Old school Hermosa Open establishes new volleyball tradition
By Kevin Cody
Hermosa Beach Mayor Pro Tem Michael Keegan with Wedbush Hermosa Open podium finishers (left to right) Miles Partain and Jacob LaBouliere (second), Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb (first place), Miles Partain and Jacob LaBouliere (third place).
Wedbush Hermosa Open founder Mark Paaluhi with winners Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb.
Wedbush brothers Gary and Eric with winners Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb.
Megan Kraft blasts her way to her first professional volleyball tournament win.
Megan Kraft has opponents Savvy Cory and Devon Newberry scrambling for position in the finals of the annual Wedbush Hermosa Beach Open Sunday, August 13
6-foot Taylor Krabb puts his 41-inch vertical jump to use against 6-foot-7 Chase Budinger in the semi finals.
Kelly Cheng send the ball straight town in the finals.
Trevor Crabb unloads against brother Taylor Crabb in the semi finals.
Jacob LaBouliere is consoled by Taylor Crabb, after having to forfeit the finals due to an ankle injury.
Hermosa Councilmember Dean Francois with Hermosa Open winners Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb.
Hermosa Beach Open podium finishers (left to right) Savvy Cory and Devon Newberry (second place), Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft (first place) and S Megan Rice and Reka Orsi Toth (third place).
by Kevin Cody
The Wedbush Hermosa Beach Open began in 2024 as an effort to bring professional beach volleyball back to its roots with side-out instead of rally scoring, and courtside seating in the sand instead of stadium seating.
The tournament was founded by former AVP player Mark Paaluhi following the AVP’s pivot from the beach to indoor sand courts. Paaluhi saw cutting the sport off from its beach culture as a form of slow suicide.
Last weekend, after just three years, the Hermosa Open has reestablished Hermosa as having one of beach volleyball’s most prestigious tournaments when 32 men’s and 32 women’s teams competed for $150,000 in prize money.
The women’s finals saw Megan Kraft claim her first professional title since her breakout rookie season three years ago. Her partner was Paris 2024 Olympian Kelly Cheng, who has now won the Hermosa Open three times with three different partners. Kraft and Cheng finished second last month in the AVP Manhattan Open to Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz, who have won the Manhattan Open the past three years.
Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, winners of the Hermosa Open men’s division, also won last month’s Manhattan Open men’s division.
In the finals they faced Miles Partain and Jacob LaBouliere, who had beaten them earlier, pushing them into the contenders bracket.
But the men’s final outcome was determined after just a few serves when LaBouliere and Benesh jousted at the net and LaBouliere landed awkwardly on Benesh’s ankle, leaving LaBouliere unable to continue playing.
For more results visit Hermosa-Open.com. ER
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