Santa Barbara volleyball legend Todd Rogers continues to leave his mark at East Beach.
Rogers, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball, doesn’t play much at East Beach anymore, but his presence is still felt when the California Beach Volleyball Association’s Michelob Ultra Premier Tour Santa Barbara Open is held during the Semana Nautica Summer Sports Festival.
Rogers was an East Beach regular while growing up and trained on the renowned courts before playing in two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He has been a successful women’s beach volleyball coach at Cal Poly for the past 10 years, guiding the Mustangs to six NCAA Tournament appearances and two final fours.
His players have been regular participants in the Santa Barbara Open and have done well. One half of last year’s championship duo was Erin Inskeep of Cal Poly while another Mustang, Santa Barbara’s Emma Zuffelato, finished third.
This year’s top-seeded pair of Elise Lenahan and Logan Walter play for Rogers, as do third seed Zuffelato and partner Faith Bartlett. Fourth seed Lindsey Sparks/Torrey Van Winden are former Cal Poly players. Van Winden has twice won the Santa Barbara Open with her cousin Katie Spieler of Santa Barbara.
The Santa Barbara Open for women and men’s teams will be played Sunday at courts set up in front of the famed East Beach Bath House. Pool play begins at 9 a.m. for the 18 teams in each gender, followed by knockout rounds. The finals are expected at around 3 p.m.
The top-seeded team in the men’s draw is Timothy Pohlmann/Rowan Henderson. They come to East Beach after placing ninth, fifth and second in their last three open division tournaments.
The tournament seedings are determined by CBVA adult ratings and points.
Defending champions Kyle Baily/Cole Aidnik return as the No. 2 seed. Baily has four top-five finishes this season in opens, including a second place at Ocean Beach in San Diego. He and Aidnik finished fifth at North Beach in Santa Monica last month.
The local team of Dylan Foreman/Troy Fitzgerald is back together to play on home sand. They were runners-up last summer. Foreman has placed fifth in his last three opens with different partners. Fitzgerald won a High Line Open in May.
Another local team to watch is the San Marcos High senior duo of Matteo Burdick and Keanu Nguyen. The fifth seeds earned their “AAA” rating last September. They’ve played together in four opens this summer and have a third and two fifths as their best finishes.
Other local teams that could challenge for the title are Ric Cervantes/Jonah Seif and Kirill Rudenko/Jordon Dyer. Cervantes/Seif have a partnership going back to 2021. They’ve finished second (2021) and third (2022) in this tournament. Cervantes won it in 2023 with Will Rottman. Rudenko/Dyer have played in several tournaments over the last five years. They won a CBVA Open at Dockweiler Beach in L.A. last year.
The local representation also includes: Andrew Nielsen/Nate Rogers (Todd’s son), Jack Wilson/Mykolas Petratis, Nate Holmes/Shane Hauschild, Luke Walker/Ethan Dickson and Mike Stewart/Blaine Nielsen.
The women’s top seed of Lenahan/Walter won a Premier Tour event last year at San Diego’s Ocean Beach, and Walter took first place with another partner at an open in Santa Monica two weeks ago.
The No. 2 seed is UCLA-bound Cora Loomer of San Marcos and Mallory LaBreche, a freshman on this year’s NCAA championship team at UCLA. Loomer took second at a CBVA Open in Manhattan Beach two weeks ago, and LaBreche has a win from a Manhattan Beach event earlier.
Former SBCC beach volleyball standouts Melissa Lemoine and Olivia Medina are seeded sixth. Lemoine won the tournament in 2022 with Taylor Racich. Medina is coming off winning an AVCA Small College National Championship with the Irvine-Concordia team.
Pepperdine-bound Wynter Thorne-Thomsen and current Pepperdine player Sonia Mancuso are the No. 7 seed. They’re former Bishop Diego teammates.
Other local teams include Patti Cook/Morgan Gatzlaff, Lola Heckman/Kiley Bowman, Josie Gamberdella/Victoria Henkel and Anastasia Kunz/Adlee Van Winden.
