Volleyball players keep atmosphere light at Long Beach Open

The best players in the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals were keeping it light Sunday at the Long Beach Open, despite not knowing what would come next for their sport.

Before her championship match against No. 4-seeded Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis, No. 2-seeded Misty May-Treanor did a small pirouette with the help of her partner, Nicole Branagh. Adding to the dance move was May-Treanor’s bikini bottom, which was bright pink with a ruffled skirt.

May-Treanor and Branagh won the match, 21-16, 21-19, for their first title since they opened the season with a win at Fort Lauderdale on April 18.

“I’ll have to get more skirts,” May-Treanor said.

“In all colors,” added Branagh.

The players’ fun was shadowed by the AVP’s financial trouble, which could, in a worst-case scenario, make Long Beach the last tournament of the season. In a statement released Sunday, AVP Chief Executive Officer Jason Hodell said the AVP was “working diligently to secure capital from strategic investors.”

On Saturday, Hodell expressed optimism that the tour would continue. Nick Lewin, managing partner of RJSM, the majority owner of the AVP tour, was also positive in a statement released Sunday. “We see a bright future for the tour, and we will continue to support its future growth opportunities,” Lewin said. “We’re looking forward to the rest of a great season.”

Top-seeded men’s players Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser were enjoying themselves as well Sunday as they topped No. 2-seeded Sean Scott and John Hyden, 17-21, 21-17, 15-6, for their fifth straight AVP win. At times during the match, the 6-foot-10 Dalhausser had to play defense in the back of the court, while the 6-2 Rogers got one point off a block.

Rogers joked about making the switch permanent. “When I’m up there and he’s back there, I think we actually score more points because teams are like ‘What?’ ” he said. “They just freak out.”

Scott and Hyden took an early lead by winning the first game, but with the score tied, 5-5, in the third game, Rogers and Dalhausser took control by scoring nine straight points.

“A couple of good rallies, we got a couple of blocks, I got a couple of hits, and we transitioned well,” Rogers said. “They got frustrated and it showed. It became a snowball after a while.”

Both winning teams had to catch flights Sunday to their next destination, a World Tour event in Klagenfurt, Austria. However, neither second-place team has played internationally this season.

“We each have two kids; it’s too much traveling,” said Johnson Jordan, a 2000 Olympian who has not played abroad since 2004. “And we’d have to start from scratch. Country qualifying matches, it’s just too much. We’re all about the AVP.”

Scott, who last played overseas in 2008, said registration was already closed for this season’s international events.

If the AVP were to discontinue tournaments, it would leave these teams unable to compete. But Johnson Jordan said she and Davis are staying positive.

“We know that this is a great sport, you can see the crowd today, it’s popular, they love it, they love to watch it,” she said. “We’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback. We hope that we can keep things going, keep building the sport.”

laura.myers@latimes.com