Kiraly, Steffes Win, but It’s a Struggle

After cruising through their first two matches Friday, top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes suffered a scare in the third round of the Manhattan Beach Open before defeating No. 17 Lance Lyons and Justin Perlstrom, 15-13.

The Olympic gold medalists trailed Lyons-Perlstrom, 11-6, before rallying to take a 13-11 lead.

Lyons and Perlstrom tied the score, 13-13, before Kiraly sealed the victory with successive kills.

“I think we took them a little lightly,” Steffes said. “They really blocked me well today and they came close to stinging me.”

Silver medalists Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, seeded fourth, scored three easy victories. They beat Christian Cavanaugh and Andrew Larson, 15-3, Tony Zapata and Amaury Velasco, 15-3, and Jason Pursley and Dan Castillo, 15-7.

The second-seeded team of Adam Johnson and Jose Loiola and third-seeded Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis also advanced easily.