Duo Commits to Memory

Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert had been separated for less than four months, but they ran into a small problem when they reunited for the Huntington Beach Open this weekend: They forgot how to high-five.

“Our celebrations were pitiful during our first match,” Kiraly said. “We didn’t know how to hand-slap.”

It turns out they had ample opportunities to rectify that problem.

Kiraly and Lambert, the top Assn. of Volleyball Professionals team in 2004, needed only one tournament to reestablish themselves as a top team this year. They defeated Sean Rosenthal and Larry Witt, 15-21, 26-24, 17-15, in the men’s final Saturday near the Huntington Beach Pier.

The final, scheduled to be shown live on Channel 4, was bumped to cable network CNBC in favor of a rain-delayed NASCAR race. Non-cable subscribers missed one of the most dramatic finals of the year and perhaps the top men’s story on the AVP this season.

It was career victory No. 148 for Kiraly, pro beach volleyball’s all-time leader, and the first for the team since it won in Las Vegas in September. Kiraly and Lambert parted ways after three mediocre finishes to start this season, but the reunion, which has created quite a buzz on the AVP, started with a bang.

“It’s storybook,” said Lambert, the 2004 AVP most valuable player. “I used that word when we won in Manhattan last year, but this is right up there. To come out and have the performance we did was just an awesome showing. It’s sweet.”

Kiraly and Lambert lost the first game in the last four of their six matches and went into overtime in three of their last five games. Three of their matches lasted longer than an hour, including the 87-minute final match.

They defeated Stein Metzger and Jake Gibb, three-time winners this year, two times on the road to the title and also defeated Rosenthal and Witt twice. Kiraly, 44, the tour’s oldest player, said winning makes the aches and pains seem minimal.

“It never gets old,” he said. “It gets sweeter each one. I cherish them a lot more because they don’t come as quickly. I have a great time holding my own out here still. Even though I’m the oldest guy, when you have a guy like [Lambert] on your side of the net, you always have a chance to win. That enthusiasm makes me forget any fatigue I’m feeling.”

Especially since he thought his career might be over after aggravating his surgically repaired right shoulder in the first tournament of this year. That injury eventually led to the decision for Lambert and Kiraly to split.

With Kiraly now at full strength, the team must be considered among the contenders each week.

“I was thinking my career was done, and it’s such a weird emotion to have to play through,” Kiraly said. “It was kind of a bad break to start the season, but I look at this as the real start to our season. It’s so great to be back together with Mike after fighting through some tough times through the first three tournaments.”

It’s also good timing, as the AVP heads to Manhattan Beach next weekend for the granddaddy of beach volleyball tournaments. It’s worth double points in the season race, as was their victory Saturday.

“This is great momentum,” Kiraly said. “We got the mojo back.”

And they also worked out that high-five problem.

“We had forgotten that he was the high and I was the low,” Kiraly said. “That worked so great last year and we’d forgotten. We had to kind of coordinate and do a little teamwork practice in the players’ tent.”

Top-seeded Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor advanced to the final four of the women’s tournament with two victories Saturday.

Second-seeded Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder also secured a final four spot with a 17-21, 21-19, 16-14 over Holly McPeak and Jennifer Kessy.

The two other semifinalists will come out of the contenders bracket. The final is today at 1 p.m.