Aaron Mansfield and Theo Brunner, standout indoor volleyball players at UCSB, are starting to click on the beach.
The former Gauchos came out of a qualifier tournament and finished 13th at last weekend’s AVP Tour Belmar Beach Open in New Jersey.
They’ll bring their game back to East Beach on Saturday to compete in the Santa Barbara Open. Mansfield-Brunner are the men’s No. 1 seed while Kathryn Babcock and Erin Gray hold down the top spot for the women.
There will be 24 men’s and women’s teams competing in a single-elimination format (best 2-of-3 games).
“You snooze, you lose,” said tournament director Eric Arneson.
The teams will be playing on eight courts put up in front of the Cabrillo Arts Center. The tournament is part of the Semana Nautica summer sports festival.
Prize money ($500, $300, $200) will be awarded to the top three teams in each division and the tournament champions will receive berths in the main draw of the AVP Tour Hermosa Open, July 16-18.
Babcock and Gray come into the tournament after finishing 17th at the Belmar Open. They both won AVP Young Guns events last year.
Among the top local women’s teams entered are Patti Cook-Tiffany Rodiguez and Courtney Kidd Kadlubek-Shayna Guigliano. Cook, the associate head women’s volleyball coach at Westmont, won the Will Rogers AAA last weekend.
Mansfield, a libero for the Gauchos from 2001-2005, is the top digger in UCSB history with 1,000 digs in his career. The 6-7 Brunner (2005-2008) ranks eighth in kills with 1,163.
Other top teams entered in the tournament include Jesse Rambis-John Moran, Tony Ciarelli-Jeff Carlson and Will Montgomery-Ryan Ammerman. Montgomery is a former Santa Barbara High star who now plays libero for UC Irvine. Amermann is the Anteaters’ 6-9 setter.
Some of the local teams competing include Dillan Bennett-Brennon Dyer, John Hancock-Kanani Yo Ah-Leite and Will Harris-Matt Riley.
