With three events remaining this season, the AVP switches gears to special tournament formats starting with this weekend’s AVP Crocs Tour Tournament of Champions in Mason, Ohio. And aptly, a champion in the minds of many will retire after competing in the city that shares her name.

Nancy Mason is the player to watch in Mason as she wraps up a dazzling professional career that began in 1994. The 38-year-old native of Belleville, Ill., and former Indiana Hoosier has four second-place finishes on the AVP Tour, with one more shot at her first win coming up. Mason took first at the AVP’s Hot Winter Nights Oklahoma City stop in Jan. 2008. In 2001, she and Leanne McSorley handed Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh their first loss as a team. The AVP’s 2003 Most Improved Player ranks 20th in women’s career domestic earnings and seventh in women’s career events—Mason will be her 197th. Although she’s retiring, her participation this weekend proves Mason remains an elite player.

Only the best AVP athletes will play in the 16-team, double elimination tournament. The top 14 teams per gender based on their 10 highest finishes of the season earned automatic berths. A women’s wildcard spot given to Rachel Wacholder and Kerri Walsh, coupled with a few partner changes, caused a slight shakeup in rounding out the fields of 16: 

Seedings based on top four of last five finishes. * Denotes wildcard.

For complete Tournament of Champions standings, click here .

On the men’s side, Casey Jennings will reunite with Matt Fuerbringer after missing the past three events. Fuerbringer played in San Francisco with Reid Priddy and in Muskegon and Chicago with Billy Allen. Allen, meanwhile, will partner with Paul Baxter. Allen earned his automatic Tournament of Champions berth with Braidy Halverson, who won’t compete this weekend due to injury.

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have had their way recently in the Cincinnati area. The three-time defending champions look to make it four straight wins in Mason. The gold medalists’ only loss there as a team came in 2006 to Fuerbringer and Jennings, who have taken third each of the past three years. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal also finished third in Mason last season. 15 of the 32 men playing in the Tournament of Champions have won a title in their careers.

In the women’s bracket, Mason will play with Whitney Pavlik. Mason and Pavlik have played together the past two weekends after clinching their spots with Michelle More and Stacey Rouwenhorst, respectively. More and Rouwenhorst will not compete in the Tournament of Champions.

Defending Mason champions Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs look to extend their streak of making the finals in all of their AVP events this season. They are a perfect 12-for-12 so far. With a win, Branagh and Youngs will become the 10th women’s team to record 10 domestic victories in one season. Wildcards Wacholder and Walsh have also won in Mason before. Wacholder won with Youngs in 2005 before Walsh won with May-Treanor in 2006 and 2007.

Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan have come close to winning in Mason, taking second in 2006 and third last year. Jen Kessy and April Ross also finished third last season. 13 of the 32 women competing in Mason have won AVP events before.

The best of the best will vie for victory in Sunday’s finals. The women’s title match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. with the men following at approximately 3:30 p.m. EDT. Versus will televise the finals nationally on tape delay Sunday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. EDT.

avpTV will stream more than 9 hours of free live coverage from the Tournament of Champions! Tune in Saturday from approximately 7-10 p.m. EDT for three highly anticipated matches under the lights. Sunday, coverage will run from approximately 10:45 a.m.-5 p.m. EDT and will include a women’s semifinal and a men’s semifinal on Feature Court 1, followed by the women’s and men’s finals on Stadium Court. Click here to start watching avpTV for free!

Ticket prices start as low as $5 in Mason. Click here for tickets to the Tournament of Champions!