GLENDALE, Ariz. -- "Finally."  Nobody else had to say it. Jennifer Boss said it herself as she turned to her fellow AVP Crocs Tour players in the stands after notching her first AVP victory just before Saturday turned into Sunday in Glendale. In her 15th career trip to a championship match, Boss used the help of Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh to win the individual title of Best of the Beach. Boss and Walsh teamed for a 19-21, 21-17, 15-10 victory against championship qualifier Nicole Branagh and her selected partner, Tyra Turner.
"It means a lot," Boss said of her first victory other than a FIVB win in Norway last year and a FIVB Satellite victory in 2001. "It was 14 times (losing in the finals). You start thinking, 'Geez, I'm a jinx.' I just honestly couldn't believe it."
That was clear as Walsh put away the championship point and started hopping up and down and into the arms of Boss, who was stunned into stillness by the moment.
It took some adjustments for Boss and Walsh, who had never played together, to come back in the match. Walsh needed to set Boss higher. Boss needed to set Walsh more to the inside.
The real work to set up the win was done all season. Boss and her regular-season teammate, April Ross, came into the tournament as third and second seeds, respectively, and got first-round byes. In a season-closing tournament defined by Arizona heat, that was a huge boost.
Then again, the weather just might suit Boss, who once was a runner-up on the other side of suburban Phoenix in Tempe.
"I guess I like the dry heat," said Boss, who sported a $25,750 check before she and Walsh stood in a pickup bed to shower the sold-out crowd in champagne.
Although admittedly nervous, Boss and Walsh even had their chances in the first set. They led 16-15 and were tied at 18-18 before a Turner kill and block turned into a set point that Branagh won by glancing a kill off of Walsh's block.
The second set stayed tight as well until Boss and Walsh ran off five consecutive points to take a 16-12 lead. Boss was the pair's primary attacker in the final two sets, notching 14 of their 23 kills in the second and third sets. She finished off their final four points of the second set but was more than happy to set Walsh for their final two points of the match.
Boss said she would have chosen Turner if she didn't have the first pick to take the field's top player, Walsh. Turner had played sensationally in the final match of second-round play to help Boss get into the championship over her regular-season teammate, Ross.
"Afterward, Tyra was like, 'You have to pick Kerri,' " Boss said. "I was saying, 'I don't know what to do,' and she said, 'Yes, you do.'
"I would've loved to have it (her first AVP win) with April and to jump and hug and fall on her."
Boss and Branagh each were playing in their first individual-format championship match.
Boss was the only Best of the Beach top seed to use the first-round bye and reach Saturday night's championship. Boss did not lose a second-round match, cinching her spot in the finals by ending regular season partner April Ross' chance. Boss and Tyra Turner beat Ross and defending champ Elaine Youngs when even a split-set victory could have put Ross in the championship match.
Branagh, a sixth seed, reached the final match by winning her first five matches of the tournament, putting her in a position where she clinched a trip to the finals by winning the first set of an eventual loss in her final second-round match.
Branagh picked Turner as a teammate because of how sensationally Turner had played in the final pool play match to help get Boss into the finals.
"I'm really proud of Tyra and I," Branagh said. "Unfortunately, Kerri and Jennifer made some plays. I'm very proud of this weekend overall. I'm honored to play with the people that I played with."
Branagh wound up playing six matches on the final two days of the tourney.
"I'm exhausted," she said, but richer for the effort with a $19,500 payday for the effort.

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