San Diego Features Familiar Winners

The pro beach volleyball trend that started in Manhattan Beach continued Sunday, with the top men’s and women’s teams repeating their titles of a week before.

Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert took the men’s championship, and Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs grabbed the women’s crown in the AVP Nissan Series San Diego Open.

After five different champions in the men’s first five tournaments, the San Diego final featured the first winners of the year (Sean Rosenthal and Larry Witt) against the previous week’s winners (Kiraly and Lambert).

Kiraly and Lambert kept the upper hand, defeating Rosenthal and Witt, 21-18, 14-21, 15-8.

For Kiraly, it extended his record to 146 wins on the tour. For Lambert, it was his second title.

Earlier, Rosenthal and Witt had defeated San Diego resident Mike Whitmarsh and Canyon Ceman in the semifinals, 21-19, 21-15.

In the women’s final, McPeak and Youngs defeated Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 22-20, 21-18.

For McPeak, it was the 69th title of her career, extending the record she had set June 6 at Manhattan Beach.

The top men’s teams of Jeff Nygaard and Dain Blanton, Stein Metzger and Dax Holdren, and Todd Rogers and Sean Scott skipped the San Diego tournament to play in an Olympic qualifier at Puerto Rico. Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the top-ranked women’s team, did not compete because May has a strained abdominal muscle.