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Sports

Inspired Play at the MB Open

Saves, digs, dives please the crowd and propel teams into winner's bracket play today on the sand south of the pier.

Aaron Wachtfogel and Bill Strickland barely had time to warm up for their first match Friday at the Manhattan Beach Open-Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series. Running late from their full-time jobs, the duo lost their first game before beating Ben Diggins and Nate Hagstrom, 15-21, 21-14, 15-9, behind the inspired play of Wachtfogel.

Trailing, 11-10, in the second set Wachtfogel had to stretch out to make a dig on a hit from Diggins and then jumped up off the sand to smash the ball through for the tying point. Wachtfogel and Strickland, both Manhattan Beach residents, then went on to score the next six points to take command of the match.

“I think that we got the momentum from that point on in the match,” Wachtfogel said of the play. “We went on a nice little run [after that] and we also kind of got our legs under us after that point. It’s tough because both of us were stuck in traffic trying to get here from work and they had already played a match so they were still warm.”

Wachtfogel, who won Daily Breeze player of the year and All-CIF Division I in 1999 at Redondo Union High School before playing college at the University of Pacific, and Strickland (#5 seed) only had to play one match on Friday because of a first round bye and advance to play Saturday morning at 9 in the winner’s bracket against Evan Engle and Stafford Slick (#12 seed).

“You know that whoever you play, it’s going to be tough,” Wachtfogel, who had his best year professionally last year capped by winning the 2010 Open, said of chances of winning the Manhattan Beach Open this year. “We’ve only been able to get in about two to three hours a week of practice compared to living at the beach all day last year, so it’s going to be a tough road.”

In one of the most exciting matches of the day, Will Montgomery, who recently won the California Beach Volleyball Association Manhattan Beach Men’s Open, and his new partner Avery Drost (#20 seed) took on Manhattan Beach resident Joey Dykstra and his partner Andy McGuire (#13 seed), winning in three grueling games, 21-17, 19-21, 22-20.

Dykstra, who was a 2005 All-CIF Division I volleyball player at Redondo Union before moving on to play at USC, could not believe what had happened as he stared confused at the big board afterward. Serving with a 13-9 third game advantage, Dykstra and McGuire thought they had it wrapped up.

“I thought when we got to 13, that we had them,” Dykstra said of being ahead late in the third game. “Things just started to go wrong for us after that. It was terrible to watch and not be able to do anything about it.”

Montgomery saved a ball from his partner that ended up by the barrier and then came back to dig a ball on the other side of the court to finish the rally and earn the point. The shift in momentum was clear as they scored the next four points and then outlasted Dykstra and McGuire to earn the win.

“It was a thrilling match,” Montgomery said. “It looked like we were out of it a few times. They played a terrific match. I know those guys because we have some of the same coaches and have played a lot against them. We just happened to get the win.”

If Friday was any indication [there were 10 first- or second-round men’s matches that went all three games], then Saturday should be a scorcher both in temperature and play.

Despite the close matches, the tournament bracket seeding pretty much held true for the first eight seeds on both the men’s and women’s side as all advanced in winner’s bracket play.

The men’s winner’s bracket play begins Saturday at 9 a.m. and has some intriguing matches, including #9 Ryan Mariano/Ed Ratledge v. #8 Russ Marchewka/Eyal Zimet (with the winner possibly facing #1 Sean Scott/John Hyden); #7 Billy Allen/Brad Keenan v. #10 Pedro Brazao/Kevin Mccolloch (with the winner possibly facing #2 Jesse Rambis/Kevin Wong), and #6 Adam Roberts/Brady Halverson v. #11 Matt Olson/Jeff Nygaard (winner possibly faces #3 Matt Prosser/John Mayer).

The women’s winner's bracket play begins at 11 am and will be finished by 7 p.m. Saturday.

An intriguing match occurred Friday on the women’s side in the second round between Jess Gysin of Manhattan Beach and new partner Angela Lewis (#11 seed) who went up against Erin Gray, Gysin's old partner, with whom she had just won the CBVA Manhattan Beach Women’s Open tournament two weeks ago, and Kathyrn Babcock (# 5 seed), losing in three games.

“It was a good game,” Gysin said of the road they must take through the loser’s bracket. “We'll be back. We played hard but made some mistakes and I think if we correct those, we can play a lot better.”

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