San Diego Smash punctuate late-season surge with inaugural AVP League title

When the San Diego Smash required one pressure-packed sideout to win the title, Chase Budinger answered the call.

The championship of the inaugural AVP League came down to a “Golden Set” tiebreaker between the Smash and Dallas Dream on a balmy Sunday afternoon in Carson, California. Budinger and partner Miles Evans had seen a 14-10 comfort zone in a race to 15 evaporate against the Dream’s undefeated dynamic duo of Miles Partain and Andy Benesh when a stuff block by Andy and two kills in transition by Partain staved off three championship points.

Another “real point” by the Dream and it would be a brand new ballgame.

After a strategic timeout by the Smash, the tension was palpable as the 6-foot-9 Benesh ripped a topspin jump serve from the middle of the baseline. But Budinger stood strong while delivering a serviceable pass off his platform, and Evans, in system, launched a beautiful high-arching hand set to a prime hitting zone about three feet off the net and 10 feet inside the antenna.

A former contestant in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, the 6-foot-7 Budinger lifted off the sand and chopped a spike across his body with a controlled swing, niftily cutting inside of Benesh’s huge block, and the ball bounced off the sand near the left sideline.

Sideout mission accomplished. Golden Set won 15-13. Cue the celebration and break out the bubbly, the Smash would wear the pro-wrestling-styled belts around their waists as AVP League champions.

Budinger, Evans, Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez pulled off an improbable title run. Sitting eighth and dead last at 2-6 in the AVP League standings for the middle month of the regular season, the Smash qualified for the four-team playoffs as the No. 4 seed, sporting a break-even 8-8 record after rallying for 3-1 marks in each of the last two weeks.

Chase’s kill might have been the coup de grace, but the Smash’s women set the stage for that highlight-reel moment. The veteran Urango and her high-motor partner, Rodriguez, were first up against the Dream’s Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg in the innovative Golden Set, in which pairs from both genders compete, and came out firing. They staked the men to a cozy 8-5 advantage.

Toni’s deep kill off a scramble situation put the Smash up 4-2 and her booming spike in transition built a 7-4 lead. With three points to work with when the men took over and the height of the net was adjusted, Budinger’s rejection against Benesh made the count 10-7. Evans added another point to their cushion with a clever soft shot over the block, putting the Smash up 13-8, and he got them to Golden Set point at 14-10 with an option winner on a second ball. After some nail-biting moments, Budinger’s crucial kill sealed the deal.

“Give a lot of credit to our girls for getting us that lead early on (in the tiebreaker) to help us with our confidence,” Budinger said. “We had the lead, and even though we gave up some of it pretty fast, we were able to create a few points, give up a few points, but ultimately finally finish and get the win.”

Chase addressed how the Smash had to regroup from their slow start in the regular season just to earn a shot at the AVP League Championship.

“Our team really came together after those first two weeks, when we played pretty badly,” he said. “We just started to bond a little more. We talked about doing as well as we can, maybe go undefeated (over the week), go 3-1, just give us a chance to make the playoffs, and that’s what we did. That just gave us confidence coming into this weekend.

“Our girls played unbelievable. Their service pressure was crazy. Then Miles and I were able to (work) our faster offense. I was able to control the net in some of these matches and that gave us impetus to win. It was cool how (the men’s and women’s pairs) played off each other with this new format.

“It wasn’t our day today. It was their day. The girls really helped us win this title.”

Evans rubber-stamped those emotions, noting that, “Our girls have been playing so well all year, and they really gave us a chance. It’s a weird feeling for us to lose our match but have our girls carry us and give us a chance (in the Golden Set).”

Geena offered this insight on the Smash’s strategy in the novel tiebreaker: “We just treated the Gold Set as if our match were continuing. We thought if we could earn one or two points on defense and give our guys a cushion, then we’d be in a good spot.”

Urango and Rodriguez also nailed down the match victory that, at worst, meant the Smash would play in the tiebreaker by clobbering youngsters Harward and Deberg 15-9, 15-9 to open the championship tussle. The strong serving that had keyed their late-season success was evident again as Geena notched three aces and Toni two. The active 6-foot-1 Rodriguez hit at .571 efficiency (eight kills on 14 errorless swings), getting the better of the 6-foot-4 Deberg (.217 on 10-for-23 against five errors) in a showdown of former “bigs” out of the powerful LSU collegiate sand program.

If the nine weeks of League competition produced a breakout star, it would have to be Rodriguez, 28, whose organic effusiveness connected with fans, while her boundless energy translated to production on the court. After battling multiple knee injuries that hampered her career progress, and making many partner switches since joining the AVP in 2019, Toni admitted that this moment, “has been a long time coming.”

“Partnering up with Geena at the beginning of the year, we had a rocky start, but we kind of exploded onto the scene in Manhattan and Chicago (reaching the semifinals of those Heritage Series events), and then we made the league,” said Rodriguez, whose top finish in an upper-tier traditional bracket-style AVP tournament is third place. “We got paired up with these guys and it’s been nothing but fun. Even when we were 2-6, we still were grinding and we found a way to make it to the Championship. It just feels awesome.”

The Golden Set in the final was made necessary after Budinger and Evans were bounced 15-12, 15-11 by Partain and Benesh in a match featuring the pairs that represented the United States in the Paris Olympics. Pertain-Benesh were the only unbeaten duo in either gender in League matches, going 8-0 during the regular season and 2-0 in the playoffs.

Falling behind by four right out of the box in the first set, Budinger-Evans clawed back to 13-11, but the rally ended on Chase’s hitting error at set point. A tight second set broke open late when an ace by Partain and a service winner from Benesh helped build a 12-8 bulge, the end coming on another attacking miscue by Budinger.

The Dream’s men actually outscored the Smash’s 8-7 in the subsequent Golden Set tiebreaker, but they couldn’t overcome the three-point handicap they assumed at the switch.

“The Golden Set is a different concept,” the analytical Pertain. 22. said. “Maybe a little bit of aggression we could have left out there. It was just below where I felt our mentality should have been, but pretty close. I give us like a B-plus. Some strategic mistakes I’d say, probably preventable, but hindsight is 20/20.”

The Smash advanced to the title tussle by winning both of their semifinal matches in three sets against the top-seeded New York Nitro on a cool Saturday night in the tennis stadium at Dignity Health Sports Park. Budinger-Evans got the better of Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander 15-13, 11-15, 15-8. The Taylors fell into an early 6-1 hole in the third and weren’t allowed to climb out, as Evans hit 1.000 (5-for-5) and Chase .800 (4-for-5), while adding two blocks.

A 15-12, 11-15, 15-12 victory by Urango and Rodriguez over USA Olympians Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes would have to be labeled an upset, but it wasn’t a huge surprise, given how well the Smash duo’s recent form. Geena and Toni achieved 12-7 separation in the third set, weathered a rally, and picked up the winning point on a hitting error by Cheng. Urango was undaunted by consistent serving pressure, scoring 20 kills on 30 attacks against three errors (.567).

The second-seeded Dream took both of their Saturday night matches against the third-seeded Miami Mayhem to earn their spot in the final. Deberg, who soldiered on while dealing with the recent passing of her grandmother, and Harward defeated 2021 Olympic gold medalists April Ross and Alix Klineman 15-12, 15-12, holding the 6-foot-5 Klineman to an uncharacteristic .158 hitter percentage (7-for-19 with four errors).

Pertain and Benesh were extended to three sets by Manhattan Beach Open champions Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (for the second time in League play) before prevailing 11-15, 15-9, 15-10. Five consecutive points, three on rejections by Andy, turned a tight third set into a cakewalk. For the match, Benesh hit .522 (15-for-23 with three errors) and dialed up three aces.

The ballyhooed Golden Set made its debut on Sunday afternoon in the third-place game between the Mayhem and the Nitro.

The men’s match between the Taylors and Trevor Crabb-Brunner was a casual affair with a lot of “for fun” play. The opening set began with the Crabb brothers sending underhand lollipop serves across the net. The seriousness picked up in the third set, which Trevor and Theo wound up winning 19-17, 10-15, 29-27, and that last score isn’t a typo. As the deciding set ground on, all-time great Ross advised Trevor to block and the 6-foot-7 Brunner to play defense. On cue, Theo picked up a dig and tooled the block to notch the match-winner.

In the postmatch interview, Trevor and Theo, the “oldest team on tour,” indicated they would end their successful partnership, each saying he was dumping the other, while Brunner credited Ross for the change in tactics. “April’s the GOAT,” Theo said, adding that she “told Trevor to get his butt up” to the net.

Ross and Klineman have announced their retirements and got a final chance to go out as winners. That didn’t transpire immediately as the storied “A Team” lost to Cheng and Hughes 16-14, 15-13, prompting a Golden Set. The men started it and Trevor and Theo chiseled a precarious 8-7 edge for April and Alix, who would be on the “good side.” Ross and Klineman held firm, closing out the victory 15-12.

“It’s really awesome to finish our careers on a high note,” said Alix, who made a point to thank the fans for their support over the years.

“I can’t understate how much better it feels to go out winning a match like that,” said April, who owns Olympic medals of every color. “Technically, to be on the podium is really nice. I felt that Alix and I played really free and enjoyed every moment.”

The Saturday night gathering at the 7,259-seat tennis venue filled the first 9-10 rows of the middle three sections visible on the Bally Live app stream with some spectators spotted in one of the end zones. Sunday afternoon’s crowd perhaps was a bit smaller.

The four matches from Saturday’s semis and the two matches from Sunday’s third-place game (including the Golden Set), in Carson (a Los Angeles suburb) are archived on the AVP’s free YouTube channel. The two championship-game matches and its Golden Set aired Sunday exclusively on CBS Sports Network and will be posted to YouTube 10 days after the live telecast, in accordance with the AVP’s media-rights agreement with CBS Sports.

Here is a rundown of the scores in the AVP League Championship held outdoors in the 7,259-seat tennis stadium at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in chronological order with regular-season records in parentheses:

Saturday’s semifinals

No. 2 seed Dallas Dream (11-5) d. No. 3 seed Miami Mayhem (10-6) 2-0
Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg (Dream, 3-5) d. April Ross and Alex Klineman (Mayhem, 4-4) 15-12, 15-12.
Miles Partain and Andy Benesh (Dream, 8-0) d. Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner (Mayhem, 6-2) 11-15, 15-9, 15-10.

No. 4 seed San Diego Smash (8-8) d. No. 1 seed New York Nitro (12-4) 2-0
Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez (Smash, 4-4) d. Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (Nitro, 6-2) 15-12, 11-15, 15-12.
Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (Smash, 4-4) d. Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander (Nitro, 6-2) 15-13, 11-15, 15-8.

Sunday’s results

Third-place game: Mayhem d. Nitro 1-1, winning Golden Set 15-12
Trevor Crabb-Brunner (Mayhem) d. Taylor Crabb-Sander (Smash) 19-17, 10-15, 29-27.
Cheng-Hughes (Nitro) d. Ross-Klineman (Mayhem) 16-14, 15-13.
Golden Set: Trevor Crabb-Brunner 8 points, Taylor Crabb-Sander 7; (followed by) Ross-Klineman 7, Cheng-Hughes 5. (Mayhem win 15-12).

Championship game: Smash d. Dream 1-1, winning Golden Set 15-13
Urango-Rodriguez (Smash) d. Harward–Deberg (Dream) 15-9, 15-9.
Partain-Benesh (Dream) d. Budinger–Evans (Smash) 15-12, 15-11.
Golden Set: Urango-Rodriguez 8, Harward–Deberg 5; (followed by) Budinger–Evans 7, Partain-Benesh 8. (Smash win 15-13).