Two-time gold medalist and AVP Crocs Tour superstar Kerri Walsh has picked up a new partner for this weekend’s AVP Crocs Cup Championship Kentucky Grilled Chicken Chicago Open: retired bronze medalist and beach volleyball legend Holly McPeak. Since her return to the AVP Crocs Tour earlier this month without long-time partner Misty May-Treanor, who is still rehabilitating an injury, Walsh had played with AVP star Rachel Wacholder, who is sitting the Chicago Open out with a sore shoulder.

“I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to play with Rachel this weekend, I want her to take the time she needs to recover and look forward to playing with her again,” Walsh said. “Fortunately, I have the opportunity to play with a legend like Holly and we plan to go out and win the tournament.”

Walsh and Wacholder placed third at the AVP Crocs Tour San Francisco Open presented by Barefoot Wine, and fifth at AVP events in Hermosa Beach, Calif. and Muskegon, Mich.

“There’s nothing I want more than to be playing this weekend with Kerri,” Wacholder said. “I've worked my butt off to come back from a rough pregnancy and a C-section and it kills me to have to sit out. I'm trying to do what's best for me as a mother and as a professional athlete and I want Kerri to have the best chance at winning.”

McPeak officially retired from the AVP Crocs Tour in May 2009. Since then, she has been working full-time in financial services and as part of the AVP broadcast team.

“I was shocked to get the call but the timing was right,” McPeak said. “The tournament should not affect my new career, and the opportunity to play with Kerri is one that I can’t pass up.”

Walsh and McPeak have joined forces once before, at an FIVB World Tour event in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2001, Walsh’s rookie season. The duo took second place after being seeded fourth.

The AVP Crocs Cup Championship Kentucky Grilled Chicken Chicago Open is set to take place August 27-30 in Chicago at Oak Street Beach. Sessions start on Friday, August 28 and run through Sunday afternoon, September 30. Men’s finals are set to take place Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT, while women’s finals will take place Sunday also at 1:30 p.m. CT. Both finals will be broadcast LIVE on NBC. Semifinals each day will be tape delayed on Universal Sports at 11 p.m. CT.

Tickets start at $10 and are available by clicking here and during the event at the onsite box office.

If you are unable to be there, click here to follow McPeak/Walsh and the rest of the main draw results from Chicago all weekend!