Olympic volleyball previewed in Vegas

The AVP Las Vegas Gods and Goddesses of the Beach tournament will offer a glimpse of the 2008 U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team.

But unlike another tournament that ended earlier this week here, the beach volleyball tournament won't produce the same clear-cut results that the FIBA Americas Championship basketball tourney did.

The top two teams at the FIBA tournament qualified for the Olympics in Beijing, but no one will qualify from Las Vegas for the Olympic beach volleyball squad.

However, just as the FIBA tournament featured the biggest NBA stars, the Gods and Goddesses tourney will feature the top 12 men and the top 12 women on the AVP Crocs Tour during 2007 except for Misty May-Treanor. The likely top seed, May-Treanor pulled out of the competition to rest her sore knees for the tour finale in San Francisco later this month.

The Las Vegas event, which begins today and ends Saturday at Caesars Palace, has a unique format that features round-robin play with one men's champion and one women's champion ultimately crowned.

The unique rule is that no player can be paired with his or her regular-season partner at any time during the tourney, and he or she will have a different partner for each round.

"Except for Misty May, all of the players who will be in the Olympics next year will be playing this weekend," said Karch Kiraly, a former Olympic gold medalist who is a TV volleyball analyst. "But you won't be seeing the Olympic team represented here, or actually you could because of a weird thing.

"With Misty not playing, (Nicole) Branagh and (Elaine) Youngs are in the same pool, so they will play together one time. At this time, Branagh and Youngs will be (qualifiers for the) Olympics, and you will get to see them together one time."

Branagh and Youngs, however, are not the top U.S. team. May-Treanor and her partner, Kerri Walsh, the defending Las Vegas women's champion, rank third in Olympic qualifying points worldwide. They also are 2004 Olympic gold medalists.

"You have to play on (the international FIVB circuit) at least eight times over a year and a half," Kiraly said. "Once you have played a minimum of eight events, you are eligible, but they take your eight best results.

"Two women's teams (from the U.S. qualify for the Olympics), and number one is Walsh and May; six of their eight events (are) as good as you can get. ... And behind them a little bit is the team of (Jennifer) Boss and (April) Ross."

On the men's side, defending Las Vegas men's champ Todd Rogers and his regular-season partner, Phil Dalhauser, are leading the way to a U.S. Olympic berth with a 15th-place world Olympics points ranking.

"The second best team is (Sean) Rosenthal and (Jake) Gibb right now with (Mike) Lambert and (Stein) Metzger close behind," Kiraly said.

Also competing in the men's tourney is No. 9 seed Casey Jennings, who is a Las Vegas native.

"(Qualifying for the Olympic team) will be very tough," said Jennings, who is a Clark High graduate. "The window's small, but I am going for it.

"It's the best guys in the world (competing in Las Vegas). Our tour dominates any other tour around the world. Whatever we do here is going to benefit us when we go over there for international play."

For the complete schedule, log on to www.avp.com.