Three San Marcos Royals will make up the local contingent over the weekend as the AVP Tour returns to West Beach in Santa Barbara for the Santa Barbara Crocs Cup Shootout.
It’s going to be a proud weekend for former Royals coach Jon Lee, as Dax Holdren, Todd Rogers and Anthony Medel — all former players under Lee — have the ability to go all the way.
Rogers and partner Phil Dalhausser, however, are the undisputed favorites. In fact, the recently crowned Olympic gold-medalists are the undisputed best team in the world at this point. Rogers has 37 career AVP wins, including last weekend’s event in Cincinnati.
Holdren will play with Billy Strickland, a Stanford grad and law-school student who puts up a formidable block at 6-foot-8. The team has a third-place finish this season, and Holdren has played well in previous hometown tournaments, beating Rogers and Sean Scott in the finals in 2005. Holdren has 11 career AVP wins.
The feisty Medel plays defense behind big Brazilian teammate Fred Souza, and the duo made three semifinal appearances last year.
Rogers and Dalhausser take on No. 16 Aaron Wachtfogel-Scott Wong at 9 a.m. Saturday, while Holdren and Strickland, seeded 12th, will have their hands full with No. 5 Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings at the same time. No. 9 Medel and Souza play No. 8 Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge at 9 a.m., while Ventura resident Nick Lucena and partner Sean Scott, ranked third, play Jason Ring-Hans Stolfus an hour later.
