Lewis Wows Hometown Crowd in Dream Final

The script was perfect, just like the warm, sunny afternoon at Sunday’s Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Huntington Beach Open.

The fans got what they wanted: a final matching top-seeded Brian Lewis, playing in front of a hometown crowd with partner Canyon Ceman, against the AVP’s all-time winningest team, second-seeded Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson.

The teams delivered a thrilling final, with Lewis and Ceman holding on to win their first AVP title together, 15-13.

Lewis and Ceman nearly squandered leads of 10-3 and 13-7 as Kiraly and Johnson, who have won a combined 183 titles, pulled to within one point on two occasions.

“When you’re facing the competitiveness of a Karch Kiraly,” said Lewis, who lives in Huntington Beach, “it’s hard to stamp that ember out.”

But Lewis and Ceman, who had two second- and three third-place finishes together over the past two seasons, finally won one Sunday, earning $16,000. It was the seventh title for Lewis and his first since last season at Muskegon, Mich. It was Ceman’s fourth title and first since 1998 at Muskegon.

Lewis and Ceman won Sunday’s championship on their fourth game point when Lewis whistled a service winner down the middle.

“We didn’t control their serve well enough,” Kiraly said. “And Canyon may have won the tournament in that winners’ bracket final.”

In that game, when the same teams met earlier Sunday, Kiraly and Johnson took a 14-13 lead. Then Ceman--who had five aces and one block to score his team’s final six points in the game--pounded three consecutive aces for a 16-14 win.

“Canyon had three blasts, none of which we controlled,” Kiraly said. “All of a sudden, the game was done.”

Said Lewis: “It was one, two, three, thank you very much.”

In the losers’ bracket, Brazilians Eduardo Bacil (Anjinho) and Fred Souza won four matches Sunday, including a 15-7 victory over Mike Whitmarsh and Matt Unger, who finished fourth.

But Anjinho and Souza finished third after Kiraly and Johnson defeated them easily, 15-3, to earn another shot at Lewis and Ceman.

In the championship match, Kiraly and Johnson fell behind early but hung tough. Two aces by Johnson and a block by Kiraly on Lewis helped close the gap to 13-12, during a string of 11 consecutive side outs for Kiraly and Johnson.

But Lewis, who had seven hitting errors in the final, then delivered seven of his game-high 17 kills for side outs, helping close out the match.

“We lost to one team in this tournament,” Kiraly said. “Once by 16-14 and another by 15-13. You can’t lose by a smaller margin.”