Lindquists, Keenan break through

The winds of change blew through Muskegon, Mich., over the weekend.

For Huntington Beach sisters Katie and Tracy Lindquist, it was a good change.

The Lindquist sisters took advantage of windy conditions at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Muskegon Open to grab a third-place on the women’s side, their best finish of the year.

“It was ridiculously windy Friday,” Katie Lindquist said in a phone interview. “Everybody was like, ‘These are Lindquist sister conditions!’ It helped our serve. We still had ball control and it wasn’t too windy that it took away from our offense.”

The sisters, seeded No. 9, upset No. 5-seeded Jennifer Fopma and Brittany Hochevar, 21-12, 21-17, to move a match away from the semifinals. They then got a break when they got a forfeit win over No. 2 Rachel Wacholder and Kerri Walsh, before falling in the semis to No. 4 Priscilla Lima and Tatiana Minello, 22-20, 21-13.

“We’ve had trouble with [Fopma and Hochevar] this year,” Katie Lindquist said. “It was nice to finally win this one. They could have beat us and then got the forfeit, and we would have felt like it was a huge opportunity.

“We had a good weekend,” she added. “It feels great. We’ve had a pretty consistent year but we hadn’t made the semifinals.”

The Lindquists split $10,200. Huntington resident Saralyn Smith and partner Beth Van Fleet finished tied for 17th, splitting $960.

Brad Keenan, a Fountain Valley High grad, also had a season best on the men’s side. Keenan and partner Nick Lucena made it all the way to the finals before falling to top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, 22-20, 21-10. Keenan and Lucena, seeded fourth, split $18,000.

Surf City resident Casey Patterson and partner Ty Loomis tied for seventh, and Huntington’s Ed Ratledge and partner Ryan Mariano tied for ninth. So did Surf City’s Jeff Carlucci and partner Larry Witt.

The AVP Tour continues this weekend in Chicago. The top 16 men’s and women’s teams will then play in the AVP Tour Tournament of Champions, held Sept. 4-6 in Mason, Ohio.

Katie Lindquist said she and Tracy need to place well in the next two tournaments to qualify for the Best of the Beach Tournament that begins Sept. 17 in Las Vegas. That tournament takes the top 16 players from each side.