Winning a major tournament at Manhattan Beach is always a goal for a beach volleyball player, but winning twice in one year at the Mecca of the sport is something to cherish, especially for a pair of local athletes who grew up watching the greats of the game attempt to accomplish the feat.
After the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) cut its season short, Redondo Union High School alumni Sean Rosenthal and Aaron Wachtfogel joined forces to win the prestigious Manhattan Beach Open and returned to take the championship of the US Open of Beach Volleyball last weekend.
Playing on a larger court and under the rules of side-out scoring, fifth-seeded Rosenthal and Wachtfogel rebounded from an earlier loss to Matt Prosser (Hermosa Beach) and Josh Binstock to eliminate Sean Scott (Redondo Beach) and Nick Lucena before earning a rematch against Prosser and Binstock where the former Sea Hawks emerged victorious with a 15-12 win to capture the championship.
“It feels amazing to come back and play the way we played this afternoon,” Rosenthal said after the match. “This whole US Open has been a great time and it was a struggle all day, especially after the loss this morning, but this feels great.”   Â
In the Women’s Open Division, Brittany Hochevar, of Hermosa Beach, reunited with AVP partner Dianne DeNecochea to earn a fifth seed and completed an undefeated weekend picking up their first US Open title with a  dominating 15-6 win over the Florida-based team of Tara Kuk and Brooke Sweat in the final. Like the men’s championship, the contest was a rematch of the final of the winner’s bracket held earlier. ER
