Gibb, Lambert come up short

MANHATTAN BEACH — The Manhattan Beach Open, the last Southern California stop of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, has been called many things.

It has been called the Super Bowl of pro beach volleyball, the Wimbledon of the sand, the “Grand-daddy of them all.”

Before the men’s final on Sunday, the announcer pumped up the crowd.

“It’s the men’s final; it’s a Sunday at the Manhattan Open,” he said. “There’s nowhere you’d rather be.”

Definitely true for Costa Mesa residents Jake Gibb and Mike Lambert. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t competing in that final.

No. 2-seeded Gibb and partner Sean Rosenthal were the only one of the top-four seeded teams not to lose on Saturday, advancing to the semifinals. But, on Sunday, they fell there to No. 3-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, 26-24, 21-12.

Lambert and partner Stein Metzger, meanwhile, lost in a sixth-round challenger’s bracket match to No. 6-seeded Anthony Medel and Fred Souza, 21-13, 21-19, 15-7.

Gibb and Rosenthal, who won their two AVP titles this year in Tampa and Atlanta in June, had the lead for most of the first game against Dalhausser and Rogers but couldn’t seal the deal. It was the second straight AVP event, and sixth this year, in which Gibb and Rosenthal finished the tournament with a loss to Dalhausser and Rogers. The previous five were in tournament finals.

Gibb and Rosenthal finished tied for third at Manhattan Beach and split $13,300.

Lambert and partner Stein Metzger, the 2006 AVP Team of the Year, came into the tournament as the No. 2-ranked team according to the AVP Crocs Cup standings. However, they were the top-seeded team in Manhattan Beach after winning three of their previous four AVP tournaments in Charleston, S.C., Seaside Heights, N.J., and last weekend in Chicago.

After a single loss on Saturday, they had a match Sunday morning to advance to the semifinals. But they couldn’t get it done against the hot Medel and Souza, who also had topped Dalhausser and Rogers earlier in the tournament.

Lambert and Metzger finish tied for fifth and split $8,500.

A tough pill to swallow for “Lambo,” who won the Manhattan Beach Open in 2004 with partner Karch Kiraly, the last of the volleyball legend’s eight titles in Manhattan Beach. Lambert and Metzger also finished as Manhattan Beach runners-up last year.

Another native Hawaiian besides Lambert would be in the final this year — Sean Scott, who was teamed with Estancia High product Matt Fuerbringer at the beginning of the year before Fuerbringer reunited with Casey Jennings.

But Scott and partner Dax Holdren, the No. 8-seeded team, fell to defending champion Dalhausser and Rogers, 20-22, 21-16, 15-11, in front of a crowd that included the USC football team and Coach Pete Carroll.

Dalhausser and Rogers are the first men’s team to repeat at Manhattan Beach since Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes in 1993. They continue to lead the Crocs Cup standings, and have won seven AVP events this year.

The tour continues next weekend at the AVP Boston Open. It will be back in California for the season-ending Best of the Beach competition, which will be held in San Francisco from Sept. 14-16.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.