April Ross won the 2017 AVP New York City Open with her new partner Lauren Fendrick, and she did it with a dislocated toe.
 
Toward the end of the second set of Sunday's semifinal match versus Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar, Ross and Fendrick collided, injuring Ross's right big toe. Immediately after the play, spectators could see her saying, "I dislocated my toe," leading many to assume the match was over, even though Ross and Fendrick were only a few points away from victory.
 
Ross took a medical timeout, gathered herself, stood back up, and walked onto the court, where she proceeded to do what needed to be done to finish the match and punch her team's ticket to the championship round.
 
After the adrenaline faded and the pain started to surge in earnest, many athletes would likely have made the decision to forfeit the final to avoid aggravating the injury further but not Ross. In an interview with Excelle Sports, Ross cited her mother, Margie, who died of breast cancer when Ross was in college, as the inspiration to persevere.
 
"I saw what [my mom] went through," Ross told Excelle Sports. "Any challenges I'm confronted with--whether it's volleyball or in life--a lot of it pales in comparison. I can be brave, and I won't give up."

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/ThePostGame/status/874678347720261632" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
 
In the final, Ross was clearly limping and did not utilize her famous jump serve, but thanks to an incredibly high volleyball IQ, not to mention a very capable partner in Fendrick, Ross and Fendrick won the AVP NYC championship match over Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross 24-22, 21-15.
 
April Ross isn't the first beach volleyball athlete to play through serious injury and pain. In the quarterfinal of the 2015 Gstaad Major, Ross' then-partner Kerri Walsh Jennings dislocated her shoulder for the second time in two months. The Americans had won the first set and led 10-4 over Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas in the second at the time of the injury. After having the medics pop her shoulder back in socket, Walsh Jennings pushed through to a 23-21 victory.
 
In order to fulfill qualification requirements for the Rio Olympics, Walsh Jennings played three more tournaments with the injured shoulder and even won the silver medal at the FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam hitting left-handed and serving underhand.
 
Perhaps the most famous story of perseverance through injury in beach volleyball lore is that of Karch Kiraly at the 2004 AVP Belmar Open.
 
Mike Lambert and Kiraly, then 43, led 20-16 in set one over Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard in the third round of the winners' bracket when Kiraly laid out for a dig and dislocated his right shoulder. Instead of forfeiting, Kiraly attempted to continue the match. A service error from Nygaard gave Kiraly and Lambert the first-set victory, but in set two, Blanton and Nygaard kept picking up Kiraly shots and looked poised to run away with the set. Kiraly told Lambert to start serve receiving in the I-formation, standing one in front of the other and breaking to opposite sides after the serve. Kiraly and Lambert won the second set 21-18 to move on the semifinal, where they lost to Adam Jewell and Jake Gibb in three sets.
 
Ross decided to sit out the three-star FIVB tournament in The Hague this week, but don't be surprised if you see her back on the court faster than you would have thought possible. It must be something about all that vitamin D that makes beach volleyball players so incredibly tough.