Kiraly and Doble team to win Huntington Beach Open

Three-time Olympic Gold medalist Karch Kiraly of San Clemente and

partner Brent Doble of Dana Point captured the Assn. Of Volleyball

Professionals Nissan Series Huntington Beach Open men’s title with a

21-16, 21-16 victory over Todd Rogers (Solvang) and Sean Scott (Los

Angeles) Sunday at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

In the women’s final played Saturday, the top-seeded team of Misty

May (Long Beach) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga) defeated No. 2 seed Holly

McPeak (Manhattan Beach) and Elaine Youngs (Durango, Colorado),

22-24, 21-17, 15-7.

The men’s tournament, which featured 16 first-round matches,

included Laguna Beach’s Dain Blanton.

Blanton and partner Jeff Nygaard (Los Angeles), seeded seventh,

won their first-round match over the No. 26-seeded team of Dan Fisher

(Goleta) and Chris Guigliano (Santa Barbara), 22-20, 19-21, 15-10.

In the round of 16, however, Blanton and Nygaard were eliminated

from title contention as they suffered a tough, 17-21, 21-14, 15-12

loss to 10th-seeded Dax Holdren (Goleta) and Stein Metzger (Redondo

Beach).

Despite being eliminated in second-round action, Nygaard was third

overall in the tournament in blocks with 28.

Holdren and Metzger were eliminated in the quarterfinal round by

Kiraly and Doble.