Scott, Hyden Grab Wide Open Title In Hermosa

John Hyden (a San Diego native) and Sean Scott (who now lives in Redondo Beach) played as if they were right at home at the  beach volleyball tournament in Hermosa Beach over the weekend, capturing their fourth straight victory in the series Sunday. 

The partners took down the Brazilian tandem of Fred Souza and Rodrigo Monteiro, 21-12, 21-12, in Sunday’s final match. 

Scott came out on fire to start the finals, tallying several crucial blocks and putting down kill shots all over the court. Coupled with Hyden’s strong defense, the partners were unstoppable.

"I got in a good zone blocking. Sometimes that just happens and when it does you just have to roll with it," Scott said. 

Scott and Hyden went undefeated on the entire tour, and were only threatened on a few occasions—Monteiro and Souza pushed the champions to match point on several occasions before Scott and Hyden secured victory with an improbable comeback. 

"That team put a real scare into us in Siesta Key [Florida] they had 3 or 4 swings for the match so we knew coming out we can’t mess around with this one we had to step on it early," Scott said.

Scott and Hyden rolled out to a huge lead of 10-3 behind a 7-0 run in the weekend’s first game in Hermosa Beach. Scott was a monster at the net, recording block after block. Hyden stifled the opposition with multiple digs and timely offense. 

The second game mirrored much of the first. Scott and Hyden used a 6-0 run to build an 8-2 lead early. Scott continued to be a dominant force at the net with his block while also turning on the offense and recording a plethora of kill shots that battered the Brazilians. 

Hyden played more of the same strong defense and the partners ran their lead all the way to 15-8. A 3-0 run from Monteiro and Souza offered a glimmer of hope for the contenders as they closed the gap to 17-12. 

Then Hyden responded with a dig and kill shot that was the spark the winners needed to reach a 21-12 victory. 

Scott and Hyden next will play in the prestigious Manhattan Beach Open. 

Women’s Wide Open

In the women’s final, after several second and third place victories on the season, Florida duo Kristen Batt and Brooke Sweat captured their first Corona Light Wide Open title Sunday.

Batt and Sweat defeated Brazilian Priscilla Lima and former Olympian Annett Davis 21-18, 21-16. Lima and Davis eliminated No. 1 seed and three-time Corona Light Wide Open winners Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik in the semifinal match. 

In the final match, Batt gave Davis and Lima fits with her blocking and Sweat dug kill shots, adding offensive firepower to snag the title. 

"We worked extremely hard in the past month to get to this point and it’s amazing to watch it pay off," Batt said about the championship victory.

Schedule

The with the Manhattan Beach Open next weekend (Aug 27-29.)

The following weekend Cincinnati will play host to the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball (Sept. 2-4) followed by the National Volleyball League’s Tour stop in Miami Beach (Sept. 9-11.)

The Jose Cuervo Beach Pro will keep the action in Miami Beach the following weekend (Sept. 16-18) before the games come back to Hermosa Beach for the Jose Cuervo National Championships (Sept. 23-25.)