In a year where Metro Vancouver has been experiencing disappointing spring weather, this past weekend was definitely a pleasant one for outdoor volleyball and the return of the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. According to Environment Canada’s weather station in Vancouver, temperatures reached to 25.2 degrees Sunday – the highest it’s been since 1934!
The 2017 Kits Classic Pro & Amateur Beach events took place at Kits Beach in Vancouver, BC. 44 pairs (16 men’s & 28 women’s) competed in the Amateur event on Sunday, which featured a few high school and current university athletes, frequent Kits competitors, and even some “weathered” former kits pros!
The Pro event ran both Saturday and Sunday with a total of 64 pairs (32 men’s & 32 women’s) taking part in the competition. With the tournament at full capacity, all teams battled hard on Saturday to qualify for the semi-finals and finals on Sunday. The championship match-ups were virtually the same from the 2016 Kits Classic tournament and the games were just as exciting to watch for all the fans and people passing by the Kits boardwalk.
On The Men’s side, new teammates John Galloway and Sean Casey took home the gold in straight sets against tournament favourites Matt Lebourdais and Jonny Wiskar. Jared Krause and Alex Russell won the bronze match against 2016 Pro Beach Tour Champion Dave Beleznay and Tour Runner-up Joel Caschetto. This was the second Kits Classic finals appearance in the VBC Pro Beach Tour for Galloway (2016 with Dan Caverly) and Wiskar (2016 with Nick Del Bianco).
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The Women’s side featured a repeat of 2016’s Kits Classic finals, with UBC Alumni Juliana Kaufmanis and Liz Cordonier playing against 2016 Beach Provincial Champions Kumiko Chow and Denise Wooding. Kaufmanis/Cordonier won last year’s match up but fell a few points short in the third set this time around with Chow/Wooding taking the 2017 Kits classic title (20-22, 21-16, 15-12).
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The first stop of the Volleyball BC Pro Beach Tour gave away $2500 in cash to men’s and women’s pairs over the weekend. Pro Tour points have been awarded based on the result finishes and athletes will now be preparing for the Pro Beach Tour’s next event – The Jim Clive Cup, June 10-11 – which honours the lifetime commitment of Vancouver’s beach volleyball legend and Volleyball BC Hall of Famer Jim Cliver.
2017 Kits Classic Results
Pro Men’s & Women’s – 2017 Pro Beach Tour Leaderboard
About the Volleyball BC Pro Beach Volleyball Tour
The Volleyball BC Pro Beach Tour features pro volleyball athletes competing in five signature events from May to July in three regions of British Columbia with a total prize purse of $25,000.
Volleyball BC Pro Beach Tour teams will be competing for individual event titles and for a tour championship title. At the final event of the season (Vancouver Open), Men’s and Women’s Volleyball BC Pro Tour Champions will be crowned and $1,000 will be awarded to the Men’s and Women’s Champions. To win the Pro Tour Championship title, a player must have competed in all five tour events and have the highest accumulated points total based on their finishes in each of the five events.
Volleyball BC Pro Beach Tour events will take place in Vancouver, Parksville, and Kelowna and will feature 64 teams in the main draw (32 Men’s and 32 Women’s). The events will take place over two days (Saturday and Sunday) with the exception of the Vancouver Open Pro which will include a qualifying tournament on the Friday before. Adults interested in playing in the Amateur tournaments can visit here.
2016 Kits Classic Recap: http://www.volleyballbc.org/rain-sun-great-volleyball-2016-kits-classic/