AVP League: Ross, Miami Mayhem finish strong: Dallas Dream goes 3-for-4

Photographer Jim Wolf was in Oceanside and a gallery of his best shots follow. Click on any photo to view full size and be sure to give him credit if you share.

The Miami Mayhem put the finishing touches on a 10-6 regular season in the AVP League by going 3-1 over the weekend, meaning that fans will be treated to more beach volleyball from all-time great April Ross.

The Mayhem are locked into one of four spots in the bracket-style League semifinals after Ross and partner Alix Klineman split their matches during Week 6 at the Frontwave Arena, while teammates Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner went 2-0. The League’s return to Southern California drew perhaps the best crowds to date in the series to the spanking new venue in Oceanside, which was perfectly sized for the event.

April and Alix, the gold medalists in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, got off to a rough start on Saturday night, absorbing a 15-13, 15-8 thumping from Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles of the LA Launch. Both sets ended when Klineman served balls into the net.

The first was tied at 12 before Scoles got a kill on a knuckle-poke and then rejected Klineman on a tight set. Flint and Scoles notched seven consecutive points early in the second set, including two aces from Betsi’s deceptive off-one-foot hybrid float serve, to build an insurmountable advantage. Julia hit .818 for the match (10-for-11 against a single error) and recorded three blocks and a dig.

“We talk about (being) snipers from behind the line, especially at the beginning, not so much at the end,” said Flint, who dialed up three service winners and made seven digs.

Veterans Ross and Klineman shrugged off that setback, rebounding with an 11-15, 16-14, 15-11 triumph on Sunday afternoon over Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon of the Brooklyn Blaze, which evened their League record at 4-4. In the tiebreaker, Ross picked up seven kills on 11 errorless swings and four digs, while the less-experienced Blaze pair combined to hit .278 (8-for-18 with three errors).

“The final kill down the line was a relief because we had a big lead and I just wanted to close it out,” said Ross, 42, who will retire when the AVP League concludes. “But I was feeling, like, ‘OK, if we win this, we have a good chance of getting in the (League) Championship.’ So that was also a relief, that we would have another weekend together.”

April expounded on her emotions as her stellar career nears its end.

“Going…