John Mayer leaps high to deliver a left-handed spike for a kill in Saturday’s semifinals. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal came back from a set down to defeat top-seeded John Hyden and Sean Scott in the final match of the day on Saturday, reserving the last spot in Sunday’s title matches at the AVP Championships in Santa Barbara.
Gibb and Rosenthal, the tournament’s sixth seed, will meet fourth-seeded Brad Keenan and John Mayer tomorrow with the AVP Championship on the line.
Jennifer Kessy looks for an angle past the block of Jenny Kropp in Saturday’s women’s semifinal which Kessy and April Ross eventually won.
For the women, the top two-seeded teams reached tomorrow’s title match as Jennifer Kessy and April Ross will meet Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh at 10 a.m.
The men’s final will follow the women.
“We served real tough,” Keenan said soon after he and Mayer defeated Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena 21-18, 21-13 in the semifinals. “We had a litte trouble siding out but we turned it around.”
Gibb and Rosenthal dropped the first set to Scott and Hyden 19-21 but rallied to win the next two 21-18, 15-13.
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, the last team to win an AVP title in Santa Barbara, lost to Gibb and Rosenthal 21-18, 14-21, 15-5 on Saturday to end their tournament.
“Friday was a great day, and Saturday was a bad day for us,” Rogers explained. “We played pretty well on Friday, but Saturday, today, we just didn’t have it.”
“We’ve been struggling for a while now, the last couple of months. Teams were hungrier than we were essentially.”
Complete match results can be found HERE.
Nick Lucena, pictured, and partner Matt Fuerbringer were defeated in the semifinals by Keenan and Mayer.
