The New York Nitro consolidated their lead in the AVP League standings, winning three of four matches over the weekend in damp South Florida.
The Nitro’s hiccup occurred on Sunday afternoon when Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes came out uncharacteristically flat against up-and-comers Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon of the struggling Brooklyn Blaze and never gained traction while dropping their first League match.
A few days after Hurricane Milton had rumbled across the hard-hit Sunshine State, attendance was more sparse at the outdoor Delray Beach Tennis Center than had been the case in the League’s last two stops indoors in San Diego and Austin, Texas. Fans and players had to weather persistent drizzle and intermittent heavier rainfall on Saturday night and the second game on Sunday afternoon, nationally televised live on CBS Sports Network, got a bit of rain.
The Nitro locked in a playoff spot in running their record to 10-2 and hold a one-game lead in the loss column over the Austin Aces and Dallas Dream (both 5-3). They enjoy a three-game advantage over the 7-5 Miami Mayhem, who went 2-2 in Delray Beach, losing both matches against the Nitro.
The other four League teams are under .500. The playoff hopes of the Blaze and Palm Beach Passion (both 4-8) took hits this weekend. The Mayhem’s April Ross and Alix Klineman, the 2021 Olympic gold-medal pair in Tokyo, dealt a particularly damaging defeat to Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of the Passion, taking down the reigning Olympic silver medalists from Canada for the second time in League play.
After dropping the opening set 15-13, Ross and Klineman found another gear in the second and third, winning 15-11 and 15-9. The veterans combined for 11 kills on 13 attacks with one error (.769 efficiency) and each served aces in the tiebreaker. Wilkerson was held to .133 hitting (five kills on 15 attempts against three errors) in the match.
“(Mel and Brandie) are a great team, and we have a lot of respect for them,” Klineman said. “We know to beat a great team, we have to play great. We started off a little tense and our coach in the box reminded us to play free. (The match) got back to a little bit more of our playing style, and that’s when we started to turn it around a little bit.”
The Canadians (3-3 in the League) had fired on all cylinders on Saturday night, putting a 15-9,…
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