago in San Francisco. "There's such good energy out here. It's just fun to play."
While Misty May-Treanor competes in Dancing with the Stars, the other three U.S. Olympic gold medalists (Kerri Walsh, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rodgers) are in Glendale this week and will make their debuts Friday night as top seeds.
On the men's and women's sides, two players from each of two four-players pools will advance to the second round after round-robin play. The winner of each second-round pool will advance to the championship matches and then pick a partner other than their regular-season one to help them in the final.
The format creates some interesting dynamics, like the 6-foot-7 Gibb teaming with the 6-foot-8 Kennan on Thursday night. The match point exemplified how versatile the top players can be when Keenan chased down a line shot on the final play. He then recovered on the point for a match-closing kill that put him on his back with his fists clenched in the air. It was Keenan's first victory in the individual format.
"It's about going out and having fun with that guy," Gibb said. "You're going to make stupid plays because you're not used to each other and you've never practiced together. But if you get out and have fun, things work out."
It may be fall but the tournament also has a different vibe by day in Arizona, where the nights are pleasant but 100-degree afternoons and early evenings are lingering this week.
"I'm not really looking forward to playing in the morning," said fifth-seeded Annett Davis, who won a 6 p.m. match as the sun set Thursday but has 10 a.m. and noon matches Friday. "We are always looking forward to this tournament. It's just fun. I love playing with all the girls.
It is the second consecutive year that the tournament has come to Glendale but the first time an Arizona stop (there have been 27 in Arizona) has featured the individual format. John Hyden, a No. 10 seed this year, won the 2007 individual format event and started this year's Best of the Beach as the only player besides Gibb to post two pool victories Thursday. Hyden teamed with 11th-seeded Matt Fuerbringer to upset sixth-seeded Sean Rosenthal and seventh-seeded Mark Williams in three games (21-17, 18-21, 24-22). Hyden closed the tourney's first session by joining Rosenthal for a 21-12, 21-16 win against Williams and Fuerbinger.
Last year's women's individual champ, Elaine Youngs, is a seventh seed this week and won her only match Thursday, teaming with sixth-seeded Nicole Branagh to beat 10th-seeded Holly McPeak and 11th-seeded Carrie Dodd. Friday's action will include two sessions. Pool play will conclude in the day with the second round starting at night.
"This is always really fun," said 12th-seeded Barbra Fontana, who also won Thursday. "It's a more relaxed atmosphere and it's nice for it to be our last tournament of the year."

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