There were plenty of special moments on Sunday at the $60,000 AVP Santa Barbara Open beach volleyball tournament at East Beach:
—The team of Gage Basey/Thomas Hurst successfully defended their men’s title, beating Avery Drost/Ford Harman, 21-16, 21-15, to become the seventh partnership to win consecutive championships in a tournament that dates back to 1950. They’re the first team to do it since local Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser completed a three-peat (2006, ’08 and ’10).
—Ella Connor and Jessica Smith won their first AVP Santa Barbara Open women’s title by pulling off three consecutive comeback victories on Sunday. In the final, they rallied for a 16-21, 21-17, 15-13 victory over No. 2 seed Audrey Koenig/Alexis Durish.
—Westmont alum Avery Drost advanced to the men’s title match in his AVP Tour farewell. The 40-year-old retiring player and young partner Ford Harman, a Santa Barbara High alum, upset second-seed Will Rottman/Ryan Wilcox in a three-set semifinal before falling to Basey/Hurst.
In a speech to the crowd after the final, Drost expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the AVP and the players he played with and against in a career that started in 2009.
“I’ve waited for this moment for so long because I just wanted to finish well and I wanted to show everybody that I cared all the way to the end. I’m thankful for everything that everyone has done for me in the sport, and the friends along the way. And I want to honor the guys who played in this tournament. There were three guys on the court just now who are all under 23 years old and here I am, 40 years old. The future of the sport is so bright with wonderful guys like Gage, Thomas and Ford.”
Drost learned the game at East Beach.
Harman said he was honored to play with Drost in his final match on the tour.
“It was so cool. I felt like every game meant more because we knew it could be our last, so we just really put it all out there, everything we had. (Avery) is the most humble, nice guy to play with. It was such a fun time.”
Men’s Final
Drost/Harman were hanging with Basey/Hurst in the early part of the first set before Hurst went on a blocking rampage. He recorded four rejections on three plays that enabled his team to break open a one-point game and take a 13-9 lead. He delivered a kill and Drost/Harman committed a hitting error to make it 15-9.
Hurst finished with seven blocks in the first set and Basey added a couple, including one on the final point.
Hurst said he made it a point to improve on his blocking after nearly losing in the second round late Saturday against Riley Owen/Quin Zilch.
“Just coming out of the Owens-Zilch game, we did not do a great job of blocking and I take a lot of credit on that, on not being disciplined, not getting to spots.” He said he let physical exhaustion get in the way of finding the way to make the right block move.
“We came out today with a big focus that and ended up with a lot more blocks because, obviously, I was doing more of the right things.”
Basey was happy to see his partner dominate at the net.
“Thomas’ blocking…phenomenal,” he said. “I got more than I usually do. Usually I get zero and I got a couple, and that helps a lot.”
Drost started putting balls away and pulled his team to within one (11-10) in the second set. But Hurst stepped up again with a kill and a poke to the deep court to make it 13-10.
The lead expanded to 17-13 after Basey put a two-ball away. Basey/Hurst continued to play well down the stretch and lived up to their No. 1 seeding.
Hurst said it felt special to repeat as champion.
“It’s so hard to do. Teams talk about coming into a tournament with no expectations and then coming into a tournament with a target on our back. We’ve had some success this year, played some good teams, won good games, and now coming in as the one seed, everybody’s coming in firing harder, (there’s) less regret on mistakes; they’re not thinking about their side, they’re thinking about how we can take these guys down.”
Basey said was it was the first time they had been a No. 1 seed at a big event.
“Man, I did not want to be the one seed. I was like, ‘Everyone’s gonna be gunning for us.’”
After going unbeaten over two days, the only gunning they’ll be doing will be on the throttle of their new electric bikes, which were part of the first prize along with $10,000 to split.
Women’s Final
Connor/Smith overcame the scorching serves of Koenig and the siding out of Durish in the first set with solid, steady play the rest of the way.
Connor, who played for Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers at Cal Poly, said she focused on every single point rather than the outcome.
“That was a lot of what my mindset was,” she said. “Even at the end there, I was like, ‘Okay, be where are your feet are, be grounded.’ I think that was super helpful, and just communicating with Jesse and knowing that I trust her behind me. It’s awesome to have someone you really trust and you believe when they get a dig, they can also put the ball away.”
The second set was tight until Connor/Smith went on a 3-0 run to go up 17-14. Smith put away a back set and Connor followed with consecutive blocks, the second one coming on an on-2 play. Durish/Koenig cut the deficit to 19-17, but Smith sided out with a big kill for game point and a net violation gave them the win to tie the match a 1-1.
“I was really focusing on emptying the tank, especially on my block,” said Connor. “Some of the times I’ll like read and then I’ll try to do it. But this time I was like reading and going full all-in on every single play, and I think that was really helpful for me and it, honestly, opened up the game a lot.”
Connor/Smith were clutch again down the stretch in the 15-point third set. At 11-all, Connor hit through the block to give her team the lead for good. Smith scored the match winner on a nasty cut shot along the net.
Smith said being down 0-1 to start the final was no big deal.
“Our first two games of the day, we lost the first set, so we were in this place a lot today. We knew we could do it. We just communicated a lot, like what we wanted to change and stay where are feet were. I think we did a really good job of staying calm as well. We trusted ourselves and knew that we could do it.”
All-Local Men’s Semifinal
Rottman dominated at the net in the first, helping his team open up a 13-8 lead in the first set. He later blocked for consecutive points for a 17-10 advantage and finished the match with a kill for a 21-16 lead.
Rottman/Wilcox rode their momentum into the second set and led 6-1. But the tide suddenly turned. Drost/Harman started making plays and ran off five straight points to tie the score. They continued to put pressure on Rottman/Wilcox and took a 20-16 lead. After a wideout, Drost finished with a kill to send the match to a deciding third set.
At 9-9, Harman scored off a block to give his team the lead for good. Rottman/Wilcox got to within one (13-12), but Harman sided out and he and Drost won the match on a hitting error.
“The first set I feel like we didn’t even get to warm up. We had to walk straight on the court from our last game, so we were like super warm,” said Harman, who was tournament runner-up last year with Rottman. “We just had to get out there. So the first set was kind of iffy. But once we started proving ourselves, I feel like no one can stop us. It was crazy.”
Harman said playing with Drost was a full-circle moment for him.
“I’ve been telling everyone that the first big volleyball clinic I went to Avery Drost and Chase Frishman were running it, and I still remember it. I remember looking up to them and be like: ‘Oh my gosh, they’re AVP players.’ It’s so surreal to be able to play my last tournament of the year with him. It’s a whole full-circle moment.”
