Winter Indoor Tour

Unfortunately, the AVP cannot proceed with the 2010 Hot Winter Nights Tour.

The AVP is exploring options to better align the winter tour with the emerging collegiate sand volleyball initiative and, with a stronger economy and new Winter Tour sponsors, aims to resume a Winter Indoor Tour next offseason.

FIVB

Americans dominated the final FIVB tournament of the season this past weekend in Phuket, Thailand. Jen Kessy and April Ross won gold, Angie Akers and Tyra Turner took silver, and Lauren Fendrick and Ashley Ivy nearly made it an AVP medal sweep by finishing fourth. Click here for a recap.

CBV (Confederation of Brazilian Volleyball)

With the culmination of the FIVB season Sunday, the only professional beach volleyball still taking place is south of the equator in volleyball-crazed Brazil. The host country of the 2016 Olympics is home to the CBV Brazilian Professional Beach Volleyball Tour.

The most recent tournament took place over the first weekend of November on Boa Viagem Beach in Recife. AVP World Challenge finalists Alison/Harley took home the men’s title with a 2-0 (18-14, 18-12) victory over Rodrigo/Hevaldo. Beijing silver medalists Fabio/Marcio placed third with a 2-1 (18-12, 14-18, 15-10) win over Renatao/Jorge.

In the women’s event, Talita/Maria finished first with a dominant 2-0 (18-8, 18-10) win over Angela/Vivian. Third place went to Sandra/Elaine, who barely escaped with a 16-14 third-set win over Virna/Taiana.

Quick note: In Brazil, beach volleyball stars only go by one name, most often their first. Another difference is the scoring system implemented on the CBV Tour, with the first two sets being played to 18 instead of 21. The third set to 15, win by two, remains the same.

The next Brazilian tournament takes place this week and will be fully covered in the next World Volleyball Weekly. If you know Portuguese and would like to keep up to date with scores on your own, visit www.cbv.com.br.

NCAA

Penn State – The nation’s No. 1 team continued its string of dominance with its 90th consecutive victory by defeating Iowa 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-13) in front of a record volleyball crowd of 2,802 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The Nittany Lions are now in sole possession of third place in the NCAA record books for most consecutive wins. Miami men’s tennis posted 137 straight wins from 1957-1964.

Texas – The second-ranked Longhorns fell victim to the biggest upset of the week as No. 8 Iowa State prevailed at home, 3-2. The 25-22, 22-25, 15-25, 25-20, 12-15 loss snapped the Longhorns’ 27-match regular-season winning streak. UT rebounded Saturday evening with 3-0 (25-21, 25-8, 25-23) sweep of Missouri to improve its overall record to 19-1 on the year.

Hawaii – The third-ranked Rainbow Wahine won in straight sets over Utah State, 25-11, 25-12, 25-21, on Sunday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Five seniors—Catherine Fowler, Stephanie Brandt, Jayme Lee, Amber Kaufman and Aneli Cubi-Otineru—all played their final regular season home match at Hawaii. Fans stayed following the match to honor each player with a unique tradition, the Hawaiian lei and flower tribute for departing seniors.

Washington – The second-most notable upset of the week took place in Seattle as fourth-ranked Washington came up short on its home floor, dropping a 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) decision to 13th-ranked California at Bank of America Arena. The loss dropped the Huskies to 10-3 in the Pac-10.

Illinois – The fifth-ranked Illini entered Saturday night winners of 10 straight Big Ten matches, the school's longest conference streak in 17 years. Illinois extended the streak to 11 with a convincing 25-19, 25-12, 25-19 victory over the Michigan State Spartans in front of a crowd of 1,758.

Stanford – Sixth-ranked Stanford swept No. 24 Washington State, 25-17, 25-20, 25-22, Saturday at Bohler Gym after being swept themselves earlier in the week by fourth-ranked Washington 21-25, 23-25, 19-25. The Cardinal now stand at 9-4 in conference play and 16-7 overall.

UCLA – In the second installment of the annual rivalry series between UCLA and USC, the seventh-ranked Bruins completed the season sweep by defeating the 17th-ranked Trojans at Galen Center Friday evening in five games (25-17, 14-25, 25-16, 17-25, 15-12). The Bruins won their sixth straight match to improve to 9-3 in Pac-10 play and 19-6 overall.

Iowa State – Just days after the biggest win in school history over second-ranked Texas, the Cyclones became an upset victim themselves, this time at the hands of tenth-ranked Nebraska in front of a school-record 10,203 fans at Hilton Coliseum. The 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) sweep quickly silenced the standing room-only crowd, dropping Iowa State to 12-3 in the Big 12, 20-4 overall.

Florida – The ninth-ranked Gators secured their 19th consecutive 20-plus win season on Sunday with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-13) win over Auburn in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Florida moved to 14-2 in the SEC and 20-3 overall.

Nebraska – 10th-ranked Nebraska spoiled the biggest night in Iowa State volleyball attendance history with a sweep. The win improved the Huskers to 11-4 in the Big 12 and 18-6 overall.

Next week’s marquee matches include: #1 Penn State vs. #5 Illinois Friday, #4 Washington vs. #17 USC Friday, Washington vs. #7 UCLA Saturday, and #6 Stanford vs. #16 Oregon Friday evening.