The revolving door that was the entry list to AVP Central Florida, which begins this Friday in Tavares, has, alas, seemed to stop.
The only question remaining after last week was what the AVP would do with the spot taken by Miles Evans and Andy Benesh. Evans is currently in Australia with Paul Lotman, prepping for the upcoming Volleyball World Torquay Elite 16, while Benesh has settled into off-season mode. The final trickle-down main draw bid, then, went to perhaps the most fitting team: Caleb Kwekel and Dylan Zacca, the second Florida-based men’s team in the draw, the other being Dave Palm and Rafu Rodriguez. They earned their main-draw slot via a ninth at the Tour Series in Huntington Beach, where they fell to eventual semifinalists Logan Webber and Seain Cook.
Tavares is a notable location for Kwekel, who technically made his first professional main draw there as an 18-year-old in the USA Volleyball King of the Beach event. This year, the 20-year-old has qualified for three Pro or Gold Series main draws — Austin with Marty Lorenz, Manhattan Beach with Ian Satterfield, and now Central Florida. Zacca, on the other hand, a 20-year-old native of Pembroke Pines, is making his Pro or Gold Series debut, although he has enjoyed fair success in the Tour Series events, with ninths in Muskegon, Atlantic City, and Huntington Beach, and a seventh in Virginia Beach.
AVP Central Florida: More than an AVP tournament
The Pro Series in Central Florida, which will be at Hickory Point Beach, is not the only event happening at that venue this weekend. The tournament will coincide with World ParaVolley, a global organization that partners with the International Paralympic Committee that educates and develops sports opportunities for people with a physical impairment.
“We’re ready to show our support and welcome the AVP and World ParaVolley organizations, athletes, and spectators to Tavares, America’s Seaplane City,” Director of Discover Lake County, Florida Ryan Ritchie said in a news release. “Our partners at USA Volleyball Florida Region have done an incredible job making Hickory Point Beach the perfect place to host thousands of spectators and athletes. We hope visitors will discover the awe Tavares has to offer with their unique downtown and enjoy watching seaplanes fly overhead while they compete.”
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