AVP beach volleyball returns, with more events and new teams

By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
The AVP is heading back to the beach with a bunch of new teams and a lot more tournaments for them to figure things out. The domestic beach volleyball tour season opens this weekend in Austin, Texas. It is emerging from the pandemic with its longest and most lucrative schedule in more than a decade. The 16-tournament slate and total prize money of $2 million are both the most since 2009. And it will have a new look. After the usual post-Olympic partner-switching, most of the U.S. teams that competed in the Tokyo Games have shuffled things up.