AVP league: Nitro completes strong opening weekend
The New York Nitro earned 11 points over two days, putting some distance between three other teams involved.
Tomas K - Moderator 
LOS ANGELES — On Sunday, the first weekend of the AVP league continued with four matches. The New York Nitro faced the LA Launch and the Brooklyn Blaze faced the San Diego Smash.
The Nitro earned five seed points on Sunday, increasing their total to 11 for the weekend as they are the only undefeated team. After earning three seed points, yesterday, the Launch earned just one, giving them four.
The Blaze and Smash traded victories on Sunday. The Blaze leave the weekend with four points after earning zero on Saturday. The Smash earned just one point on Sunday and also end the weekend with four points.
San Diego Smash vs. Brooklyn Blaze (women’s match)
In the AVP league, where sets are played to 15 points, starting off hot is an advantage. It can be tough to discover a rhythm late, when your backs are against a wall. That’s where Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez found themselves in the third set: Down 12-8, with no semblance of momentum.
Then they made an adjustment.
“We were just changing up where we were serving,” Urango said. “I thought that we just executed that game plan.”
They erased the Blaze’s lead with a six-point surge, Urango’s attacks and kills carrying the Smash through the run. Urango, however, committed a service error on their first match point, giving the Blaze life. Megan Kraft attacked the Smash on the following point, but her hit went out of bounds and the Smash won (15-12, 11-15, 15-13)
The Smash had the chance to win a maximum of three points as they led the second set 9-8, but Terese Cannon provided consecutive kills and the Blaze won the set.
With the three-set victory, the Smash earned two seed points. The Blaze’s women earned their first point of the season.
San Diego Smash vs. Brooklyn Blaze (men’s match)
The Blaze’s Cody Caldwell and Seain Cook regrouped after their two-set loss on Saturday, realizing they had an inherent strength they’d yet to tap into:
Cook’s natural enthusiasm.
“Super important to bring the energy,” Cook said. “Today, the plan was to go out and get on them first and build from there.”
In the first set, the Blaze jumped out to a 5-2 lead, Cook yelping in glee with each point. A kill from Cook, later, extended that lead to 11-7 and another kill from him closed the set at 15-12.
The second set went similarly. The Smash’s Miles Evans and Chase Budinger got put on the back foot, down 7-4, but fought back to tie it 7-7.The Blaze regained the edge and earned their first chance at match point this season after a kill by Cook made it 14-11. Evans tested their ability to close with two kills, but on the third match point, Caldwell’s back-set cleanly set up Cook for a kill.
“We call that a flare,” Cook said about the route. “It’s been pretty clean so we went for it.”
With the two-set victory, the Blaze men won their first match of the season and a maximum of three points to give the team four total seed points on Saturday. The Smash’s men earned zero seed points.
New York Nitro vs. LA Launch (women’s match)
In the second set, Sara Hughes dove into the sand for a recovery, passing the ball to Kelly Cheng. Cheng waited a beat, rather than attacking the Launch, she passed it back to Hughes, who had popped up. Hughes, dripping in sand, showing no fatigue from her save, killed the point.
“When those big plays happen,” Hughes said, “it’s really fun.”
Her brilliance gave the Nitro an 8-6 lead. Already with the security of having won the first set, they extended their second-set advantage from there. Cheng poked the ball out of the reach of the Launch’s Betsi Flint to make it 12-8. Hughes produced a kill to make it 13-9, before a violation and an error from Julia Scoles gave the Nitro the win.
The Nitro won both their matches in straight sets and are seemingly a step ahead in figuring out the AVP’s revamped scoring format.
“We assess how the game is going after the first technical timeout,” Hughes said. “Then you start rolling and make adjustments as you go.”
The pair admitted the quicker sets are forcing them to lock in earlier, but they’re adapting, seamlessly.
The Nitro women earned three seed points with the win and secured a maximum of six seed points this weekend. The Launch women didn’t earn any points on Sunday, but retain two from Saturday.
New York Nitro vs. LA Launch (men’s match)
After the Nitro dropped the first set 16-14, Taylor Crabb struggled through the second set — recording five errors.
“I came out a little lackadaisical,” Crabb said.
Crabb felt Taylor Sander carried him through much of that set as the Nitro clawed their way to a set point. They failed to capitalize on that set point, three consecutive times, but Sander produced a kill on the fourth attempt, tying the match.
The Nitro carried that momentum into the third set. Sander’s kill gave them a 5-2 lead, but the Launch caught them at six points after a kill from Troy Field. As Crabb admitted, Sander had been the sturdier of the Taylors to that point. Crabb, though, locked in for the final few points. He struck two kills as the Nitro took a 14-11 lead. Then, Sander complemented his teammate with a match-winning kill.
The Nitro’s men earned their second victory of the weekend, this time needing all three sets, to earn two seed points. The Launch’s men earned one point with the three-set loss.
