Looking to inject some flavor into its season-opening beach volleyball event, the Association of Volleyball Professionals is adding an international twist to the Huntington Beach Open.
Three beach volleyball teams with world-class resumes have been added to the field of 16 in the men’s and women’s main draws, which begin play Friday morning alongside the Huntington Beach pier and run through the championship matches on Sunday afternoon.
Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan now highlight the men’s competition, while the addition of Thâmela Coradello and Victoria Lopes of Brazil, and sisters Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland have ramped up the women’s field.
“I think it’ll help the sport of beach volleyball in the U.S. grow,” said Miles Partain, a 2024 Olympian for the U.S. “I think it’s great for the next generation of players to be able to look up to the best in the world, not just the U.S.”
Younousse is from Senegal and Tijan is from The Gambia, but they compete for Qatar, winning bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and losing in the third-place match in Paris in 2024.
More recently, the pair won the Elite 16 in Newport Beach last October, which was the first time in seven years the United States hosted an international beach volleyball tournament.
Many of the AVP decision-makers were in attendance that weekend and they left impressed with the atmosphere and attendance, which got their wheels spinning.
“I was there in person, and feeling the vibe and how the fans got into it,” said Robert Corvino, Chief Operating Officer at the AVP.
Coradello and Lopes came into the week ranked third in the world in the FIVB women’s world rankings, just ahead of the top American duo of Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz (formerly Nuss).
Before teaming up in late 2024, Anouk won bronze at the 2020 Olympics and Zoe finished fifth at the 2024 Olympics, both with different partners. The Vergé-Déprés are currently ranked eighth in the world, two spots ahead of the second-best U.S. pair of Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin.
“We’re all about having the best top talent in the world competing on our platform,” Corvino said. “With the excitement around the 2028 LA Olympics, and all that that represents, we’ve had an incredible amount of international interest in playing in the domestic league.”
Corvino said several international teams expressed interest in competing at the Huntington Beach Open, but did not have the qualifications or ran into visa issues.
Ideally, Corvino said an equal number of international teams would be on the men’s and women’s side, but he’s pleased with the selections.
“We really wanted the best talent,” Corvino said. “We were very selective in how we went about the process.”
The Huntington Beach Open is the first of three Heritage events this year. The others are the Manhattan Beach Open, Aug. 14-16, and the Laguna Beach Open, Sept. 18-20.
Corvino said the AVP has not yet decided whether it will add international teams to the remaining Heritage events.
“We’re going to see how this works out,” he said. “We’re open to other concepts and formats. You get a little bit more complicated with Manhattan Beach, but we’re excited to see how the fans receive this format and what interest this drums up internationally moving forward. There’s a lot of different ways to go with this.”
Southern California will also continue to host an AVP League event.
After hosting league events at UCLA Tennis Center, Honda Center and Dignity Health Sports Park in the inaugural season of 2024, and at Intuit Dome last season, Alamitos Beach in Long Beach has been selected as the site of a league event July 11-12.
It’s the same venue that will host beach volleyball at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“The city has been great to work with, and we’re excited about how that’s going to turn out,” Corvino said.