Favorites Get Dumped as Parity Pays Visit to Seal Beach

The parity on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour was evident Saturday as the top two seeded teams were upset and knocked into the consolation bracket of the $50,000 AVP Open at Seal Beach.

Top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson, winners of three AVP titles this season, were stunned in the semifinals, 15-7, by Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego.

“You don’t know who is going to win anymore,” Kiraly said. “Jose and Emanuel were terrible last week. Today they played as well as I’ve ever seen them. They played out of their minds.”

Loiola and Rego, seeded third and playing in their fourth tournament together, were flawless early and shocked Kiraly and Johnson by taking a 12-0 lead.

Kiraly, who is six AVP victories away from Sinjin Smith’s record of 139, finally scored his team’s first point with a tap over Rego’s head.

Loiola and Rego, who recently joined forces in hopes of competing in the 2000 Olympics for Brazil, dug everything hit at them and found open spots for their spikes.

“[Kiraly and Johnson] don’t have high block guys,” Loiola said. “They have good technique. So we knew we needed to hit it as high as we could.”

Kiraly disagreed.

“I didn’t really notice that,” Kiraly said. “They were just hitting every ball as hard as they could and they were going in the right spots. But we aren’t concerned, because we know they can’t play any better than that.”

Johnson and Kiraly will face Anjinho Bacil and Stein Metzger at 9 a.m. today in the first of four matches they will need to win to take the title in the double-elimination format.

“We still are in a good position,” said Kiraly, who has never won at Seal Beach. “I love our chances.”

Unseeded Mark Kerins and Canyon Ceman had the other upset on center court, knocking off second-seeded Mike Whitmarsh and Kent Steffes, 14-10.

Whitmarsh and Steffes, who won the Chicago Open last weekend, were unable to get anything past a hustling Kerins, who led his team to a 12-4 advantage.

Whitmarsh and Steffes were then eliminated from the tournament, losing to Roberto Lopes and Franco Neto, 15-13.

Ceman and Kerins looked to be on their way to the winners’ bracket final, taking a 12-8 lead over Brian Lewis and David Swatik. But, Lewis and Swatik, seeded sixth, rallied for a 15-13 victory, winning when Ceman’s spike went long.

Lewis and Swatik will face Loiola and Rego at 10:15 in the winners’ bracket final. The championship match is scheduled for 2 p.m.