Mason, Ohio, USA, May 17, 2016 – Growing up in Hawaii, Trevor and Taylor Crabb had an abundance of idols to look up to as they learned Beach Volleyball.
Guys like Kevin Wong, Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger were the trailblazers for the Hawaiians. The Crabb brothers might have taken a few lumps in the times they hit the sand against the legends, but the results are easy to see.
Trevor and Taylor are now one of the hottest teams on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, the major circuit in the United States. But this week at the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, they’re taking their game to the international level.
And now they have a whole new set of heroes to follow as they keep their sights trained on the 2020 Olympics. They figure the more they can be around the likes of Jake Gibb, Casey Patterson, Phil Dalhausser, Nick Lucena, John Hyden and fellow Hawaiian Tri Bourne, the faster their game will develop.
“It’s great always being around them, said the 6-foot Taylor, 24. “They’re phenomenal athletes and players so it’s nice getting to watch them at the top level and learn from them. How they go about their business is strictly professional, o the court, what they eat, how they maintain their bodies, their rest and practice-wise too. They’re smart about how they take care of their bodies.”
The duo has made major breakthroughs in the past two years. In their first introduction to the legendary AVP Manhattan Beach Open in 2015, they beat Gibb and Patterson in an epic match to reach the semifinals.
Last week in Huntington Beach, they reached their first AVP final by defeating veterans John Mayer, the reigning AVP MVP, and Ryan Doherty. Gibb and Patterson got them in the final, so they’re still waiting for that breakthrough title but not without confidence.
“We always knew we could do well together but for sure getting that third in our first time in Manhattan and beating Casey and Jake really kind of started this whole process for us,” said the 6-4 Trevor, 26. “We’ve had our little ups and downs but this year we’re playing pretty well and we keep getting better.”
The brothers qualified for the main draw with an easy victory Tuesday and will be one of six USA men’s teams battling an international field.
They’re not the tallest team, but Trevor more than holds his own at the net and they will frustrate the heck out of any opponent with their defense. They always seem to have patience and they rarely get overly excited. There are also seven women’s teams in the main draw of the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.
“That’s from just growing up playing, learning from our dad, who always just had the right mind on the court,” Trevor said. “That really helps.”
“The one thing he always told us was never panic,” Taylor said.
But the advice they took most to heart?
“Don’t be a meathead or a hothead,” Trevor said with a smile.
The conjecture that the brothers have heard forever is that to be an Olympian, they’ll have to split up and find taller players to complement their talents. They hear it a lot, but they’re not ready to listen to the outsiders.
“It depends on how well we’re playing against these other teams,” Trevor said. “We feel we can beat anybody pretty much right now. The plan is to stick together for 2020 and do as well we can.”
Seven other teams also qualified for the main draw: Canada’s Cameron Wheelan/Michael Plantinga and Christian Redmann/Felipe Humana-Paredes, USA’s Jeremy Casebeer/Derek Olson, Norway’s Hendrik Mol/Lars Tvinde of Norway, Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich/Gabriel Kissling of Switzerland and Robert Rodriguez-Bertran and Orlando Irizarry and Orland Irizarry of Puerto Rico.
FIVB CINCINNATI OPEN PURSE/POINTS
The gold medal teams at the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP, will split $11,000 and 500 points, the silver $8,000 and 450 points, the bronze $6,000 400 points and fourth place $4,500 and 450 points.
MORE CINCY INFO
Additional information on the event is available online both at FIVB.org and AVP.com. While general admission to the tournament is free, tickets are available online for the VIP prime seating areas at https://avp.ticketspice.com/cincinnati-ticketing.
ON THE HORIZON
With placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continuing, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour continues with events over eight straight weeks through the end of May. In all, Brazil is hosting five international events in 2016. In addition to Maceió, Rio, Vitoria and Fortaleza, the Brazil events conclude with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Aug. 6-18).
The FIVB World Tour was in Europe for two events over the last two weeks. Up first was in Russia two weeks followed by last week’s FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey (May 10-15). The tour is visiting the United States for the first time in 2016 this week for the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP (May 17-21) in Mason, Ohio. Next week, the FIVB World Tour returns to Russia for the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (May 24-29). After a one week respite, the final Olympic qualifying event on the FIVB World Tour will be the FIVB Hamburg Major Series in Germany (June 7-12).
GROWING HISTORY
The FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP, is the 343rd men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 304th FIVB women’s tournament since their competition started in 1992.