Winners Are on California Roll

Eric Fonoimoana and Kevin Wong would like to win titles in Texas, New Jersey, Hawaii and anyplace else the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Nissan Series takes them, but California is just fine for now.

They defeated Mike Lambert and Karch Kiraly, 22-20, 21-19, in the final of the Hermosa Beach Open on Sunday near the Hermosa Beach Pier and stole the spotlight from Kiraly, who added another chapter to his legend with his play throughout the weekend.

Fonoimoana and Wong joined forces last year and won at Manhattan Beach in their first tournament together, but since then have made the final four in a tournament only once and had a best finish of third place. That came at Manhattan Beach earlier this year.

“We just play really good California volleyball, I guess,” Wong said. “Our game is good for deep sand and lots of wind. When we go to a parking lot in Dubuque, Iowa, with no wind and three inches of sand, that’s not really our game.”

Fonoimoana, an Olympic gold medalist in 2000 with Dain Blanton, and Wong, also a 2000 Olympian with Rob Heidger, played strong defense during the match and were able to exploit an shoulder injury that had bothered Kiraly since he dislocated it two weeks ago in New Jersey. They also overcame a vocal crowd that was clearly pro-Kiraly.

“It has been a long time,” Fonoimoana said. “It’s satisfying, but you always want to win no matter who is on the other side.”

Added Wong: “We’ve had 10 years of playing with Karch as the sentimental favorite so we’ve got lots of practice with that.”

This weekend, Kiraly, the winningest player of all time, showed the grit and determination that has made him so popular.

Playing with a shoulder so badly injured that it requires surgery, Kiraly was unable to make a full arm swing and hit soft cut shots on almost every kill attempt, relying more on precision than strength in an era when power reigns.

Kiraly and Lambert lost in the second round Friday, meaning they would have to make it to the final through the contenders’ bracket. Kiraly and Lambert did the same earlier this year during a tournament in Arizona, but Kiraly was healthy then.

With Kiraly at less than full strength, they won four consecutive matches Saturday, three against highly-ranked teams.

At the end of the second match, Kiraly sprinted to the NBC television booth at center court, where he worked as the color analyst for the women’s final. Then he sprinted back for the next two matches.

Sunday, he and Lambert won two matches, including a semifinal victory over Todd Rogers and Sean Scott that included a verbal altercation between Kiraly and Rogers.

During that match, Kiraly and Lambert practiced the beach volleyball I-formation to prevent opponents from continually serving to Kiraly and forcing him to swing with his bad shoulder. They lined up in single file and split as the opposing server hit he ball so that the competitors didn’t know to whom they were serving.

Kiraly, 43, the oldest player on tour, said that after the month-long break for the Olympics in August he will continue to play the same style the rest of this season and have surgery afterward. He said he plans on returning next year.

“Had we won this one or in Tempe, I would have put it up there as [one of] the greatest wins I’ve ever been a part of,” Kiraly said. “As it is, these are still some of the greatest tournaments I’ve ever been a part of even having lost.”