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AVP Cincinnati Open underway in new home

Washington Park holds its first Cincinnati AVP Open this Labor Day Weekend. This year, Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh will join other Olympians as they compete to make it to the championship in Santa Barbara, CA next week.

Sports insiders are interested to find out if this tournament will reveal Walsh’s new partner. Nicole Banagh is the current favorite to take the place of Misty May-Treanor.

The main draw is typically held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, but this year, it moves downtown. 680 tons of sand now sit in front of Music Hall where crews installed temporary stands in order to fit about 2,000 fans.

3CDC’s John Fox helped plan the event to be in front of the iconic Music Hall. “We started to put the sand on the streets about a week ago. It took three days to set up the bleachers but we will only have one day to tear it all down.”

According to Fox, 10,000 people will come to Over The Rhine to watch the event.

170 athletes are competing for $175,000 prize – the highest for the tournament since its inception.

The expected rain this weekend will not put the damper on these matches. The weather is a familiar story since coming back from the London 2012 Olympics.

Tickets are available onlineand at the gate each day.

See more pictures on our Facebook page.