GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Women's volleyball in the Grand Rapids area has taken off in the last few years and the ultimate of beach volleyball came to town on Thursday night. The AVP and some of the best men's and women's beach players in the world came to Van Andel Arena for their "Hot Winter Nights" tour.

Olympic Gold medalists Keri Walsh, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser headlined a group of eight AVP tour players that played a series of matches in front of a great crowd on Thursday night. Davenport University was well represented at the event as some of the current Panthers players got to participate in the event.

Sophomores Joyce Larioza and Autumn Williams were part of the ball shagging crew and head coach Rick Rykse brought his MPVA tour for a pre-game match with four of his top players from the tour. After the match, the Panthers players along with the coaching staff got to take pictures and get autographs with the Olympians and even got on full team shot with Rogers and Dalhausser.

Along with Rogers and Dalhausser on the men's side was current AVP Top Ten player Casey Jennings and Elaine Youngs was one of the main draws on the women's side because Walsh did not play due to being six months pregnant with her first child.

The AVP Johnsonville Hot Winter Nights Tour is the first indoor volleyball tour of its kind and kicked off the 2009 season on January 15. Each tour stop consists of a three-hour round robin tournament, as well as an indoor beach party. Taking place during the dead of winter, the Hot Winter Nights Tour brings the beach, Olympians past and present, and the most popular players from the summertime AVP Crocs Tour to arenas in snowbound cities all over the U.S.

Davenport is in the middle of winter conditioning and will start a short spring season this March. Next fall, they will begin their fourth season under Rykse and fourth overall in the program's history. The team will be coming off a 15-26 season in which they finished in 5^th place in the WHAC.

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