AVP’s No. 1 seeds stay on course during windy day

Wind, dirty sand and lady bugs were the elements beach volleyball players and fans had to deal with Friday at the AVP Nivea Santa Barbara Open at West Beach.

The shifting wind made receiving serves and hitting high sets a challenge. Rocks, shells and small pieces of driftwood sometimes created a nuisance for players on the court and fans walking barefoot around courts. And the lady bugs only caused a problem when they flew in your face.

Todd Rogers hits past the block of Ben Koski (photo by Ken Delgado).

Austin Rester and Paul Baxter weren’t dressed like lady bugs, but they buzzed around the court and changed the face of the men’s winner’s bracket by upsetting second-seeded John Hyden and Sean Scott in the second round.

It was pretty much business as usual for the top teams on the first day of the tournament’s main draw. Local stars Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser breezed through their first two matches on the men’s side, and women’s No. 1 Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh rolled through their two opponents.

Rogers-Dalhausser, who are coming off a gold medal victory in an international event in Brasilia, Brazil last weekend, will start their Saturday morning against Brazilians Pedro Brazao and Fred Souza in a third-round match at 10:30.

Also at 10:30, May-Treanor-Branagh will face Dianne DeNecochea-Brittany Hochevar in a rematch of their third-round confrontation in Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago. May-Treanor-Branagh won a tough battle in 53 minutes.

Rogers-Dalhausser started Friday by sweeping old training partners Ben Koski and Jeff Minc on the stadium court, 21-17, 21-11. Koski-Minc, who were making their center court debut, were the lowest seeded qualifying team (55th) to advance to the main draw.

“They’re good, obviously. They’re really good,” said Minc, who had a section of fellow hotshot firefighters rooting them on. “Phil is a monster and Todd is so consistent. We’re not as good, obviously.”

Koski-Minc would later be eliminated by Jeff Carlucci and Everett Matthews in heartbreaking fashion. After looking strong in the first game, the local team couldn’t hold leads late in the second and third games and fell 17-21, 23-21, 15-13.

Rogers-Dalhausser, meanwhile, took care of Russ Marchewka and Ty Tramblie to get the rest of the day off. The scores were 21-15, 21-10, but the hustling Tramblie made the Olympic champions work for their points.

“Ty is a scrapper. Every time we play he digs about a million balls,” Dalhausser said. “There is no give-up with him. He’s going to run down every single ball. And, even if he has no chance of getting it, he’s still out chasing after it.”

Rogers, who’s no slouch on defense, also gave props to Tramblie. “He’s a scrambler, a great defender, Rogers said. “I told Phil he’s going to scramble and get most balls up, so just expect it. Know that you’re going to have a battle on your hands.”

The top seeds did get a brief scare in the match when Dalhausser rolled an ankle while changing direction to chase a Rogers dig. The pain lasted only a few seconds because on the next ball Dalhausser delivered a crushing spike for a side out.

May-Treanor and Branagh picked up where they left off after winning the AVP season-opener in Fort Lauderdale. They opened with a 21-7, 21-17 win over qualifiers Jane Croson-Summer Ross and then beat Diane Pascua-Saralyn Smith, 21-16, 21-16. In all, they played a total of 73 minutes.

“I feel good,” said May-Treanor, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. “Always on the first day of a tournament you’re always trying to work out the kinks.”

While there didn’t appear to be many kinks in the armor Friday, May-Treanor said she is still trying to get used to playing with Branagh, who last year teamed with Elaine Youngs and won nine tournaments and more than $190,000.

“Nicole had an awesome year last year with Elaine. She is a great pickup for me. I’m still working on it. I feel I can still get better.”

May-Treanor missed nearly all of last season (she played in one event) while recovering from the torn Achilles tendon and calf muscle she suffered while rehearsing for ABC’s Dancing with the Stars television show.

She said she did it while doing the jive.

“I’m very fortunate enough to be able to step back onto the court, the way I look at it,” said May-Treanor, who added that the leg doesn’t feel the same.

“I’m still working on my single calf raise,” she said. “It’s something I feel, my leg will never be like it ways. Of course, you know, when they operate on something it’s never the same. But I do the best with it. It’s all you can do.”

When told about Anthony Medel returning to play just five months after tearing his Achilles tendon, May-Treanor said she had spoken to the former Santa Barbara resident.

“I talked to him several times,” she said. “In my personal opinion, should he be playing? No. And I told him that. But, to each his own. I think I took the right time off. I still rehab it. I still work on the calf.”

Medel said he’s been diligent about rehabbing his left surgically repaired Achilles tendon after tearing it while playing indoor volleyball in November.

“As seriously as I take my career, I’m just as serious, if not more, about my rehab,” he said. “It so happens this was a tournament was a tangible goal for me (to return playing). I really wanted to get back for it.”

He said it didn’t matter what everyone else said about recovery time from such an injury.

“It’s hard not to listen to the stuff people say but, ultimately, the only person that knows how I feel is me and my doctors.”

Medel went to Dr. Brad Thomas, the chief of sports medicine at UCLA.

“We had a goal in mind when I wanted to come back and it was really when I felt good that I would go again.”

He played well with new partner, 6-10 Andrew “Bear” Fuller, chasing down balls and hitting with authority.

“I felt great, no pain, no stretch,” he said after a tough 21-13, 10-21, 15-12 first-round loss to John Moran and Mike Placek. “As you can see, I can play pretty good defense. I dug a lot of balls and I ran down a lot of balls.”

Medel-Fuller bounced back and defeated Sam Haghighi-Travis Schoonover 21-14, 21-18 and then were eliminated by 13th-seeded Ty Loomis-Matt Prosser 22-20, 21-11.

Medel said now that he’s back on the tour, he plans to stay on it through the season.

“If you do it the right way and work hard enough, you can rehab and come back from (the injury). That was just my mindset,” he explained. “It’s not an easy thing to do, but I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t feel good. I wouldn’t do that to my partner. I wanted to make sure I felt really, really good and confident before I came out.

“I think I showed I’m feeling just fine and I’m ready to win.”

In other results involving local teams, former UCSB star Brooke Hanson and Lisa Rutledge recovered from a second-round loss to Lauren Fendrick-Ashley Ivey and pulled out three-set victory over Katie Jameson-Tracy Jones (the Lindquist sisters) 15-21, 22-20, 17-15.

Men’s qualifiers Avery Drost (Westmont grad)-Chris Icaza, Dane Jensen (UCSB grad)-Scott Hill, Aaron Mansfield (UCSB grad)-Seth Burnham and David Fischer (SBHS grad)-Vincent Robbins were eliminated in two matches.