There was a small group of fans rooting for the out-of-town team of Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst in Sunday’s men’s final against local beach volleyball players Will Rottman and Ford Harman at the AVP Next-Santa Barbara Open.
Those fans were all in smiles at the end of the day as their guys from Colorado and Texas won the championship with a 21-18, 21-13 victory at East Beach.
“That’s my family from Ojai, my uncles and aunties and cousins,” said a smiling Basey, of Lyons, Colo., of the cheering section. “Yeah, we import our fans anywhere we go… bring them with us.”
In Sunday’s women’s final, the top-seeded team of Geena Urango and Mariah Whalen put on a dominating performance in sweeping Maya Gessner/Kate Reilly, 21-8, 21-17. Urango/Whalen lost only one set in five matches over the weekend; they swept all three playoff matches.
The winning teams split $5,000 and each of the four players received a Rad Power electric bike and gift certificates.
Partner familiarity was a key in Basey and Hurst’s title win. They used jump sets to neutralize Rottman’s blocking and attacked from different areas at the net. On defense, they put up an impressive block, dug big hits and converted those plays into points.
“I’d say that’s the key to us beating any team,” said Basey of the jump-set play and defense. “We’re not a very good up-and-down team as we found out. It’s like going into your first main draw and getting blocked by Phil (Dalhausser) 16 times. You go, ‘It doesn’t work, I’m not very good at that.’ So, (hitting off the quick jump set) is the only way that I can get past the big block.
Hurst added: “It’s definitely integral to our success, but I think it’s also how we approach passing and setting that helps us a lot, even without the jump set because when we go and we mess up, it’s just a good pass now instead of a great pass and that really makes sense: the secret’s always passing, people. If you pass, you win.”
The fluidity and consistency of their play frustrated Harman/Rottman. The local team never got the lead in the first set and only led 1-0 in the second.
“Their chemistry was good, said Harman. “We were both tired, but I think they’ve been playing together for like six years straight. They played almost errorless so that made it hard on us, even when we were siding out pretty well.”
Harman/Rottman were playing in their first tournament together. They got to the final by knocking off top-seeded Avery Drost/Diego Perez in the quarterfinals and Robert Kemp/Rouzbeh Rahnavard in the semifinals.
Sunday’s win was the second in Santa Barbara for Basey/Hurst. Back in 2022, when they were members of the USA Volleyball Under-19 Beach Team, they won the California Beach Volleyball Association Men’s Open and earned their “AAA” rating.
“It was his first CBVA (“AAA”) and also his last,” the 22-year-old Hurst, a native of Plano, Texas, joked about Basey, 21.
“I got my triple-A and we hadn’t played in one for four years, so now I’m back to an ‘A’. Any “A” players want to hire someone to get their double-A?” cracked Basey.
Hurst, who wears a fedora when he plays, said he and Basey have been playing together in tournaments “on and off for about five years. This year, we really tried to go after it. We probably played about a dozen events, a lot of volleyball for sure — I have to stand him for at least like five months. So, you know, that’s been an adjustment,” he joked. “That’s been an adjustment but otherwise it’s been really fun; had a lot of great moments, great plays, so, yeah, just happy to be out here… really nice beach.”
Urango and Whalen were firing on all cylinders in the women’s final. Whalen went off with two kills and a block during a 5-0 run to open up a 6-2 advantage in the first set.
A Urango dig and kill started a four-point run for a 14-5 lead, and the team stretched the advantage to 19-6 with another five unanswered points.
“We kind of had some good flow from our matches and we were taking care of business earlier. I think it just rolled over into the (first) set (of the finals),” said Whalen.
The flow of their game was impressive against the tournament’s second seed.
“We were just focusing on our side,” said Urango, who won her second AVP event this year. Her other win was in Denver in July with a different partner.
Urango and Whalen were coming off a second-place finish in a NORCECA tournament in Dominican Republic the week before Santa Barbara. In that tournament, Whalen said she struggled with her serve.
She was a terror from the service line on Sunday.
“I was so pissed at my serving,” she said. “I wasn’t nailing my serve, so I got out on the sand extra this week and put some extra effort into it. And it was pretty freaking awesome. It’s also pretty helpful to trust the defensive scheme as well, like knowing (Geena) she’s back there and she’s going to scoop a lot. It takes a lot of pressure off the serve being so precise.”
Gessner/Reilly picked up their game in the second set. Gessner served an ace for a 7-4 lead and Reilly had a kill for a 10-7 advantage.
But Urango/Whalen fought back. A tough serve by Whalen forced a passing error and Urango capitalized with a shot to tie the set at 10. The teams traded points before Urango/Whalen took the lead for good when Whalen swatted an overset for a 15-14 lead. A Urango cut shot ended a long rally and Whalen scored the next points on an ace and a kill following a terrific diving save by Urango to make it 18-14.
Gessner/Reilly got as close as 19-17 before Urango/Whalen closed out the match.
The quick-as-a-cat Urango said she feels good about how she’s playing right now. It definitely showed at East Beach.
“I feel good and I’m playing great ball, so I just want to continue to ride on that as long as I can.”
Sunday Results
Women’s quarterfinals
Geena Urango/Mariah Whalen d. Megan Gebhard/Kate Lindstrom 2-0
Falyn Fonoimoana/Lindsey Sparks def. Belen Castillo/Izzy Martinez 2-0
Ella Connor/Erin Inskeep d. Anya Evans/Macy Jerger 2-1
Maya Gessner/Kate Reilly def. Samantha Parrish/ Delaney Peranich 2-0
Semifinals
Urango/Whalen d. Fonoimoana/Sparks 2-0
Gessner/Reilly def. Connor Inskeep 2-1
Final
Urango/Whalen d. Gessner/Reilly 2-0
Men’s Quarterfinals
Harman/Rottman d. Avery Drost/Diego Perez 2-0
Robert Kemp/Rouzbeh Rahnavard d. Kacey Losik/Leo Tuncer 2-0
Gage Basey/Thomas Hurst d.Djordje Klasnic/Earl Schultz 2-0
John Schwengel/Logan Webber d. Cash Adamsen/Dexter Campbell 2-1
Semifinals
Harman/Rottman d. Kemp Rahnavard 2-0
Basey/Hurst d. Schwengel/Webber 2-0
Final
Basey/Hurst d. Harman/Rottman 2-0