The popularity and success of beach volleyball grew new heights this year, aided by ‘ but not limited to ‘ NBC Sports’ prime-time Olympic coverage of matches featuring American teams, particularly two-time gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor. Walsh, a Hermosa Beach resident and May and the U.S. men’s team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers became the first women’s and men’s teams from the same country to win gold in the same Olympics.

AVP, the sports reigning body in the U.S. continues to expand the sport to smaller markets with the advent of its Hot Winter Nights indoor tour in January and February. On the collegiate level, the NCAA is considering the inclusion of sand volleyball as a women’s sport as early as the 2009-2010 season.

This weekend’s AVP Crocs Cup Shootout presented by Bud Light Manhattan Beach Open will have a record-setting purse of $1 million.

But with progress comes its share of problems, particularly for the AVP and the Manhattan Beach Open.

Traditionally, the Manhattan Open has been held in early August. This year’s event was moved to the latter part of September because of the Olympics. As a result, it will be the final tournament of the AVP Crocs Cup tour where the championship teams would be crowned.

In past years, Croc Cup championships were decided by points earned throughout the season and the winner of the tour’s final tournament did not necessarily determine the champion. Because this was an Olympic year a number of top teams missed AVP tour events (and opportunities to accrue points) while competing in Olympic qualifying tournaments overseas. This prompted the AVP to limit the Crocs Cup Shootout to the final four tournaments, creating a type of playoff system for the top men’s and women’s teams. To streamline the new format AVP proposed limiting the Main Draw portion of the tournament to 16 teams, rather than the traditional 32 teams.

Traditionalists were not pleased. At a Manhattan Beach City Council meeting in early August a group of Manhattan Beach Open fans and former players, including Manhattan Beach native and Olympic gold medalist Eric Fonoimoana, voiced concerns that the Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball would become the sport’s Super Bowl. The majority of residents who spoke said they preferred that the tournament maintain its traditional roots, which run as deep as the sands of Manhattan Beach, where amateurs have been given the opportunity to compete against top professionals since the 1960s.

When I was a kid [at Mira Costa High School] I dreamt about winning, Fonoimoana, who retired after the Hermosa Beach Open, told the council. It was a dream that drove me to do my best on the AVP Tour, and a dream that drove me to win an Olympic gold medal for Manhattan Beach. How many other Mira Costa athletes have the same dream I did? Don’t crush it.

The council sided with the traditionalists and the AVP agree to revert to a 32-team Main Draw, still a long way from the nearly 100 teams who battled through double-elimination rounds before the AVP took over the event in the 1980s.

This weekend’s Main Draw is a 32 team (per gender) double elimination tournament. Eight men’s and women’s teams received automatic berths into the tournament via the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout series, which whittled the top 32 teams (according to Croc Cup points earned throughout the season) to eight teams over the course of the past three tournaments (Mason, Santa Barbara and San Francisco). The top eight teams receive a large advantage because teams not receiving an automatic berth will basically have to play in two tournaments to win the Manhattan Beach Open ‘ the Qualifier and then the Main Draw.

So, unlike any of the other AVP Crocs Tour events, 24 teams will win their way into the main draw via the single-elimination qualifier. This qualifier provides the opportunity for veterans and up-and-comers alike to reach the main draw. The two-day qualifier began yesterday and continues at 9 a.m. today. Main Draw play starts tomorrow with the women’s finals scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The men’s championship match is slated for 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Ten members of the seeded 16 teams reside in the South Bay. Women’s teams receiving automatic berths after last weekend’s tournament in San Francisco are May-Treanor/Walsh (Hermosa Beach), Nicole Branagh (Torrance)/Elaine Youngs, Jennifer Boss/April Ross, Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan, Angie Akers (Redondo Beach)/Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach), Dianne DeNecochea/Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach), Carrie Dodd (El Segundo)/Tatiana Minello and Jenny Knopf/Nancy Mason (Hermosa Beach).

The men’s side includes Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal (Manhattan Beach), Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, John Hyden/Brad Keenan, Stein Metzger (Manhattan Beach)/Mark Williams, Nick Lucena/Sean Scott (Redondo Beach), Matt Olson/Kevin Wong, John Mayer/Jeff Nygaard and Billy Allen/Braidy Halverson.

Still winning after two decades
While the format of the Manhattan Beach Open was decided in forums, the competition is still settled on the courts. No active player knows this better than Holly McPeak, the Manhattan Beach native and Mira Costa graduate who evolved into one of the all-time greats of beach volleyball during her 20-year career on the professional circuit and has witnessed first-hand how the sport has grow, especially for women.

Competing in her first Manhattan Beach tournament in 1989, McPeak and her partner Megan McCallister finished in ninth place and split $175. Last weekend in San Francisco, teams finishing in ninth place earned $4,000.

Since the new version of the AVP started (in 2000), it has put men and women on the same stage with equal prize money, McPeak said. People were exposed to players they didn’t know before, plus it’s helped having the best team in history (May-Treanor and Walsh) playing.

She believes that while the new format puts pressure on all players to perform at their best, the history and prestige of the Manhattan Beach Open are what drive its competitors.

Everyone wants to win at Manhattan, McPeak said. It’s a hotbed for beach volleyball, the fans are very knowledgeable and having that brass plaque put on the pier with your name on it is something very special.

McPeak is a two-time winner of the tournament. She said her second title in Manhattan was a highlight in a career that included three Olympic appearances and a bronze-medal performance in 2004 with former partner Elaine Youngs. That same year McPeak’s and Youngs’ Manhattan Beach Open victory gave McPeak her 68th career title, surpassing previous record holder Karolyn Kirby.
The Manhattan Beach Open has always had a very special meaning for me, McPeak said. It was the first big tournament I ever saw. My parents took me when I was about 10 years old and I have been hooked on the sport since then.

McPeak has not decided if this will be her final year on the tour, but don’t be surprised to see her back on the courts in 2009. With Walsh and May-Treanor planning on taking a season off to have children, the women’s field is wide open.

After playing through in injury-plagued season in 2007, McPeak has found a new success with partner Angie Akers. Going into this weekend’s Manhattan Beach Open, the pair has finished third in three tournaments and fifth in nine events, including last weekend in San Francisco.

The 39-year-old McPeak appears much younger, a tribute to her regimen of physical conditioning. Before playing one to three matches a day in three-day tournaments, McPeak spends at least two hours practicing on the beach 2-3 times each week and two days of one-hour total-body workouts with trainer Meredith Miller along with daily cardiovascular workouts.

Lisa Arce, Mira Costa’s girls volleyball coach who won her first AVP title with McPeak, said she expects McPeak to return for one more season. Holly is a pioneer in training methods and a master at drills and small ball techniques. She is highly competitive and expects to win every weekend and with the exception of maybe her first two years, has finished in the top 10 throughout her career.

Family leave
This weekend will most likely be the last time until 2010 for local fans to watch the most successful team in beach volleyball history. After reaching their four-year goal of repeating as Olympic gold medalist, Walsh and May-Treanor have decided that the conclusion of the AVP Croc tour would be an opportune time to start families, giving the team ample time to prepare for the London Olympics in 2012. Both are married to professional athletes, Walsh is wed to AVP standout Casey Jennings and May-Treanor’s husband is Matt Treanor, a catcher for the Florida Marlins

May-Treanor and Walsh are favored this weekend to defend their title despite stumbling in their first two tournaments after winning their second gold medals in consecutive Olympics. The Golden Girls proved they were human after the combination of an emotional letdown after the Olympics, the fatigue of travel from China and a whirlwind schedule of media and talk show appearances. The lack of practice time took its toll.

After a disappointing fifth-place finish in Beijing, Branagh/Youngs snapped the 112-match and 19-tournament winning streaks of May-Treanor/Walsh in Cincinnati, rallying from a 13-9 deficit in the third set for a 21-19, 10-21, 25-23 upset victory.

The following week in Santa Barbara, May-Treanor/Walsh failed to reach a tournament championship match for only the third time since 2003. Boss/Ross eliminated the defending champions in the semifinals before falling to Davis/Johnson Jordan in two games in the championship match.

May-Treanor/Walsh got back on track last weekend, easily downing fellow Olympians Branagh/Youngs 21-16, 21-12 to win the championship in San Francisco.

Defending Manhattan Beach Open champions Dalhausser/Rogers carried their winning ways over after winning gold in Beijing. They swept Lucena/Scott in Cincinnati but had more trouble in Santa Barbara. Down 14-9 in the third set, Dalhausser/Rogers fought off five match points to defeat Hyden/Keenan 16-21, 21-19, 20-18.

Gibb/Rosenthal, the other Olympic team and the last to beat Dalhausser/Rogers on the AVP Crocs Tour, upset the gold medalists again, coming from behind to capture the San Francisco title 11-21, 21-19, 15-13. ER