AVP Crocs Tour ‘Riverside Open’

On the heels of last weekend’s Downtown Street Jam, the AVP / Crocs Tour “Riverside Open” rolled into town Thursday for a four-day, professional beach volleyball tournament.

AVP

Photo Gallery: Saturday, April 18

Photo Gallery: Sunday, April 19

The event, which is being staged at a temporary “sandbox” and grandstand located at Market and Third streets (near the convention center), is the second stop on the 2009 schedule and the first time the tour has stopped within the Inland region. A total of 3,500 tons of crisp, clean white sand was trucked in to create the 15 volleyball courts.
Many well-known players are participating, including last year’s Beijing Olympics gold medal team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. (Unfortunately, the women’s gold medal team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are not playing due to Walsh’s pregnancy.)
Free parking — including in the city’s downtown parking garages — will be available after 5 p.m. on Friday and all day on the weekend. And, of course, food and drinks can be had at the various downtown eateries, restaurants and bars, both on and off the pedestrian mall.
Other stops on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) 2009 tour include Houston, Atlanta, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas — and Mason, Ohio, Muskegon, Michigan and Glendale, Arizona.
So, grab your shades and sunscreen and head to downtown Riverside for some deep digs, hard spikes — and bikinis.
The schedule for the remaining three days are:
Friday, 10 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. – Men’s and Women’s Main Draw Competition
Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. – Men’s and Women’s Main Draw Competition
Saturday, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. – Men’s and Women’s Main Draw Competition (Night Session)
Sunday, 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., with the women’s final at 2:30 p.m. and the men’s final at 4 p.m.
Tickets are $10-$40 daily or $60-$120 for all sessions.
For those who can’t make it, check out live AVP coverage for Saturday/Sunday here.
Related

• AVP.com – 2009 AVP Crocs Tour Riverside Open