LONG BEACH OPEN:Marchewka alive in main

LONG BEACH — As he and his partner Russ Marchewka were warming up for their last match Thursday, a yellow-and-white Wilson volleyball was making a beeline towards Eyal Zimet’s bottom.

Thunk!

Zimlet turned around to face his opponent, Justin Phipps, sporting a boyish grin.

As it turned out, the thunk may have helped toss Zimet and Marchewka into today’s main draw of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ Long Beach Open.

Out of the seven teams featuring players from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, only one made it through the three rounds in the qualifier to today’s main draw.

Marchewka, a former volleyball player at UC Irvine, and Zimet, who is from Honolulu, defeated Billy Chenowith and Phipps 21-18, 17-21, 15-8 in their final match Thursday to advance to the main draw.

Only eight advance from the field of 64 teams, something Marchewka has managed to do five times in his first full season on the AVP tour. The busy day starts today, when spectators can see the top seeds, including Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger, and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, compete starting at 9 a.m.

Since he graduated in 2005, Marchewka has split time between the tour and his day job as a real estate investor.

While most have been decrying the soft housing market and downturn in prices of late, the lower values have been a boon to Marchewka and his company.

“We’re working on buying as much as possible,” the Costa Mesa resident said after his last match.

But Marchewka likes gaining experience and being able to watch the players he admires, such as Mike Lambert, another Costa Mesan, whose style he tries to emulate.

Mistakes in the real estate game can cost thousands of dollars, Marchewka said. Beach volleyball isn’t nearly as risky.

“It’s hard to consistently qualify for the main draw every week because there are so many good teams,” he said.

But luck was with Marchewka and Zimet in their last match.

Chenowith and Phipps were visibly peeved about several calls during the first game, so much so that they drew two yellow cards, in the game, and three for the entire match.

Chenowith was called twice for doubles, which Phipps argued were perfectly decent sets.

“When they start getting frustrated like that, you’ve got to let them fall apart themselves,” Marchewka said. “You’ve got to focus on yourself and just let it happen.”

Marchewka said that as the season has gone on, officiating has gotten to the point where players have to challenge a call just to keep referees on their toes, and make them rethink their calls every once in a while.

It helps, he said, to play a full season, and get to know the officials.

“You know how they’re going to call your games, and they get to know your style,” Marchewka said.

Michael Rupp of Corona del Mar and Feranando Sabla were not as fortunate.

They lost 19-21, 21-16, 13-15 in the third round of qualifiers, but they shrugged their shoulders. Long Beach is only the second AVP event the two have played together.

Had they advanced to the main draw, they would have won at least $150 in prize money, but Sabla said, laughing, “we would have spent it at the bar the same day anyway.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.