by Paul Teetor
When it comes to dominating a sibling rivalry, winning nine out of 10 ain’t bad.
For the math challenged, that’s 90 percent.
It’s also the number of times pro volleyball player Trevor Crabb has beaten his brother Taylor lately – winning nine out of the last 10 matches between the brothers.
The latest win came Sunday afternoon, when Trevor Crabb and his partner Theo Brunner beat Taylor Crabb and his partner, Taylor Sander, in the finals of the AVP Hermosa Beach Men’s Pro Open.
The hard-fought match extended into a third set in front of a packed house, but Crabb and Brunner eventually prevailed two sets to one. Set scores were 19-21, 21-13 and 15-10.
After barely taking the first set by two points, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander slowly faded in the hot sun beating down on the center court. No matter how much water they drank during the timeouts, it never seemed to be enough to match the energy coming from the other side of the net.
As the match wore on Trevor Crabb and Brunner started to dominate the hand-to-hand combat at the net. Trevor Crabb converted 20 kills on 30 attack opportunities, while Brunner recorded a game-high eight blocks while also having 13 kills.
For Brunner, this was his third Hermosa Beach Open championship while Trevor Crabb won his very first. Trevor Crabb is now 13-10 all time in matches against his brother — winning the last five straight — and holds a 2-1 lead in championship matches involving the two Long Beach State products.
Trevor Crabb said he welcomed the extra pressure put on him by the sibling rivalry.
“It’s always an extra tough battle playing against Taylor, and then when you add the finals on top of that, it’s even more pressure,” Trevor Crabb said. “I’m sure Taylor is pretty bummed right now, but there are more tournaments to come for him.”
The finals matchup Sunday afternoon was a repeat of their quarterfinal battle Saturday afternoon. Trevor Crabb and Brunner prevailed in that match too, winning two sets to one (17-21, 21-15, 15-11) to advance to the semifinals. There they beat Billy Allen and Alison Cerutti 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) to advance to the finals.
That semifinal match drew the interest of a lot of locals because Allen and Cerutti had just knocked off the team with the biggest local rooting section, former Mira Costa boys coach Avery Drost and Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser.
Drost and Dalhausser lost in the first round Friday – one set went to 30-28 before it was decided – and then immediately fell into the contenders bracket. Once there, they needed to win four matches over the next two days to make it back to the semifinals.
They won three of those matches, pulling out a three-setter late Saturday afternoon in which the 6-foot-8 Dalhausser thrilled the crowd with several high-voltage spikes. One fan even showed up with a trumpet, and all through the match he alternated playing the “Charge” theme and the catchy coda to “Tequila” every time Dalhausser had a kill shot or a monster block.
Dalhausser said he originally planned to float through the summer, playing with a different partner each week. But when Drost – newly retired from the responsibilities of coaching the Mustang boys team – was able to come up with a couple of major sponsors Dalhausser agreed to partner with Drost for the summer.
In Saturday’s three-set win, Drost admitted he struggled to match the Olympic skill level Dalhausser brings to every match.
“I just couldn’t seem to get my timing down,” Drost said moments after the match. “But Phil really turned it on late in the third set and took us home.”
Drost also revealed that Greg Snyder, his top assistant over his six-year run as Mustang head coach, has just been named the new Mira Costa head coach.
“He’s a good man and a good coach,” Drost said. “He’ll do a great job. The school and the kids are lucky to have him.”
For his part, Dalhausser said that while he enjoys playing events like the Hermosa Open, most of his focus is on his volleyball academy in Florida.
“Indoor volleyball is big in Florida, but we’re slowly converting them to beach volleyball,” he said. “It’s tough but we’re making progress.”
And while he will continue to play as many AVP events as he can fit into his crowded schedule, Dalhausser said he is done playing international events like the Paris Olympics next summer.
“I look at beach volleyball as a business proposition,” he said. “It’s not worth it to me to spend all that money on travel and lodging for a return of pennies on the dollar.”
No matter who won the women’s final, there was going to be a new champion. Both teams going into the final — the sixth seeded duo of Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn-Murphy, and the 13th seeded team of Megan Rice and Savannah Simo – had never won at Hermosa and indeed had never won at the highest AVP tour level.
Quiggle and Schermerhorn-Murphy came out smoking and charged to a 9-1 lead in the first set, converting every kill opportunity and coming up with several monster blocks to prevent their opponents from scoring.
By the time Rice and Simo got their mojo working, it was too little, too late and they fell by set scores of 21-15 and 21-16.
Schermerhorn-Murphy was the dominant player in this match. She recorded 14 kills on 29 attack opportunities along with 5 digs and 6 blocks. Quiggle added 9 kills and 13 digs.
Afterwards the two first-time champs could barely contain their excitement.
“We’ve been working really hard as a team. We had a great year last year, and we’re finding our momentum this year,” Quiggle said. “To be able to come into this tournament and win it feels amazing. It’s something really special that we get to share together forever.”
They said their next big challenge will be back in the Beach Cities when they compete in the Manhattan Beach Open starting on August 18.
One major reason the women’s side of the tournament was so wide-open was the conspicuous absence of the Olympic Gold Medal winning A-Team of Alix Klineman and April Ross.
Klineman, who was swamped by fans seeking selfies and autographs at a sponsor’s booth Saturday afternoon, revealed to the Easy Reader that she and Ross are both taking extended maternity leaves.
“I just had a baby a month ago,” Klineman said. “And April is due next month.”
The two champions had long talked of duplicating their Tokyo Olympics win with another one at the Paris Olympics next summer. Asked if that was still their long-range plan, she replied: “It’s still in the picture. We’re not ruling it in or out. The plan is to wait and see if we feel ready to take on that challenge once again.”
Here’s hoping they feel ready for the challenge next year. There is no bigger brand name in beach volleyball than the A-Team, and another Olympic run to a gold medal would put them up there with the all-time greats.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. Follow: @paulteetor. ER
