Laguna grad gets win

Mike Sciacca

If Rachel Wacholder has been referred to as a rising star by the

Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, then she continued her ascent

Sunday by shooting her way past two of the organization’s brightest

constellations.

Wacholder, a 1993 graduate of Laguna Beach High School, teamed

with Elaine Youngs, formerly of El Toro, to stun the world’s No.

1-ranked women’s team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, in a

dazzling sweep, 21-15, 21-16, in Sunday’s women’s final of the

Huntington Beach Open.

“I think this is the best we’ve played as a team,” said Wacholder,

30, who split the top prize of $28,000 with Youngs. “We were on, and

when my shots kept falling, I thought, ‘It’s my day.’”

It was the second win for Wacholder and Youngs, 35, over

May-Treanor, 28, and Walsh, 27, during the current AVP Nissan

Championship Series.

The two defeated the 2004 U.S. gold medal-wining team on July 2 at

the Cincinnati Open.

Wacholder and Youngs, playing as a team for the first time this

year, were the No. 2 seed at the Huntington Beach Open, behind

May-Treanor and Walsh.

Sunday’s win ended a streak of five consecutive tournament

victories for May-Treanor and Youngs.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Youngs said. “Rachel is super easy to

play with. She’s so athletic, and I have been searching for a partner

with her abilities. It’s been awesome playing together.”

Wacholder and Youngs played a near flawless match in sweeping

May-Treanor and Walsh.

Wacholder provided great defense and landed near-perfect rainbow

shots in the two games, while Youngs supplied the big plays and

energetic passion at the net.

By beating May-Treanor and Walsh for the third time this year --

the other victory came in July in Paris -- it’s safe to say that

Youngs and Wacholder have established a rivalry with the world’s top

female team.

“I think today we just put it all together,” Youngs said of

Sunday’s triumph. “Did we make a statement? I don’t know, but I do

know that we kind of are creating a rivalry here. I really do. We’re

going to push them.”

Wacholder and Youngs, who won Olympic bronze in 2004 with

then-partner Holly McPeak, squeezed past seventh-seeded Dianne

DeNocochea and Tammy Leibl in semifinal round action, 23-21, 24-22.

Wacholder had a match-best 21 kills and 14 blocks Sunday.

Walsh applauded the outstanding play of her opponent.

“They just played great and we were not in sync,” she said. “They

earned the win today.”

Wacholder and Youngs, who swept their first three tournament

opponents to advance to the quarterfinal round, were playing before

family and friends who had made the short trip to Surf City.

“It’s great to win here in Huntington,” said Wacholder, who noted

that it was her grandfather’s birthday Sunday. “It’s awesome to play

so well in our own backyard, and for family and friends to see us

play like this.”

On Saturday, Karch Kiraly of San Clemente re-teamed with Mike

Lambert for the first time in three months to win the men’s final

Saturday.

The two were partners for the first two Nissan Series opens,

before splitting and playing with other partners.

Kiraly and Lambert, seeded seventh in the tournament, came from

behind to down the sixth-seeded team of Sean Rosenthal and Larry

Witt, 15-21, 26-24, 17-15, in an incredible match marked with

fever-pitch intensity.

Both the men’s and women’s finals were played out before a packed

house at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, and both were

won by athletes who were either born or raised in Orange County, or

who currently reside here.

The finals were telecast by NBC.

Kiraly, 44, is the winningest player in beach volleyball history

with 148 victories, and he and Lambert, 31, became the sixth men’s

team to win a tournament title in the AVP Nissan Championship Series

this year.

Kiraly, the only three-time Olympic gold medalist, won the

Huntington Beach Open in 2003 with then-partner, Brent Doble.

“It never gets old; it only gets sweeter,” said Kiraly, of San

Clemente. “I cherish them even more because the field is so tough,

and it’s really hard to beat a good team twice in the same

tournament. And we beat Stein [Metzger] and [Jake] Gibb twice and

these guys [Rosenthal and Witt] twice.

“Rosy and Witt are great players, they’re like 24, like half my

age. There’s like eight teams out there that can win on any given

week.”

Kiraly had 124 kills in 16 games, which topped the men’s field. He

also had 76 digs.

Dain Blanton, a 1990 graduate of Laguna Beach High, and teammate

Kevin Wong of Honolulu, reached the sixth round of the contender’s

bracket, where the pair was eliminated from title contention by the

Rosenthal-Witt team, 23-21, 21-16.

In 15 tournament games, Blanton had 81 kills, which tied for

second-best among the men, and he was third in digs with 51.

Blanton and Wong split $7,000 for their fifth-place finish.