Wacholder and Turner earn their first tour win

Finally, that first tour title.

Former Laguna Beach High athlete Rachel Wacholder and playing partner Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, FLA.) captured their first tournament title on the 2008 Crocs Tour by winning the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Crocs Slam San Diego on Sunday.

Wacholder and Turner, seeded fifth, defeated the No. 2 seeded team of Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 21-16, 19-21, 15-10, in the title match.

Wacholder is a 1993 graduate of Laguna Beach High.

Tied 4-4 in the third and deciding game, Turner/Wacholder went on a four-point run to get ahead for good.

It was the best finish of the season for the duo whose previous top finish was second at the Huntington Beach Open on May 3.

They also have a pair of third-place finishes on the current tour.

Sunday’s win also gave Turner her first AVP Crocs tour tournament finals victory.

“Woohoo! I’m going to Sea World!,” Turner exclaimed after the match.

“It feels great. Every victory gives you a lot of confidence. I think, for us, it was something we were missing. So to take a victory is wonderful.”

Turner/Wacholder had advanced to the title match after upsetting the tournament’s top seed, Jennifer Boss and April Ross, 21-18, 15-21, 15-12, in the semifinals Sunday.

The men’s final also needed three games to decide the winner.

The men’s tournament title was won by the No. 6-seeded team of Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings. The pair won their second straight AVP Crocs Slam San Diego title Sunday by rallying to defeat the No. 1-seeded team of Nick Lucena and Sean Scott, 19-21, 21-17, 15-11.

Missing from the AVP Crocs Slam San Diego was the top two women’s and men’s teams: the women’s teams of Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, Nicole Branagh/Elaine Youngs, and men’s teams of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, are in Beijing representing the USA in beach volleyball.

May-Treanor and Walsh won the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

“To have our top four teams en route to the Olympic Games and have such scintillating finals back here in San Diego is a great sign for our Tour,” Leonard Armato, AVP CEO and commissioner, said in a statement in regards to the two, three-game finals. “This type of parity is an exciting sign for not only now, but the future as well.”

The AVP Crocs Slam San Diego was the final tournament before a three-week break for the Olympic Games.

The tour has five more events following the Olympic Games, beginning with the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout in Cincinnati Aug. 29-31.

“” Mike Sciacca