Veteran Whitmarsh a Winner Again

The old-timer, the Olympic gold medalist a few years away from hitting 40, came up with the big victory when he needed it.

It wasn’t Karch Kiraly, earlier eliminated from the Hermosa Beach Open, but Mike Whitmarsh, a fellow Olympic medalist and beach volleyball veteran who won the title Sunday.

Whitmarsh teamed with David Swatik to defeat Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego, 14-12, in a heated, emotional championship that was Whitmarsh’s first since winning the San Diego Open in August.

The tournament wasn’t a standard-setter--Kiraly was ousted earlier and failed in his bid to win his record 140th pro beach title--but it was entertaining nonetheless, particularly in the championship.

Loiola, with his team trailing, 10-8, was given a red card for crossing onto the other side of the court to contest a call. The call stood, the ball was called out and Whitmarsh and Swatik were given a point for an 11-8 lead.

Still angry after the match, Loiola approached the officials to further contest the call.

“At that point, you don’t give a guy a red card,” Loiola said later. “You let us play. But everything went in their favor. We couldn’t do anything.”

A kill by Loiola with no time left on the nine-minute game clock pulled his team to within 13-12, sending the match into overtime, where the first team to take a two-point lead would prevail.

Whitmarsh, 37, who won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics (Kiraly won the gold), came up with the winning block on Rego.

“It was an emotional, electric atmosphere,” Whitmarsh said. “That’s the way volleyball’s supposed to be.”

Swatik, who played high school volleyball just a few miles away at Mira Costa before playing for UCLA, had a vocal following throughout the match en route to his first pro beach victory.

Kiraly and partner Adam Johnson were eliminated in the consolation semifinals, losing to Lee LeGrande and Brent Doble, 12-10, for the second time in as many days.

The top-seeded duo fell two victories short of advancing to the tournament championship, but Kiraly said he wasn’t concerned about setting the record this weekend.

“It’ll come when it comes, whenever that is,” Kiraly said. “It may happen, it may not. Who knows?”

The next opportunity for Kiraly, 38, is at the Canadian Open, a FIVB event next weekend in Toronto.

In a battle of Southern California locals, former UCLA standouts Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs defeated Lisa Arce and Barbra Fontana, who both attended Mira Costa High, in the women’s championship, 15-9.

Youngs, a four-time All-American with the Bruins, drilled three consecutive aces to give her team a commanding 7-1 lead.