Beach volleyball: Kosty and Ratledge make a splash in main draw.

Chris Kosty and Ed Ratledge were like budding chefs going against Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse Saturday at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Huntington Beach Open.

The Fountain Valley High graduates, who made their way into the main draw as the lowest seeded team after winning four qualifying matches Friday, were thrust into a first-round matchup against top-seeded Mike Whitmarsh and Canyon Ceman . . . and won the first game, 22-20.

Ratledge, who is 6 feet 8, played exceptionally well early.

“I couldn’t stop him,” said Whitmarsh, who ranks sixth on the AVP’s all-time money list with $1,489,166 in career earnings. “It’s hard to play someone you’ve never played before.”

Said Kosty, who along with Ratledge hadn’t earned a cent playing volleyball until Saturday: “We knew we had a chance after we took the first game. We said, ‘Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing.’ ”

And they did for a while, taking an 8-7 lead in the second game and keeping it close late until Whitmarsh and Ceman pulled away to win, 21-18. Fatigue became a factor in the third game as the rested Whitmarsh and Ceman claimed the match with a 15-9 victory.

Kosty and Ratledge were eliminated after dropping their losers’ bracket match to Richard Boldt and John Hribar, 23-21, 21-17, but they served notice that they will be a team to watch after making their first appearance in a main draw.

“It was a big deal playing Whitmarsh,” Kosty said. “To play on center court against the No. 1 seeds, it was a lot of fun. It was definitely a dream come true.”

Whitmarsh said the tandem, which will split $300 in prize money, could be a factor now that the tour has considerably reduced its court size.

“If you’re a good hitter and a good blocker, you can do well now,” Whitmarsh said.

This weekend marked the first time Kosty and Ratledge played together since they graduated from Fountain Valley in 1995. Ratledge started for UCLA’s 2000 national championship team and Kosty won two state titles at Golden West College before playing for Hawaii.

Kosty and Ratledge came into this weekend’s event with modest expectations, though. “We wanted to qualify and be in the main event, and once we got in, have fun,” Kosty said.

The pair will likely obtain a much higher qualifying seeding at its next tour stop in Muskegon, Mich., July 13-15.

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Third-seeded Brent Doble of Capistrano Beach and Matt Lyles were eliminated after losing their first two matches.

Doble was set to play with Karch Kiraly until Kiraly pulled out of the event Thursday with a calf injury.