Santa Barbara High senior Ford Harman experienced a fantastic finish to his 2023 beach volleyball season.
Harman played with professional beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb at the 68th AVP Laguna Beach Open last weekend and took a fifth place in the longest running beach volleyball tournament in the world.
He was the only high school player in the men’s field of 36 teams. He has trained with Crabb in Hawaii.
Crabb was playing in the tournament two months after capturing the prestigious Manhattan Beach Open with Taylor Sander.
Playing in the main draw, Harman/Crabb beat Wyatt Harrison and Cash Adamsen in their first match at Laguna Beach, 21-12, 21-19. The pair then fell to Seain Cook and Cody Caldwell, 21-17, 21-19, on center court. Cook/Caldwell were third-place finishers at the AVP Chicago Open last month.
In an elimination match on Saturday, Harman/Crabb bounced back with a three-set win over Thomas Hurst and Gage Basey, 14-21, 21-19, 15-10, to gain a spot in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Harman/Crabb slugged it out with Caleb Kwekel and Jake Urrutia before falling, 21-16, 21-17.
The two losses they suffered in the tournament came against the eventual finalists. Cook/Caldwell defeated Kwekel/Urrutia for the title, 21-16, 23-21.
Before playing in the AVP event, Harman helped the Santa Barbara High boys beach volleyball team win the AAU Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League title. Earlier, he won the California Beach Volleyball Association Cal Cup 18U Division championship.
Ford, 18, plans to graduate from SBHS in December and has accepted a scholarship to play indoor volleyball at Long Beach State, according to his father, Brett Harman.
