Top Seeds Advance in MB Open

Top seeds Sean Scott/John Hyden and Jenny Kropp/Whitney Pavlik battled their way through the competition on a long, hot summer Saturday afternoon at the Manhattan Beach Open-Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series, gaining semi-final berths for Sunday and putting each team just one win away from the championship game.

Both teams have been dominating so far with Kropp and Pavlik yet to lose a game and Scott and Hyden only dropping one game that came in the quarterfinals.

In that match, Scott and Hyden faced off against the tandem of Ty Loomis and Mark Williams and were pushed to the test, losing the first game, 18-21. Scott and Hyden then took command in the second game, winning 21-13, and surviving in the third game by escaping with an 18-16, win.

“You have to earn it here,” Scott said of playing at the MB Open. “When you've got that number one seed, people have a bull’s eye on your back and you get their best effort.”

Scott and Hyden will take on the winner of John Mayer/Matt Prosser v. Jesse Rambis/Kevin Wong in the semi-finals. Men’s play starts at 10 a.m. today with the final, which will be televised live on the Versus network, slated to begin 4 p.m.

Rambis/Wong had the longest match of the tournament at the end of the day Saturday. The duo played a marathon three-game match against Russ Marchewka/Eyal Zimet, winning 35-33, 19-21, 24-22 in more than 90 minutes of play.

The duo were down time and again during the match but always managed to find a way back behind the play of two-time Open winner Wong who blocked big shot after big shot.

“I think that we're just starting to figure out each other,” said Wong, who just came back from Europe after competing in the FIVB [Federation Internationale de Volleyball] tournaments most of the summer, of his new partnership with Rambis.

“This is our first tournament and it just takes time to figure out each other's instincts. I think we did a lot of good things in that last match. Let's hope we have some gas in the tank for tomorrow.”

In the other semi-final, the team of Billy Allen and Brad Keenan await the winner of the morning match between Loomis/Williams and Ed Ratledge/Ryan Mariano.

Allen and Keenan were the biggest surprise of the day, knocking off Prosser/Mayer in the quarterfinals in three games, 21-17, 19-21, 15-11, behind the serving aces of Allen. Allen finished the match with eight aces, including match point.

“They played really, really good against us,” said Prosser, the three-time All-American from Long Beach State who used to reside in Redondo Beach but now calls Encinitas home. “We knew it was going to be a tough match. I hope that we can regroup and make another run tomorrow.”

For the women, Kropp/Pavlik will be waiting for the winner of the morning matchup between Brooke Sweat/Kristen Batt and Megan Wallin/Chara Harris. While the other semi-final team of Heather Hughes/Emily Day will await the winner of the Jennifer Snyder/Christal Engle v. Jennifer Fopma/Tracy Jones to complete the bracket.

Women's play begins at 9 a.m. with the final set scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

Hughes/Day, the #3 seed, earned their semi-final berth by beating the #2 seed Sweat/Batt in the quarterfinals in two games, winning 21-16, 23-21.

“This is our Wimbledon,” Hughes said of playing at the Open. “It would be a dream come true if we were able to pull this off tomorrow. This is something I have always dreamed about and now I’m just two wins away from my dream. That’s pretty cool.”