COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Four U.S. teams will play in the final beach volleyball event of the 2016 calendar year at the upcoming NORCECA season finale.
Representing the United States at the NORCECA Trinidad & Tobago tournament, Nov. 25-27, are Brooke Sweat/Emily Day, Summer Ross/Kimberly DiCello, Theo Brunner/Billy Allen and Stafford Slick/Mark Burik.
This will be the first tournament for Sweat and Day as partners. Sweat played exclusively with Lauren Fendrick since 2014 and Day teamed up with three different partners in 2016. For Ross and DiCello, it’s a long-time reunion as the pair’s first and last time playing was in 2012 at the Jose Cuervo Series event in Manhattan Beach.
Brunner and Allen finished the 2016 FIVB season together, their top finish was ninth in Long Beach. The pair are making their first NORCECA appearance together. Allen earned three podium finishes on NORCECA in 2016, with Slick, who is playing in the finale with Burik. Last time out, Slick and Burik won the St. Lucia stop, Burik’s first international gold.
As the 2016 season draws to a close, many American athletes are shifting partnerships and coaches, a natural progression following an Olympic cycle.
The 2017 FIVB World Tour is slated to begin in February in the United States, at its second visit to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after the city hosted the FIVB World Tour Finals in 2015. Registration for the event lands in January, which is an expected timeframe that fans will see how new partnerships shake out to begin the season.
The FIVB released a preliminary schedule for 2017, view it here, with events now being ranked by a star system. Both events in the U.S. in 2017 are top-rated Five Star tournaments. Also returning to the schedule is the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, this time around being hosted in Vienna, Austria, July 28 – Aug. 6.
PROSPECTIVE 2017 EVENTS
Feb. 7-12 FIVB Fort Lauderdale Major
Feb. 15-18 FIVB Kish Island (Men only)
March 17-19 FIVB Sydney (Women only)
March 23-26 FIVB Maceio
Related Links
Sun Sentinel Top beach volleyball teams returning to Fort Lauderdale in February
ESPN Flashback to Rio: My favorite photo…
FIVB Looking Back – Spring portion of 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour