Team Preview

AVP Tour
$150,000 AVP Heritage Huntington Beach Open
May 14 - 17, 2026

(3) Ahmed Tijan/Cherif Younousse

Ahmed Tijan

Photo: FIVB

Personal Info

Birth Date:

Apr 28, 1995 (31 yrs old)

Home Town:

Banjul, Gambia

Height:

6'2"

Seasons:

Tournaments:

Career Wins:

Career AVP Best:

3rd (Huntington Beach 2026)

Career Winnings:

$391,600.00

Cherif Younousse Samba

Photo: FIVB

Personal Info

Birth Date:

May 22, 1995 (30 yrs old)

Home Town:

Dakar, Senegal

Height:

6'5"

Seasons:

Tournaments:

Career Wins:

Career AVP Best:

3rd (Huntington Beach 2026)

Career Winnings:

$419,400.00

Team Career Summary

Tour	Played	1	2	3	4	5	7	9	13	17	25	33	41	49	Money
AVP	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$7,000.00
FIVB	74	8	7	6	2	18	1	16	4	10	0	1	1	0	US$762,000.00
FIVB Age Group WC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	US$0.00
Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	US$0.00
Overall	77	8	7	7	2	18	1	16	5	10	0	1	1	1	US$769,000.00

Previous Huntington Beach Results Neither player has played in this venue before

Recent Results

Tour	Date	Tournament	Seed	Finish	Points	Money
FIVB	11/14-23/2025	2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships	10	9th	800	US$11,000.00
FIVB	10/7-11/2025	BPT Elite Newport Beach	1	1st	1200	US$30,000.00
FIVB	9/24-28/2025	BPT Elite Rio de Janeiro	3	1st	1200	US$40,000.00
FIVB	8/13-17/2025	BPT Elite Montréal	3	13th	460	US$5,000.00
FIVB	7/2-6/2025	BPT Elite Gstaad	3	1st	1200	US$40,000.00
FIVB	5/28-6/1/2025	BPT Elite Ostrava	5	5th	760	US$9,000.00
FIVB	5/14-18/2025	BPT Challenge Xiamen	1	1st	800	US$20,000.00

Huntington Beach Open Matches

Date

Bracket

Opponent

Score

Time

Fri, 5/15/2026

Winner 1

Peter Connole / Djordje Klasnic (14, Q3)

Won 21-11, 21-13

0:40

Player	Game	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	Total	16	13	0	0.813	0	9	0	0
	1	8	7	0	0.875	0	3	0	0
	2	8	6	0	0.750	0	6	0	0
Cherif Younousse	Total	12	8	1	0.583	8	4	0	2
	1	6	3	0	0.500	4	3	0	1
	2	6	5	1	0.667	4	1	0	1

Fri, 5/15/2026

Winner 2

Hagen Smith / Logan Webber (6)

Won 19-21, 21-17, 15-10

1:01

Player	Game	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	Total	27	18	0	0.667	0	11	1	3
	1	10	7	0	0.700	0	1	0	1
	2	10	8	0	0.800	0	6	1	2
	3	7	3	0	0.429	0	4	0	0
Cherif Younousse	Total	26	24	1	0.885	8	0	2	4
	1	7	7	0	1.000	3	0	1	2
	2	11	9	1	0.727	2	0	0	2
	3	8	8	0	1.000	3	0	1	0

Sat, 5/16/2026

Winner 3

Andy Benesh / Taylor Crabb (2)

Lost 18-21, 18-21

0:42

Player	Game	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	Total	20	10	5	0.250	0	10	2	4
	1	6	2	2	0.000	0	4	2	2
	2	14	8	3	0.357	0	6	0	2
Cherif Younousse	Total	20	13	5	0.400	2	5	1	4
	1	8	5	3	0.250	2	1	1	3
	2	12	8	2	0.500	0	4	0	1

Sat, 5/16/2026

Contender 4

Trevor Crabb / Phil Dalhausser (4)

Won 21-18, 21-19

0:44

Player	Game	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	Total	20	9	6	0.150	0	8	3	2
	1	6	3	2	0.167	0	2	1	1
	2	14	6	4	0.143	0	6	2	1
Cherif Younousse	Total	25	16	3	0.520	3	6	3	5
	1	13	9	2	0.538	1	3	2	3
	2	12	7	1	0.500	2	3	1	2

Sun, 5/17/2026

Semi-Finals

Chase Budinger / Miles Evans (1)

Lost 19-21, 19-21

0:45

Player	Game	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	Total	28	11	7	0.143	0	10	0	0
	1	14	6	4	0.143	0	4	0	0
	2	14	5	3	0.143	0	6	0	0
Cherif Younousse	Total	16	9	1	0.500	5	0	2	3
	1	5	4	1	0.600	3	0	0	1
	2	11	5	0	0.455	2	0	2	2

Overall Tournament Stats
Player	Attacks	Kills	Errors	Hitting Pct.	Blocks	Digs	Aces	Service Errors
Ahmed Tijan	111	61	18	0.387	0	48	6	9
Cherif Younousse	99	70	11	0.596	26	15	8	18

Team Finishes By Tournament Type

Tournament Type	Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-6th	7-8th	9-12th	13-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)
Olympic Games	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$0.00
World Championships	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	$36,000.00
World Tour Finals	5	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	$128,000.00
Elite/Major Series/Five Star/Grand Slam	30	4	3	2	0	12	0	4	4	1	0	0	$385,000.00
Challenge/Four Star/Open	28	3	4	2	0	4	0	8	0	5	0	0	$203,500.00
Futures/Three Star/Two Star/One Star	5	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	$9,500.00
U21 World Championships	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$0.00
Heritage Series/Pro Series	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$7,000.00
Total	76	8	7	7	2	18	1	16	4	10	0	0	$769,000.00

Individual Finishes by Tournament Type

Ahmed Tijan												Cherif Younousse
Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-8th	9-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)	Tournament Type	Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-8th	9-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)
2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	$0.00	Olympic Games	3	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	$0.00
4	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	$18,000.00	World Championships	6	0	0	0	0	1	3	2	0	0	$32,500.00
5	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	$64,000.00	World Tour Finals	5	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	$64,000.00
33	4	3	2	0	12	8	1	0	0	$192,500.00	Elite/Major Series/Five Star/Grand Slam	34	4	3	2	0	12	9	1	1	0	$198,500.00
35	3	4	2	0	4	8	7	1	0	$103,350.00	Challenge/Four Star/Open	38	4	4	2	0	4	9	7	5	0	$112,450.00
11	1	2	0	0	2	2	2	0	0	$10,250.00	Futures/Three Star/Two Star/One Star	10	1	0	0	0	1	3	3	1	0	$8,450.00
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$0.00	U21 World Championships	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$0.00
1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	$3,500.00	Heritage Series/Pro Series	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	$3,500.00
92	8	9	7	2	20	21	12	1	0	$391,600.00	Total	98	9	7	7	2	20	26	13	7	0	$419,400.00

Team Finishes by Season

			Results												Matches
Season	Assoc	Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-6th	7-8th	9-12th	13-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)	Won	Lost	Pct
2014	FIVB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00	0	1	0.0 %
2014	FIVB Age Group WC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00	0	1	0.0 %
2018	FIVB	14	0	0	2	0	3	0	3	0	5	0	1	$70,500.00	35	21	62.5 %
2019	FIVB	12	0	0	1	0	2	0	6	0	3	0	0	$73,000.00	28	21	57.1 %
2019	Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	$0.00	0	2	0.0 %
2020	FIVB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	$3,000.00	1	2	33.3 %
2021	FIVB	10	2	4	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	$115,000.00	44	15	74.6 %
2022	FIVB	10	2	1	1	0	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	$122,500.00	33	14	70.2 %
2023	FIVB	9	0	1	0	1	4	0	1	1	1	0	0	$105,000.00	26	16	61.9 %
2024	FIVB	10	0	1	1	1	4	0	1	2	0	0	0	$118,000.00	29	19	60.4 %
2025	FIVB	7	4	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	$155,000.00	30	7	81.1 %
2026	AVP	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$7,000.00	3	2	60.0 %
Total	AVP	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	$7,000.00	3	2	60.0 %
Total	FIVB	74	8	7	6	2	18	1	16	4	10	0	2	$762,000.00	226	116	66.1 %
Total	FIVB Age Group WC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00	0	1	0.0 %
Total	Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	$0.00	0	2	0.0 %

Individual Finishes by Season

Ahmed Tijan													Cherif Younousse
Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-8th	9-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)	Season	Association	Played	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th	5-8th	9-16th	17-24th	25th	Lower	Winnings (US$)
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00	2014	FIVB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00	2014	FIVB Age Group WC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00
											2015	FIVB	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	$9,800.00
8	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	5	$1,600.00	2016	FIVB	8	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	0	$9,900.00
7	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	$4,050.00	2017	FIVB	8	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	1	2	$14,150.00
15	0	0	2	0	4	3	5	0	1	$36,700.00	2018	FIVB	15	0	0	2	0	3	4	5	0	1	$36,300.00
12	0	0	1	0	2	6	3	0	0	$36,500.00	2019	FIVB	12	0	0	1	0	2	6	3	0	0	$36,500.00
1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	$0.00	2019	Other	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	$0.00
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	$1,500.00	2020	FIVB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	$1,500.00
10	2	4	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	$57,500.00	2021	FIVB	10	2	4	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	$57,500.00
10	2	1	1	0	3	3	0	0	0	$61,250.00	2022	FIVB	10	2	1	1	0	3	3	0	0	0	$61,250.00
9	0	1	0	1	4	2	1	0	0	$52,500.00	2023	FIVB	9	0	1	0	1	4	2	1	0	0	$52,500.00
10	0	1	1	1	4	3	0	0	0	$59,000.00	2024	FIVB	10	0	1	1	1	4	3	0	0	0	$59,000.00
7	4	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	$77,500.00	2025	FIVB	7	4	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	$77,500.00
1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	$3,500.00	2026	AVP	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	$3,500.00
93	8	9	7	2	20	22	12	1	12	$391,600.00	Total	Total	99	9	7	7	2	20	27	13	7	7	$419,400.00

Team Match Records

	Won 1st Set								Lost 1st Set								2 Set Matches		3 Set Matches		By Forfeit		All Matches
Season	Won 2-0		Won 2-1		Lost 2-1		Overall		Won 2-1		Lost 2-1		Lost 2-0		Overall		Overall		Overall		Won	Lost	Overall
Overall	2	100.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	2-0	100.0%	1	33.3%	0	0.0%	2	66.7%	1-2	33.3%	2-2	50.0%	1-0	100.0%	0	0	3-2	60.0%
2025-2026	2	100.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	2-0	100.0%	1	33.3%	0	0.0%	2	66.7%	1-2	33.3%	2-2	50.0%	1-0	100.0%	0	0	3-2	60.0%
Against the Field	2	100.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	2-0	100.0%	1	33.3%	0	0.0%	2	66.7%	1-2	33.3%	4-4	50.0%	2-0	100.0%	0	0	3-2	60.0%

Team Match Records by Round

	Country Quota		Qualifier		Pool Play		Lucky Loser		Elimination Rounds		Semi-Finals		Bronze Medal		Gold Medal		Overall
Tournament Type	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Won	Lost
Olympic Games	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	4	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	11	3
World Championships	0	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	4
World Tour Finals	0	0	0	0	12	6	0	0	1	2	0	2	1	1	0	0	14	11
Elite/Major Series/Five Star/Grand Slam	0	0	6	0	56	26	0	0	19	18	7	2	2	0	4	3	94	49
Challenge/Four Star/Open	0	0	1	2	35	18	1	0	32	17	7	2	2	0	3	4	81	43
Futures/Three Star/Two Star/One Star	0	0	0	0	8	2	0	0	2	4	1	0	0	0	1	0	12	6
U21 World Championships	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Heritage Series/Pro Series	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	2
Total	0	0	7	3	129	52	1	0	62	46	15	9	6	2	8	7	229	119

Head to Head Results
Tijan/Younousse lead the series against the field 7-2 (Lead 4 Series, Trail 1 Series, 0 Series Tied)

Date	Tour	Tournament	Round	Winning Team	Seed	Losing Team	Seed	Score	Time
Lead the series against # 1 Budinger/Evans 4-1
5/17/26	AVP	Huntington Beach Open	Semi-Finals	Budinger/Evans	1	Tijan/Younousse	3	21-19, 21-19	0:45
10/8/25	FIVB	BPT Elite Newport Beach	Pool A	Tijan/Younousse	1	Budinger/Evans	9	21-18, 21-13	0:32
7/4/24	FIVB	Elite16 Gstaad	Pool B	Tijan/Younousse	10	Budinger/Evans	7	21-17, 21-18	0:39
5/3/24	FIVB	Elite16 Brasília	Pool A	Tijan/Younousse	8	Budinger/Evans	9	21-19, 21-14	0:34
3/6/24	FIVB	Elite16 Doha	Pool D	Tijan/Younousse	12	Budinger/Evans	13, Q3	21-18, 19-21, 15-10	0:53
Trail the series against # 2 Benesh/Crabb 0-1
5/16/26	AVP	Huntington Beach Open	Winner 3	Benesh/Crabb	2	Tijan/Younousse	3	21-18, 21-18	0:42
Lead the series against # 4 Crabb/Dalhausser 1-0
5/16/26	AVP	Huntington Beach Open	Contender 4	Tijan/Younousse	3	Crabb/Dalhausser	4	21-18, 21-19	0:44
Lead the series against # 6 Smith/Webber 1-0
5/15/26	AVP	Huntington Beach Open	Winner 2	Tijan/Younousse	3	Smith/Webber	6	19-21, 21-17, 15-10	1:01
Lead the series against # 14, Q3 Connole/Klasnic 1-0
5/15/26	AVP	Huntington Beach Open	Winner 1	Tijan/Younousse	3	Connole/Klasnic	14, Q3	21-11, 21-13	0:40