Three Waves Reach AVP Seattle Semifinal; Alumna Ross Wins
6/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
AVP SEATTLE OPEN
SEATTLE, Wash. - Of the eight current or graduated Waves that competed in the most recent AVP Seattle Open, three from the Pepperdine beach volleyball program reached the semifinals as rising junior Skylar Caputo and alums Summer Ross and Kelley Larsen all competed last weekend.
Ross and partner Brooke Sweat went head-to-head in the tournament championship with fellow indoor and beach Pepperdine alum Larsen and partner Betsi Flint, a Loyola Marymount grad, eventually taking home the $15,000 prize with a 21-17, 24-22 final victory.
Ross, Sweat and Larsen, Flint each went through the winner's bracket without a loss to reach the final. As the No. 2 seed, Ross and Sweat faced USC standouts Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, downing the Trojans with a 21-17, 21-19 match in 38 minutes. No. 4 seeded Larsen and Flint had their fair share of tough competition, taking on top-ranked Lane Carico and Lauren Fendrick and defeating the pair with a 21-14, 24-22 final mark in a 55-minute match.
Larsen led the tournament with a .512 hitting percentage, while Ross ranked 4th in hitting percentage with a .469 among competitors. Ross was 2nd in the field with 10 aces and 8th with eight blocks, while Larsen finished 11th with five aces and fifth with 10 blocks.
Current rising junior Caputo (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had a standout tournament showing with new partner Sarah Pavan. Pavan was a four-time AVCA All-American first teamer and a two-time Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year for Nebraska's indoor squad. She is originally from Canada and also competed in the 2016 Olympic Games, helping the Canadians finish 5th overall. 
The duo opened the tournament in the qualifier bracket as the No. 12 seed, defeating the No. 5, No. 20 and No. 21 seeds to advance.
In the main draw, Caputo and Pavan picked up the No. 16 seed, but fell to top-seeded Carico and Fendrick, but busted through the back draw to earn a rematch against the No. 1 seeded pair. In the rematch for a spot in the semifinal, Caputo and Pavan posted a 21-16, 15-21, 15-13 final score to advance. In the earlier back draw, the duo downed No. 8 seeded Caitlin Ledoux and Heather McGuire with a 23-21, 16-21, 15-13 mark and No. 3 Kim DiCello and Emily Stockman with a 19-21, 22-20, 15-7 result. In the semifinal against No. 2 Ross and Sweat, the Waves' alumna won the match 21-11, 21-17 victory over the current Wave.
In 15-matches played throughout the weekend, Caputo led the tournament in total digs with 113. Her 7.53 dig average ranked 3rd among all the competitors.
Also competing in the qualifier bracket were recent graduates Delaney Knudsen (Valencia, Calif./Valencia HS) and Brittany Howard (Los Altos, Calif./Mountain View HS/Stanford), senior Corinne Quiggle (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra HS) and sophomores Deahna Kraft (Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS) and Gigi Hernandez (Dana Point, Calif/JSerra Catholic HS).
Knudsen and Kraft joined together and won through their first two matches before falling.
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