It was a day of celebrating for Santa Barbara beach volleyball players in the qualifying event for the prestigious AVP Manhattan Open on Thursday as three teams earned spots in Friday’s main draw.
On the women’s side, former Dos Pueblos High teammates Katie Spieler and Carly Wopat reunited and won two tense matches to make the 32-team field. They pulled out both matches in three sets.
They first defeated Tessa Van Winkle/Rileigh Powers, 21-14, 18-21, 15-9 and then outlasted Savannah Standage/Isabella Martinez, 21-15, 18-21, 15-12, to advance.
Spieler/Wopat will face Sarah Pavan/Mackenzie Ponnet in the first round on Friday morning.
In the men’s qualifier, brothers Shane and Ric Cervantes booked spots in the main draw with their respective partners. Shane combined with Will Rottman of Santa Barbara and won three matches. They edged out John Schwengel/Devon Burki in three sets in the final match, 20-22, 23-21, 15-13. They also defeated the teams of Meska/Losik and Carlson/Parker.
Shane Cervantes and Rottman will play Chase Budinger/Troy Field in the first round.
Ric Cervantes and 6-foot-9 partner Jonah Seif also won three matches and defeated Perez/Hoppe in straight sets for the main-draw berth. Their other wins came over Diaz/Jurko and McColl/Gabriel.
They’ll open against Paul Lottman and Miles Partain on Friday morning. Seif played at UCSB.
