Palisadians Compete in AVP’s Hermosa Beach Open
One of the AVP Tour’s premiere events took place last weekend at the Hermosa Beach Pier and several Palisadians were there to compete against some of the best beach volleyball players in the world.
Former UCLA standout Hagen Smith, son of beach volleyball legend Sinjin Smith, went 5-2 with his partner Travis Mewhirter, winning three qualifying matches before shocking brothers Riley and Maddison McKibbin 16-14 in the third set in the first round of the winenr’s bracket. After falling to eventual semifinalists Ed Ratledge and Roberto Rodriguez in the second round, the 23-year-old Smith and 27-year-old Mewhirter beat Michael Boag and Bobby Jacobs in the first round of the Contender’s bracket before falling in the second round to Troy Field of Mission Viejo and Chase Fishman of Laguna Niguel.
Smith has played in five AVP tournaments this summer, his best finish being ninth in San Francisco with partner Lucas Yoder.
Hagen’s younger brother Stanton paired with Santa Monica College teammate Rowdy Lennon for qualifying while brothers Charles (24) and Clark Porter (29) lost their first qualifying match to Kevin Gregan and Jason Raney in three sets. Charles Went to USC while Clark went to UC Berkeley.
Former Stanford All-American Steven Irvin, now 26, paired with Nathan Yang of Davis. They won their first two qualifying matches but couldn’t quite crack the main draw. At Stanford, Irvin was fifth in career kills, sixth in digs and aces and set the school single-match record with six aces. His older sister Kelly played volleyball at both Virginia and USC and his younger Christine starred at Marymount High.
Will Bantle, who led Loyola High to the Southern California Regional championship as a senior last year, reunited with fellow National Training Team member Rob Mullahey in a tough three-set loss in the first qualifying round.
Sunday’s championship was epic, as top-seeded John Hyden and Theo Brunner rallied to beat third-seeded Billy Allen and Ryan Doherty, 21-19, 16-21, 16-14.
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