Local pair can’t repeat

BY TONY LEE

HERMOSA BEACH — Fatigue might’ve been a factor for the local duo of Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ Hermosa Beach Open Sunday, but these two wouldn’t admit to it.

“No,” was the one-word answer Rosenthal gave when asked about fatigue of playing in a tournament-high seven matches at Hermosa Beach, including a 66-minute battle between Estancia High product Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings at the end of Saturday.

However, their coach Mike Dodd, who also guided the women’s winning duo of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs this week, said fatigue was a factor as the No. 3-seeded Rosenthal and Gibb lost to John Hyden and Sean Scott, seeded second, in the semifinals Sunday, 23-21, 21-14.

For reaching the semifinals, Rosenthal and Gibb split $14,200.

“You know, we’ve played in some long, hard matches through the tournament and I think not winning that first game really kind of knocked the wind out of our sails,” Dodd said.

In that first game, Rosenthal, a Corona del Mar resident, and Gibb of Costa Mesa came back from a 13-9 deficit to serve for match point at 18-20.

But Scott, who had eight blocks in the game with nine kills and four digs, made some critical blocks in the two sets to stop the local duo from a back-to-back AVP title bid.

“They’re obviously tired because they lost early yesterday and had to play a bunch of games,” Scott said. “Sometimes you lose early, you got to battle and we were fortunate to stay in the winner’s bracket. Still, they battled. They made us play our A-game to try and beat them.”

When asked if Scott was just timing the jumps well Sunday, Rosenthal, who had a tournament-high 90 digs, 103 kills and four blocks at Hermosa Beach, said, “He got lucky.”

But Dodd said Scott’s success had nothing to do with luck.

“If you watch Sean Scott play, you know it’s not lucky,” Dodd said. “I think inch-for-inch, he’s the best blocker out here. His eye work and his hand work are flawless at the net ... I think he’s maybe the best blocker. He may not be the most intimidating but by far one of the best.”

Game Two showed Rosenthal and Gibb’s first sign of fatigue as the local duo started out trailing 8-2.

But Rosenthal and Gibb, who had 105 kills, 32 digs and 30 blocks this weekend, made a four-straight point charge to cut the deficit by four to 12-8 and another run to get within three at 16-13, but scored only one more point to lose, 21-14.

“We made runs, but then we gave up bigger runs,” Rosenthal said. “It’s got to be consistent siding out and we weren’t doing that today.”

Rosenthal, a Redondo Beach native, added the support from fans and his fan club, Rosie’s Raiders, helped them throughout the event.

“Felt like an old-school tournament, how the AVP started and it should be,” he said.

Dodd said that Rosenthal and Gibb will take couple days off, maybe play golf Tuesday at Goose Creek Golf Club in Mira Loma and have a hard practice on Wednesday to prepare for their next AVP event in San Francisco.

“They’re golf fanatics,” Dodd said. “Gibb is a scratch golfer and Rosenthal is a five or a six handicap.”

The men’s Hermosa Beach champions were 2008 Olympic gold medalists and the No. 1 seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers. They beat Hyden and Scott 18-21, 21-15, 15-9 in a 63-minute match.

Gibb and Rosenthal defeated Matt Olson and Kevin Wong, 21-16, 21-15, to reach the semifinals.

Ty Loomis, a Corona del Mar resident, and Casey Patterson, the No. 8 seeds, lost in the contender’s bracket finals and failed to reach the semifinals.

Brad Keenan and Nick Lucena beat them, 19-21, 21-15, 15-9.

Loomis and Patterson split $6,240.