Saturday at Manhattan Beach Open: Men's First and Third Seeds Sent Packing

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PHOTOS BY ERIC HARTMAN, for Patch

From a press release:

Saturday’s Main Draw competition on the men’s side of the $150,000 AVP Manhattan Beach Open presented by smart was a grueling, survival-of-the-fittest battle of attrition, as the tandems of Brad Keenan/John Mayer and Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal grinded out Sunday morning semifinal berths before a flock of large crowds south of the Manhattan Beach Pier.

With the 55th-annual AVP Manhattan Beach Open presented by smart holding true to its reputation as being the toughest test on the beach, three of the four men’s third-round matches in the winner’s bracket were epic matchups that were extended to three sets, while No. 1 seed Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson and No. 3 seed Ryan Doherty and Nick Lucena were sent home packing.

Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal outlasted Doherty and Lucena, 21-19, 19-21, 15-9 before the No. 6 seed earned their spot in the final four with a 21-18, 21-14 quarterfinal win over seventh-seeded Adrian Carambula and Stafford Slick, who had edged No. 2 seed Tri Bourne and John Hyden in the third round by the slimmest of possible margins, 21-19, 19-21, 15-13.

2014 AVP St. Petersburg Open champions Keenan and Mayer, the No. 4 seed, outdueled fifth-seeded Theo Brunner and Todd Rogers, 21-16, 22-24, 15-11 before rallying for a 15-21, 21-11, 15-10 quarterfinal win over giant-killer Billy Allen and Trevor Crabb, the No. 9 seed who knocked top-seeded Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson into the contender’s bracket with a 21-18, 21-19 triumph in the third round.

In the women’s bracket, six-time and reigning AVP Manhattan Beach Open presented by smart tournament champion Kerri Walsh Jennings, the three-time reigning Olympic gold medalist, and teammate April Ross, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist who is married to Keenan, extended their perfect 2014 AVP season record to 19-0 after defeating ninth-seeded Olaya Pazo and Sheila Shaw, 21-12, 21-15, then sweeping fifth-seeded Lane Carico and Kim DiCello by the same score.

Second-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat also reserved a women’s semifinal berth on account of their 21-17, 21-16 victory over Olympian Nicole Branagh and Amanda Dowdy and a hard-fought 16-21, 22-20, 15-11 quarterfinal rally over No. 3 seed Emily Day and Summer Ross. Walsh Jennings/April Ross and Fendrick/Sweat remain on a collision course for their fourth AVP finals matchup in as many events in 2014.

AVP Manhattan Beach Open presented by smart defending champion Casey Jennings, with partner Jeremy Casebeer, rebounded from Friday’s defeat to Allen/Crabb to win three matches through the contender’s bracket on Saturday – capped by a 18-21, 21-18, 15-8 win over Doherty/Lucena – before suffering a close-shave elimination at the hands of Bourne and Hyden, 21-15, 19-21, 16-14.

Saturday’s most notable elimination was that of last weekend’s AVP Salt Lake City Open champions, Gibb and Patterson, who suffered a 15-21, 22-20, 15-10 contender’s bracket defeat to Brunner and Rogers.

Main draw play for the AVP Manhattan Beach Open presented by smart, the longest-running and most tradition-steeped event in pro beach volleyball history (since 1960), resumes Sunday at 8:15 a.m. PT. The women’s semifinals commence at 10 a.m., with the men’s semifinals taking place at 10:15 a.m.

Sunday’s men’s and women’s finals will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. PT (women’s final; men’s final to follow at 2 p.m.). Tournament matches will be shown on www.AVP.com/live via CBS Interactive Advanced Media. General admission is free and Club AVP passes are sold out.

Updated main-draw brackets can be found here:

Men – http://www.avp.com/stats/manhattan-beach-open-14-m/

Women - http://www.avp.com/stats/manhattan-beach-open-14-w/