EVP Crowns the King and Queen of the Beach

The Extreme Volleyball Professional's tour served up some serious action on the beach Saturday and Sunday in Hermosa, with top players on both the men and women's side vying for the crown of king and queen of the beach. 

On the men's side, Hermosa Beach locals Arqum Iqbal and Ticao Araujo split first place honors, while on the women's, Michelle Hughes took the top spot.

The tournament was reminiscent of beach volleyball's roots -- players refereed their own games, antennae's were left off the nets and players played rock-paper-scissors to determine who would serve first in each game.

In the men's pro division 10 players began the day knowing that every match would be enormously important in their quest to earn first place. The men's brackets were split into two pools of five, and in pool play the athlete's rotated partners, playing one game together before switching to a new partner for the next game.

The king of the beach tournament format of switching partners remains fun, yet challenging, according to Hermosa Beach resident Iqbal.

"You don't have the ability to develop chemistry with one specific partner so it really makes the tournament much more wide open," he said.

The women's pro division started with eight players and was set up the same as the men's, with two pools of four.

The men's and women's pools were whittled to a Final Four by the afternoon - the players who had accumulated the highest win totals against the fewest number of losses advancing.

On the women's side Laurel Miller, Jean Matthews, Sherine Ebadi, and Michelle Hughes, survived pool play to reach the final group, with Miller as the points leader. 

On the men's side an all South Bay final four consisted of Rick Brandt, Araujo, Rico Guiarmes, and Iqbal.  

In the Final Four, both groups played three games among rotating partnerships to determine the king and queen of the beach.  

In the women's final match of the day, Miller and Matthews edged out Hughes and Ebadi 23-21, but Hughes was able to hold on to the crown as she came out on top with the points advantage. Miller took second, with Matthews in third and Ebadi finishing in fourth. 

In the men's Final Four Iqbal and Araujo split their final games, tying for first in both points and number of games won. Brandt took third overall, with Guiarmes finishing in fourth. The group was stocked with tough competitors -Araujo and Guiarmes are both former professionals and Iqbal qualified for the prestigious Manhattan Beach open last year.  

Guiarmes, from South Redondo Beach, hadn't played in an EVP event in 12 years but managed a strong third place. 

"I'm out here to have fun and to make sure I can give all the young kids headaches all day long," he said.

Men's Final Four Standings

1 (tie) Arqum Iqbal

1 (tie) Ticao Araujo

3 Rick Brandt

4 Rico Guiarmes

Women's Final Four Standings

1 Michelle Hughes

2 Laurel Miller

3 Jean Matthews

4 Sharine Ebadi