Ex-Sailor rallies for AVP win

ARLINGTON, Texas — Former Newport Harbor High standout Misty May-Treanor and her partner, Kerri Walsh, rallied to defeat Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, 17-21, 21-14, 15-13, to win their second straight Assn. of Volleyball Professionals beach tournament Sunday at The Ballpark in Arlington.

Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb, playing with Sean Rosenthal, lost in the men’s final of the Dallas Open to top-seeded Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers.

Matt Fuerbringer, an Estancia High product, teamed with Casey Jennings to share third place in the men’s event, while Newport Harbor High product April Ross, playing with partner, Jen Boss, was third in the women’s event.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the top seed, beat Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 17-21, 21-19, 15-6, in a 51-minute semifinal.

The women’s title match lasted one hour, four minutes, as May-Treanor and Walsh earned the $20,000 victor’s purse, which they will split.

Ross-Boss split $9,500 for sharing third place, while former UC Irvine standout Whitney Pavlik, the No. 19 seed along with partner Jennifer Snyder, was 17th to split $800.

Dalhauser and Rogers, who won the tour-opening event last week in Miami, dropped the first game to Gibb and Rosenthal, 21-16, before winning the second game by an identical score and prevailing, 15-12, in the deciding game.

Gibb and Rosenthal split the $15,000 runner-up prize.

Fuerbringer and Jennings, who lost to Gibb and Rosenthal, 21-19, 21-19, in the semis, split $9,500.

Ty Tramblie, a Newport Harbor graduate, teamed with Mike Morrison to finish tied for 13th in the men’s event. Tramblie and Morrison, the No. 20 seed, split $1,700.

Next up, the Huntington Beach Open, scheduled May 2-4.

— From staff reports