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Men's Preview: AVP Atlanta Open
By Doug Strauss
July 5, 2006

There is an old adage that says you can't teach height. Given the rule
changes in pro beach volleyball a few years back, teams with a big blocker
have fared better. Also, with the beach edition being a two-person game,
communication between teammates is an extremely important component.
Therefore it would make sense that successful teams have a history together
that would give them an advantage over other teams. That makes this week's
AVP Atlanta Open an interesting dilemma for the 2000 Olympic Gold Medalists,
Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana.

Those two players have played together for more domestic events than any
other active team, but this week will be splitting up. Probably
communication was not to blame for this split-up, but rather lack of height
for the two 6'3" athletes. So how did Blanton choose to play with Matt
Prosser, who has won seven main draw matches in his four-year career? For
starters, three of those seven wins have come against Blanton, including in
a 17th-place match last weekend in Seaside Heights. Blanton will get to play
defense behind the 6'7" former All-American blocker at Long Beach State, who
has gotten at least five blocks in all three matches this season pitting the
two now-teammates.

Fonoimoana has chosen to play alongside another 6'7" All-American blocker as
well, George Roumain. "Big George", the two-time NCAA Player of the Year,
will be seeing his first action in nearly a month after injuring himself in
Hermosa Beach on June 10.

It is no coincidence that the top 16 blockers on the Tour are all on teams
seeded 18th or better. Or that the last time an AVP title went to a team
without a player who is at least 6'5" was 39 events ago in early 2003. There
is a similar situation on the women's side, whose winning team in every
event since the rule change has featured one player who is at least 6'0".

Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings, winners of last week's event in Seaside
Heights, currently have the longest standing partnership on the AVP CROCS
Tour. Their partnership began in 2000, which was essentially the first year
on the beach for both players. They split up for 2001 and 2002, but have
played together ever since, appearing in exactly half of the Final Fours the
past two seasons. With Fuerbringer checking in at 6'7", this duo has the
best of both worlds, with height and experience.

In Atlanta, Fuerbringer and Jennings could have an interesting third-round
match-up if the seeds hold up. After getting a first-round bye since this
field is limited to 24 teams in the main draw, one win could pit Fuerbringer
and Jennings against last week's finals opponents, Dax Holdren and Sean
Scott.

Another possible finals rematch could also take place in the third round, as
top seeds Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers potentially will face off against
Brent Doble and Ryan Mariano. Those two teams met in the finals of
Huntington Beach on Memorial Day weekend.

In fact the top eight seeds in Atlanta all have impressive resumes this
season. The eight teams have combined to take 26 of the 28 possible Final
Four slots this season. Only one of those teams has yet to play in a
championship match this year.

The Tour has returned, perhaps briefly, back to how it has mostly been for
the past few years. In the last three events, three different teams have
won, with Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger the only team in that span to
appear in two finals. Lambert and Metzger are the Tour's most consistent
team, advancing to the semifinals every event, which no other team can
boast. Dalhausser and Rogers have been in six straight Final Fours while
Fuerbringer and Jennings have been in the last three.

Jennings hopes that he can now close the gap on the record owned by Gibb and
Rosenthal's coach, Mike Dodd. Dodd and his wife Patty won four pro beach
titles on the same weekend in a span of less than three months. With
Jennings and his wife Kerri Walsh winning together in Seaside Heights, they
have ample time to catch the Dodds before year's end.

AVP ANNALS

Atlanta has hosted four AVP men's events in addition to being the site of
the 1996 Athens Games, the first time beach volleyball was an Olympic sport.
Karch Kiraly won in all five of those tournaments, doing so with three
different partners. Kiraly will miss his second straight event due to
injury. Fonoimoana and Albert Hanemann will therefore become the only two
players to compete in all of the AVP tournaments in Atlanta.

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