Pavlik performs at Huntington

HUNTINGTON BEACH ““ With friends and family watching her every move over the weekend, it seemed like a good occasion for Whitney Pavlik to have one of her best tournaments of the year.

The Laguna Beach resident delivered at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Huntington Beach Open, tying her best result of the season as she tied for ninth place on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

Pavlik and partner Stacy Rouwenhorst were seeded 12th, but they delivered an upset Friday afternoon in the winner’s bracket by besting fifth-seeded Dianne DeNocochea and Carrie Dodd, 21-19, 22-24, 15-13.

“It was awesome,” Pavlik said. “We were so fired up. We were playing great defense, great offense. We were playing pretty consistently. Our first three matches, we were really happy with how we played. You’ve got to look at the positives of the tournament.”

The marathon match lasted over an hour and put Pavlik and Rouwenhorst two matches away from the semifinals. They almost won their next winner’s bracket match, too, but were outlasted Saturday morning by the fourth-seeded team of Brooke Hanson and Lisa Rutledge, 22-20, 18-21, 12-15.

From there, Pavlik and Rouwenhorst lost a contender’s bracket match to No. 7-seeded Barbra Fontana and Jenny Kropp, 21-16 and 21-17, ending their tournament. They split $3,960.

Pavlik, the former Mater Dei High and UC Irvine indoor standout, said she was hopeful the tournament could get her team out of a bit of a rut.

After winning AVP Rookie of the Year honors a year ago, Pavlik, 25, has had two tied for ninth results this year, including in Riverside in April.

But she’s also had a couple of 17th-place finishes this year. All last season, she had only three of those.

“You can’t play perfectly every time,” Pavlik said. “We needed to go back to practice and figure out how to play together, how we could help each other. That helped, and made us win [at Huntington Beach].”

Next up is the AVP Atlanta Open this weekend. The tour returns to Southern California for the Manhattan Beach Open, which begins July 16.