Beach Volleyball: UCI products make AVP field
Having spent nearly three hours winning three matches in the men’s qualifier on Thursday, at least former UC Irvine teammates Connor Hughes and Travis Woloson will get to sleep in Friday, when the main draw of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Manhattan Beach Open begins at 8 a.m.
Hughes and Woloson, both members of the Anteaters’ back-to-back NCAA championship teams in 20012 and 2013, advanced through a grueling qualifier and will take on No. 2-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena to open the main draw at 11 a.m. Friday near the Manhattan Beach Pier.
Hughes and Woloson are among five locals still competing in the 57th edition of the storied tournament.
Costa Mesa resident Jennifer Fopma, playing with 2012 Olympic silver medalist Jennifer Kessy, are the No. 4 seeds in the women’s draw. Fopma won the tournament last year, then playing with fellow Costa Mesa resident April Ross, who along with fellow Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings are sitting this one out to prepare for the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Former UCI indoor standout Whitney Pavlik is the No. 7 women’s seed, playing alongside Amanda Dowdy, while Newport Harbor High product Ty Tramblie and partner Curt Toppel are the No. 10 seed in the men’s draw.
The 6-foot-3 Fopma, 34, has reached one AVP final this season, teaming with Brittany Hochevar to finish second at the AVP Seattle Open in early June.
Fopma and Hochevar finished third in the New York City Open in mid-June and Fopma was seventh with Kessy in the San Francisco Open, completed June 26.
Pavlik, whose top showing this season is a fifth-place finish at the Huntington Beach Open in early May, and Dowdy will play No. 26-seeded Kady Forbes and Danielle Jacobson in the first round of the main draw on Friday at 11 a.m.
Fopma and Kessey take on Nicole Bateham and Kimberly Smith, who advanced through the qualifier, on Friday at 9 a.m. to open the main draw.
Tramblie and Toppel meet No. 23-seeded Dan Buerhing and Spencer Sauter in the opening round on Friday at 11 a.m.
Tramblie, 35, a former All-American setter at Cal State Northridge, has a pair of fifth-place AVP finishes this season. He and Costa Mesa resident Brad Keenan won the 2015 AVP Chicago Open, Tramblie’s lone AVP crown.
Hughes and Woloson defeated Dave Earnest and Tristan Patterson, 21-18, 21-16, to open their qualifier in the second round. That match lasted 50 minutes.
The former ‘Eaters then outlasted Andrew Dentler and Raffe Paulis, 20-22, 21-18, 15-13, in a 70-minute battle that matched the longest match in the qualifier.
Hughes and Woloson swept Tim May and Landen Tusieseina, 21-17, 21-18, in 50 minutes in Round 4 to earn their spot in the main draw.
Former Orange Coast College standout McKay Smith, and former Newport Harbor star Jeannette Hecker both lost their first matches and were eliminated from the men’s and women’s qualifiers, respectively, on Thursday.
The Manhattan Beach Open continues for both men and women on Saturday and Sunday. The semifinals and finals are Sunday.