This Dream Team Remains a Sleeping Giant

Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger entered the 2006 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour as marked men after joining forces to form what many considered a beach volleyball dream team, but they have yet to reach the winner’s circle.

Lambert, the tour’s MVP in 2004, and Metzger, one half of the tour’s top team in 2005, have been the top-seeded team in each of the first three AVP tournaments, but have finished second, third and third.

Their hopes of reversing that trend got off to a good start Saturday at the Huntington Beach Open as the top-seeded pair swept three matches to move within one victory of making their fourth consecutive final four.

Final fours, however, are not why they teamed together and the pressure to get that first victory is beginning to mount.

“Those thoughts are always there in the back of your mind,” said Metzger, who teamed with Jake Gibb for a tour-best four titles last season, yet left that partnership for the opportunity to play with Lambert. “We haven’t won yet, which has been frustrating, but we’ve played consistently good and I think we’re still improving.”

Lambert said the heavy pressure is coming not from outside expectations, but from within.

“We’re both competitive and hungry and we want to win,” he said. “But at the same time, if our bad results are thirds, then that’s a good thing.”

Part of their problem is the depth on the men’s side, where the top eight teams are capable of winning on any given week and upsets are common. The top four seeded teams made it through the first day undefeated Saturday at Huntington Beach, the first time that has happened on the AVP Tour since the 2004 Huntington Beach Open.

Plus, Metzger and Lambert got a late start to the season. Rather than pushing to get in top shape for the season opener in April, they chose to use a slow run-up into a stretch of 18 consecutive tournaments that began last week.

“We’re easing our way into this long season,” Metzger said. “There’s a long way to go.”

Second-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, winners of the last two AVP tournaments, appear to be the team to beat again this week after sweeping three matches Saturday with an average victory margin of six points.

Karch Kiraly, who teamed with Lambert to win at Huntington Beach last year for his record 148th career title, lost a tight third-round match with new partner Larry Witt, but rallied with a 21-15, 21-16 contender’s bracket victory over brothers Kevin and Scott Wong. They survived to play today in the double-elimination tournament.

In the women’s tournament, top-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh survived a third-round scare against Holly McPeak and Nicole Branagh, holding on for a 19-21, 21-12, 15-13 victory and advancing to the quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder, the defending champions, allowed no more than 15 points in any game as they cruised to sweeps in their three matches.