CINCINNATI (AP) — Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh is teaming up with a new partner this weekend in the AVP event in Cincinnati.

Walsh will compete with Nicole Branagh, a 2008 Olympian, to play in the $175,000 AVP Cincinnati Open starting Friday at Washington Park.

It will be Walsh's first tournament since the London Olympics, where she and Misty May-Treanor won their third consecutive gold medal. Also entered are April Ross and Jennifer Kessy, who lost to Walsh and May-Treanor in the gold-medal match in London. May-Treanor had said the Olympics would be her final competition before retirement.

The top 12 men's and women's teams that compete in Cincinnati will automatically qualify for the $225,000 AVP Championships in Santa Barbara, Calif., from Sept. 7-9.