Kessy-Ross, Gibb-Rosenthal Queens and Kings of the Beach

 MIKE TAKEUCHI

Below are three stories I wrote while covering the AVP Championships over the weekend of September 7-9. 2012

Saturday's semifinal matches at the AVP Championships were filled with thrilling back-and-forth drama. One day later, Sunday's men's and women's finals at West Beach were more of a blueprint on what it takes to win a tournament championship.

The teams that won each final - April Ross and Jennifer Kessy in the women's match, and Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal for the men - followed those blueprints to perfection, earning themselves the titles of Kings and Queens of the Beach.

"Woo!" Kessy shouted after a 21-19, 21-16 victory over Kerri Walsh Jennings and Nicole Branagh. "This is amazing."

That display of emotion was certainly descriptive of the duo's play late in the first game. After Walsh Jennings nailed a hard-angle spike to tie the score at 17, Ross banged a kill, served up a jump-serve ace, and then tipped a deep shot on successive plays to make the score 20-17, causing the energetic stadium crowd of approximately 1,500 to rise to their feet in appreciation.

Walsh Jennings and Branagh cut the gap to one after each recorded a kill, but Ross, coming out of a time out, closed the set with yet another shot.

"We had to adjust a little bit because they changed their game," Kessy said. "Beach volleyball is a chessboard they change, we change, they change again ..."

Ross-Kessy scored the first three points of the second game on a pair of tip plays and another ace serve. But soon enough Walsh Jennings-Branagh rallied to catch their opponents and tie the score at 10-10.

"We could have been up 8-3 instead of it being 8-8 and 10-10," Kessy and Ross' coach Jeff Conover said. "But I was pleased they got it back pretty quickly."

A Kessy block and kill, and Ross' third ace of the second game gave them a 15-10 lead.

"It's part of our game plan to go out aggressive and not start on our heels," Ross said. "I think sometimes I'm back there and debating to go with my float and get it in or go for the jump serve. (Today) I wanted to serve tough number one regardless of where it went and (serve) towards (Branagh) a little bit. "

From then on, the London Olympics silver medalists held off the three-time gold medalist Walsh Jennings and her partner Branagh 21-16 to earn Kessy-Ross $47,500 for being undefeated tournament champions while leaving their opponents more than a little disappointed.

"It was gross," Walsh Jennings said. "Among a few things, we were outserved and we didn't serve very well. "

Despite the satisfying win, alas it wasn't a perfect day for Ross. Her husband, Brad Keenan, and his playing partner, John Mayer, had trouble solving Gibb and Rosenthal in a 21-16, 21-16, 21-17 loss in the men's final.

Using Gibb's play up front and Rosenthal's serving and defensive prowess, the London Olympic quarterfinalists controlled their match throughout.

"We lost to these guys pretty easily last week (at the Cincinnati Open), so (coach) Mike Dodd came up with a good plan to help us get back on track," Gibb said.

Dodd, who is a beach volleyball legend himself, had his two players move around on the service line and alternate between serving hard jump serves and soft floaters, keeping Keenan-Mayer off balance.

"We had a good tournament this week but just couldn't get it going today," Keenan said. "It was tough to lose in three, but thanks to the AVP I can take consolation that this wasn't a bad weekend financially for the Keenan-Ross family."

As most of the spectators had left shortly after the trophy presentation, Rosenthal's booster group "Rosie's Raiders" and several family members and friends stayed to get sprayed by champagne by the victors, who earned $42,500 of the $225,000 in total prize money for their success.

"It's been a long year for us and to finish it off as AVP champions is so sweet," Gibb said. "This is what we live for to win in front of the California home crowd!"

SEMIFINALS STORY 

It was an "Oh!" inspiring performance.  In a thrilling AVP Championships semifinal match  that  elicited numerous standing ovations and impromptu "Oh's" from the crowd, Sean Rosenthal and  Jake Gibb defeated top-seeded Sean Scott and John Hyden 19-21, 21-18 15-13 at West Beach to advance to today's 11:30 a.m. finals against Brad Keenan and John Mayer.

  "It's a big day we're competitors and to come out and beat the top team on the beach  after two battles with them today was run,"  Rosenthal said.  "I hope the fans enjoyed it I know we did."

  After splitting the first two games, both teams went back and forth in the third with neither team holding more than a two-point lead.  Down 13-12 Rosenthal banged a spike off the block to tie the score and then followed that up with an ace to take the lead.  After trading points, the teams engaged in an interminably long rally that prompted said "Oh's" until Gibb nailed a kill to send the crowd into a frenzy.

    "Today was just blind luck," Gibb joked.  "No, we won it because we wanted it.  We had to dig deep because that is such a good team over there, which makes it so sweet.

    Earlier in the day in their final pool match, the two teams did battle with Hyden-Scott coming out on top relegating Rosenthal-Gibb to a play-in match with locals Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser.  Rosenthal and Gibb, who reached the quarterfinals of the Olympics last month, defeated Rogers-Dalhausser 19-21, 21-18 and 15-13.

  In the other semi, Keenan-Mayer defeated Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena 21-18, 21-13.

   Earlier in the afternoon, the appreciative audience got what they wanted when three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner Nicole Branagh and  London silver medalists Jennifer Kessy and April Ross won their respective AVP Championships semifinal matches to set up a marquee final in the women's event.

   Walsh Jennings-Branagh swept through their match with Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat 21-15 and 21-19.

"Kerri and I've been playing over the years together and I think we've always communicated well,"  Branagh said. "We complement each other well and we're both physical and aggressive players that keep lifting the ball up for each other to give us the opportunity to score."

The women's match pits no. 2 seed against top-seeded Kessy-Ross who defeated fourth-seeded Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik 21-14 and 21-12  to move to today's 10 a.m. semifinal.

"We played well in our match today," Kessy said. "We had the same matchup in Cincinnati last week and both of us went undefeated then and this week. We like playing with the (new) Wilson ball, plus I think we are all playing good volleyball.  Jenny and Whitney have won a ton of tournaments and it proves that it's not a cakewalk, it's a tough, tough draw where we were fortunate to come out on top today."

  Former UCSB player Brooke Niles and her partner Tyra Taylor gave eventual semifinalist April Ross and Jen Kessy a tough time in pool play and Pavlik-Kropp in a playoff match by taking a game off of each, but were eliminated.

"I love playing here in front of family and friends and anytime you can play on a real beach in California is awesome,"  Niles said. 

FIRST DAY AVP CHAMPIONSHIPS

  While Walsh Jennings-Branagh swept through their matches relatively easily with wins over Morgan Beck and Priscilla Lima (21-19, 21-14) and a  21-12, 21-12 defeat of Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira,  so did  london silver medalists Kessy-Ross who took down Olava Paso and Kendra Van Zwieten (21-17, 21-17) and then Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar, the sister of Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar 21-16 and 21-14.
  "The AVP Championships  has the highest highest prize money of any domestic tournament for a reason-the high caliber of play," Ross said. "I'm just excited that they could give us this opportunity to play in a forum like this especially after the Olympics so Jen and I could build on this while building women's  beach volleyball in the process."
  While Walsh Jennings-Branagh will play 2-0 Christal Engle and Tealle Hunkus at 9 a.m., Kessy-Ross will be matched up with undefeated former UCSB player Brooke Niles and her partner Tyra Turner at the same time.  The undefeated top seeded domestic team of  Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik will face off against 2-0 Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat.