Three-time Olympic Gold medalist Karch Kiraly of San Clemente and
partner Brent Doble of Dana Point captured the Assn. Of Volleyball
Professionals Nissan Series Huntington Beach Open men's title with a
21-16, 21-16 victory over Todd Rogers (Solvang) and Sean Scott (Los
Angeles) Sunday at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
In the women's final played Saturday, the top-seeded team of Misty
May (Long Beach) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga) defeated No. 2 seed Holly
McPeak (Manhattan Beach) and Elaine Youngs (Durango, Colorado),
22-24, 21-17, 15-7.
The men's tournament, which featured 16 first-round matches,
included Laguna Beach's Dain Blanton.
Blanton and partner Jeff Nygaard (Los Angeles), seeded seventh,
won their first-round match over the No. 26-seeded team of Dan Fisher
(Goleta) and Chris Guigliano (Santa Barbara), 22-20, 19-21, 15-10.
In the round of 16, however, Blanton and Nygaard were eliminated
from title contention as they suffered a tough, 17-21, 21-14, 15-12
loss to 10th-seeded Dax Holdren (Goleta) and Stein Metzger (Redondo
Beach).
Despite being eliminated in second-round action, Nygaard was third
overall in the tournament in blocks with 28.
Holdren and Metzger were eliminated in the quarterfinal round by
Kiraly and Doble.
