Pavlik competes in AVP event in Utah

The third stop on the 2014 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour is Thursday in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, the top beach volleyball players, including Whitney Pavlik of Laguna Beach, will contend for titles in the women’s and men’s divisions.

Pavlik and partner Jen Fopma (Bellflower) reached the semifinals of the previous AVP tour event, the Milwaukee Open July 4-6, and finished in a third-place tie. At the first AVP tournament of the season, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Open May 29-June 1, Pavlik and Fopma tied for seventh.

The team of U.S. Olympians April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings won the first two AVP women’s tournament titles.

Following the Salt Lake City Open, the final AVP tour events in 2014 are the Manhattan Beach Open (Aug. 14-17), Cincinnati Open (Aug. 28-31), Atlantic City (NJ) Open (Sept. 5-7) and concludes with the AVP Championships (Sept. 18-21) at the Huntington Beach Pier.

— From staff reports