Sunday’s semifinals are set in AVP Seattle. The odd seeds prevailed on the men’s side, as the No. 1, 3, 5, and 7 seeds are in. Even seeds will play on the women’s side, as the No. 2, 4, 6, and 16 seeds are in.
The women’s semifinals are first up, with fourth-seeded Betsi Flint and Kelley Larsen playing No. 6 Jen Fopma and Kelly Reeves, and No. 2 Summer Ross and Brooke Sweat taking on No. 16 Sarah Pavan and Skylar Caputo. Both women’s semifinals are at 9 a.m. Pacific on the shores of Lake Sammamish in suburban Issaquah.
Fopma and Reeves have a 1-0 head-to-head advantage over Flint and Larsen after defeating them 21-14, 21-11 earlier this season in AVP Austin. But Flint and Larsen are coming off a victory June 18 at the FIVB Nanjing 1-Star tournament in China.
Ross and Sweat have never played Canadians Caputo and Pavan.
The men’s semifinals will follow when s No. 1 Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb will play No. 5 Billy Allen and Stafford Slick at 10 a.m. No. 3 Sean Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb face No. 7 Jeremy Casebeer and John Mayer at 11 a.m.
Taylor Crabb and Gibb have won both previous head-to-head match-ups this year, with a 21-16, 25-23 win at AVP New York and a 21-11, 21-19 win in Huntington Beach.
Trevor Crabb and Rosenthal defeated Casebeer and Mayer in their only previous meeting this year, 20-22, 21-19, 15-10 in Austin.
In the women’s draw, Flint and Larsen and Ross and Sweat took the path through the winners bracket. They beat No. 1 Lane Carico and Lauren Fendrick to reach the semifinals 21-14, 24-22.
Ross and Sweat had a nearly identical score over Fopma and Reeves, 24-22, 21-14 that guaranteed them a semifinal berth.
Fopma and Reeves defeated No. 9 Karolina Marciniak and Kendra VanZwieten 21-17, 18-21, 15-8 in the contender’s bracket to advance to the semifinals.
Caputo and Pavan’s route was considerably more complicated, with wins over No. 3 Kim DiCello and Emily Stockman (19-21, 22-20, 15-7), No. 5 Angela Bensend and Geena Urango (21-13, 21-13) and No. 1 Lane Carico and Lauren Fendrick (21-16, 15-12, 15-13).
In the men’s draw, No. 1 Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb and No. 3 Sean Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb took the easy route to the semifinals with a single win in the winners bracket quarterfinals. Gibb and Crabb had it the easiest, receiving a forfeit from No. 4 Ryan Doherty and John Hyden, who had to leave in order to make their 11-hour flight to the FIVB qualifier in Porec, Croatia.
Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb reached the semifinals by defeating No. 2 Casey Patterson and Theo Brunner 21-15, 21-17.
Allen and Slick and Casebeer and Mayer advanced to the semifinals the hard way through the contender’s bracket. Allen and Slick defeated No. 15 Piotr Marciniak and Roberto Rodriguez-Bertran (21-10, 21-14), No. 9 Reid Priddy and Ed Ratledge (21-16, 21-13), and Patterson and Brunner (21-16, 21-15)
Casebeer and Mayer’s road to the semifinals included defeats of No. 13 Michael Brunsting and Chase Frishman (21-18, 21-15) and No. 16 Ricardo Santos and Chaim Schalk (21-19, 21-18) before receiving the benefit of a forfeit from Doherty and Hyden.
