Brooklyn Blaze win 3-set thriller at AVP League’s Long Beach stop

LONG BEACH — A handful of shirtless hecklers stood on the sideline.

They yelled insults, making fun of 41-year-old Paul Lotman of the Dallas Dream’s age or every misstep his partner, Miles Partain, made.

The group’s body paint spelled out I-HEART-B-D-D, with the heart represented by its typical symbol and the final three letters standing for “Big Dog Derek.”

The incessant posse may have tipped Saturday’s final match in Derek Bradford’s and the Brooklyn Blaze’s favor. Bradford and Evan Cory defeated the Dallas Dream’s Lotman and Partain 15-11, 14-16, 18-16 at Alamitos Beach on the AVP League’s first day of Week 5.

“Those are my hometown buddies,” Bradford said. “That’s the nice thing of having a hometown tournament. You’re going to have your own personal friends coming out and cheering for you. I did not know they were going to be doing their little antics. … Oh my gosh, I know they were in their head.”

The Blaze and Dream’s match was the lone contest to require three sets. Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft, the Miami Mayhem’s women’s pair, defeated the Dallas Dream 15-8, 15-11. The Miami Mayhem’s men’s pair, Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, took down the L.A. Launch 15-11, 15-9.

The L.A. Launch women’s pair of Alaina Chacon and Maddie Anderson swept the Brooklyn Blaze 15-7, 15-13, meaning a pair of AVP League rookies defeated the defending AVP champions, Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin.

“This is my first year where I really get the chance to compete against these top teams so often,” Chacon said. “It’s obviously pressure, but you just trust your coaches, you trust your partner, trust your training and you see what you can do with that.”

Chacon hails from Indiana and Anderson from Florida, where the duo also practices. Meanwhile, teams attributed to distant cities are filled with Southern California talent.

“We get a lot of questions on why we represent LA and not a Florida team,” Anderson said. “It wasn’t up to us, and we’re just happy to be part of the league.”

It seemed many Southern California players saw the first day of AVP’s Week 5 as a chance to ground themselves, with multiple athletes saying their parents rarely get the opportunity to watch them play professionally.

And playing professionally in beach volleyball can be especially taxing.

Players who are concurrently participating in the FIVB Pro Tour, including Chacon, Anderson, Cheng, Kraft and Partain, were in Switzerland a week ago, playing with the Mikasa ball rather than the AVP’s Wilson ball. They had to reacclimate to the ball at the same time they adjusted to a nine-hour time change.

The overlap of players who compete in the FIVB and AVP can lead to rivalries, chirping and animosity, especially when considering it’s not uncommon in beach volleyball for players competing in a given tournament to share a single locker room, Benesh said.

“When it comes to the match time, I think everyone’s a true competitor, and they’re going to try to rip your head off to win the match,” Benesh said. “The dynamic in beach volleyball is very interesting, especially since we all train with each other. Some people don’t like each other, and they still train with each other. It’s entertaining.”

However, the former Trojan added that players are generally good at being professional, cordial and knowing when to turn their internal competitor off.

It’s not just the athletes who have to deal with the AVP’s travel schedule and perform come the weekend.

Mark Schuermann doesn’t have an official title, but he typically fills the role of an MC and doesn’t mind being called “the Voice of the AVP.” The AVP League’s constant movement throughout the country can be tough for Schuermann, especially with a 7-month-old at home.

Schuermann has been PA announcing, engaging with fans and doing just about everything to raise the energy in the atmosphere since 2015, something he seemed to succeed in Saturday, though he credited that to the consistently passionate Southern California volleyball community.

But Schuermann added that he knows how fortunate he is to have a job in something he loves, volleyball, that isn’t a Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5.

Schuermann played volleyball through high school and college, and eventually his venture into journalism led him to broadcasting. He knew putting the two together would be like a dream come true.

“So much of what I do now, I pretty much owe to working in volleyball,” Schuermann said. “I’ve worked three Olympic Games, which is amazing. I’ve worked NCAA championships in hockey and baseball and basketball and lacrosse, and now I work dance competitions. … Volleyball is definitely my bread and butter, and it’s provided some awesome opportunities.”

The four teams, totaling eight pairs, return to Alamitos Beach on Sunday to conclude the AVP’s Week 5 with four matches, beginning at 1 p.m.