Low Is a Go in Santa Barbara

High-profile partner switches were the talk of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals as the tour opened play Saturday at the Santa Barbara Open, but the new teams did little to change the unpredictability of the men’s bracket.

Of the four teams that made it through the first day undefeated at West Beach, only second-seeded Dax Holdren and Jeff Nygaard are among the top five seeded teams.

Ninth-seeded Todd Rogers and Sean Scott, 13th-seeded Brian Lewis and Aaron Boss and sixth-seeded Mike Lambert and Eric Fonoimoana, one of the new teams this week, joined Holdren and Nygaard as 3-0 teams.

It was a stark contrast to the women’s bracket, where the top four seeded teams, including No. 1 Misty May and Kerri Walsh, made it to today’s fourth round without a loss. May and Walsh will play No. 4 Dianne DeNecochea and Nancy Mason for a spot in the final four, and second-seeded Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder will face off with third-seeded Holly McPeak and Jennifer Kessy.

“The men’s side is just very, very competitive,” Fonoimoana said. “You can’t cruise out here. From one through 16, there are no cakewalks.”

Lambert and Fonoimoana should know. Lambert was the MVP last season when he and Karch Kiraly won a tour-best three tournaments, but after switching partners for this event, he went undefeated on a Saturday for the first time this season. Fonoimoana, who has won at least one domestic tournament for seven straight seasons, made it to Sunday for the first time this year.

“This is a big improvement and something I can be positive about,” Lambert said. “But we both know that if you come out flat out here on the men’s side, you’re done.”

Kiraly wasn’t as fortunate with his new partner, Adam Jewell. They won their first match but lost their next two and are out of the tournament with a 13th-place finish. It is only the sixth time in Kiraly’s 25-year career -- 327 events -- that he has finished outside the top 10, and the first since Aug. 13, 2000, in Belgium. The last time it happened in a domestic event was 1998.

Jake Gibb and Stein Metzger, the top-seeded men’s team, lost to Rogers and Scott, 21-15, 21-15, in the third round, but won their consolation-bracket match and will play Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings today.

Rogers and Scott flew under the radar before this tournament because they haven’t played together since finishing fifth April 3 at the season opener in Ft. Lauderdale.

“I think some people forgot about us a little bit,” said Rogers, who won at Tempe, Ariz., with Scott last year. “That’s OK. I think we reminded them today.”