The finals of AVP Miami had a new location on Thursday afternoon, a whopping six rounds earlier in the tournament, a few thousand miles south and one time zone East, in Itapema, Brazil. Unlike Miami, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander would need no miracle comeback to win the final round of the Itapema Challenge qualifier against Chase Budinger and Miles Evans. They wouldn’t spot Budinger and Evans a 12-3 lead in the second set, as they did in Miami. Not in Itapema. Not on the Beach Pro Tour.
The Taylors jumped on Evans and Budinger and allowed no let-up, winning the first set, 21-17, and pounced on them in the second, 6-1, behind brilliant serving from Sander, who finished with five aces and untold number of out-of-system passes forced. It would only get smoother from there, as Crabb and Sander punched their main draw ticket with a 21-13 second set win.
This is exactly how Sander and Crabb wished to begin their 2023 season. They sat out the La Paz Challenge, choosing instead to play AVP Miami to tune themselves up for the gauntlet that is the Beach Pro Tour. They were tested plenty in South Beach, coming back from a 10-13 third-set deficit to Kyle Friend and Tim Brewster in the quarterfinals, surviving an 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 semifinal bout with Cody Caldwell and Chase Frishman, and dipping into their bag of magic tricks to flip a 3-12 deficit in the finals to win, 21-19. They’d been tested, just as they wished, finetuning whatever it was that needed finetuning.
“We have time to be peaking,” Sander said. “It’s going to be a really long year, looking at the schedule, so if we can do a steady climb and be our best later on, I think it’s going to be better for everybody.”
What is especially promising about their two matches in Itapema on Thursday was the way in which they won: A pair of sweeps over Israel’s top pair and Budinger and Evans while debuting a new-look offense, with Sander on the left side and Crabb on the right. That was an idea hatched by interim, and potentially long-term, coach Evie Matthews, who has long been in favor of an option-heavy, tempo offense, the type ran by his former team, Tri Bourne and John Hyden.
With Sander, a fantastic outside hitter during his decorated indoor career, on the left side, it opens up a bigger potential for options. Crabb is also no stranger to the right, having played it well with his brother, Trevor Crabb, for years and winning a bronze medal with Paul Lotman this…
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