Maddison McKibbin Did Not Expect To Win A Title At This Point In His Career

Maddison McKibbin and his brother, Riley, burst onto the beach volleyball season in 2015 after ending their professional indoor careers. Fondly known as the
"Beard Bros" for their distinctive facial hair, the pair kept grinding it out together, earning a few solid main draw finishes before Riley injured his hand early in the 2016 season. 

Maddison paired up with four-time indoor Olympian Reid Priddy for the 2017 AVP Austin Open and New York City Open and then started a new partnership with Ty Loomis for the Seattle Open in late June. The pair went two-and-out to finish 13th, but undeterred, they ran it back for San Francisco on July 6-9. A quarterfinal loss to Stafford Slick and Billy Allen sent McKibbin and Loomis to the contenders bracket, but they rallied, making it all the way to the final where they faced a rematch with Slick and Allen, winning 24-22, 21-19, to score McKibbin his first title.

The Loomis-McKibbin pairing will make its third appearance this weekend at the Hermosa Beach Open in Hermosa Beach, CA, and McKibbin feels good about the way he and his partner are playing.