Gentil and Candelas Win Beach Tourney, Earn AVP Slot

By Brain Metzler
Staff Writer

Reno, NV (April 22) —Paula Gentil hadn't planned on playing any serious volleyball after finishing her star-studded college career at the University of Minnesota.

"Volleyball was done for me. I guess I'm going to have to rethink that, huh?" Gentil joked after teaming with former USC star Bibiana Candelas to win the CSTV Collegiate Nationals Beach Volleyball Championships to earn a wild-card berth into an AVP Crocs Tour pro beach volleyball event this summer.

Candelas had planned on playing on the beach and couldn't have dreamed of a better way to get started.

"This is awesome," she said. "Usually it takes a long time to be able to play in an AVP event, so to have this kind of opportunity is really unbelievable."

Gentil and Candelas defeated Jennifer Abernathy (Arizona) and Victoria Prince (Hawaii) in two straight games to take the title. They will next compete in the AVP Crocs Tour Hermosa Beach Open in June. Gentil, a native of Brazil, is studying molecular biology, while Candelas, a native of Mexico, is majoring in communications.

CSTV Networks, in partnership with the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, hosted the inaugural Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship as part of the CSTV Collegiate Nationals, a three-day event in Reno featuring 1,000 athletes from 50 universities across the country participating in six sporting events.

The beach volleyball championships will air on CSTV: College Sports Television on Wednesday, May 3 and 4 at 9 p.m. ET and feature expert analysis from AVP all-star and Olympic bronze medalist Holly McPeak. The entire event, hosted by Olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley, will begin airing on Sunday, April 30 and run until Friday, May 5 and begin at 9 p.m. ET each night.

CSTV Networks and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour previously announced a groundbreaking, new performance-based reality television series to air on CSTV this summer. The series documents the top 16 women's collegiate senior volleyball players on and off the sand as they transition from the hard-court to the beach game during a three-day AVP Invitational Camp held this past March in the beach volleyball hotbed of Manhattan Beach, California.

These 16 players were invited to the AVP Invitational Camp in March and went through drills and received instruction from three-time Olympic gold medalist Karch Kiraly, Olympic bronze medalist Holly McPeak and Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh. After that weekend, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball representatives chose eight players to advance to the CSTV Collegiate Nationals in Reno with an opportunity for the winning team to play in the AVP Crocs Tour Hermosa Beach Open event this June.

The CSTV reality series captures the Collegiate Nationals competition including all the behind the scenes action, and will follow the girls to the AVP Crocs Tour Hermosa Beach Open event. The volleyball action kicked off yesterday with a round-robin tournament to determine seeds and finished today in front of a lively crowd in downtown Reno. For all the detailed results and pictures from the beach volleyball championships, log on to www.thecollegiatenationals.com.

The CSTV Collegiate Nationals Beach Volleyball Championships pairings included: Lauren Brewster (Notre Dame) and Jessica Veris (Washington) Jennifer Abernathy (Arizona) and Victoria Prince (Hawaii) Rachel Wagener (Maryland) and Allie Griffin (Colorado) Paula Gentil (Minnesota) and Bibiana Candelas (USC)

Paula and Bibiana pose with AVP star Holly McPeak
photo: Mark Epstein

Final Round Results

Semifinals
Match #1

Bibiana Candelas (Southern Cal) / Paula Gentil (Minnesota) (seed 1) def. Lauren Brewster (Notre Dame) / Jessica Veris ( Washington) (seed 4), 18-21, 21-12, 15-11 (68 minutes) Match #2

Jennifer Abernathy (Arizona) / Victoria Prince (Hawaii) (seed 2) def. Allie Griffin (Colorado) / Rachel Wagener (Maryland) (seed 3), 21-14, 21-19 (44)

Championship match
Candelas / Gentil (seed 1) def. Abernathy / Prince (seed 2), 21-18, 21-10 (43)

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