One month after returning home to Hermosa Beach from the Paris Olympics, beach volleyball Olympians Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, and Chase Budinger, and Miles Evans, brought home first place honors from the Hermosa Beach Open.
It wasn’t the AVP Hermosa Open. It was an old-school Hermosa Open with fans cheering courtside, in the sand, instead of in grandstands.
The fans’ consensus was they liked the toned down tournament better than the AVP production with its stadium seating.
During the awards presentation, the four local Olympians expressed appreciation to the city, and especially to local tournament director Mark Paaluhi and his 16th Street volunteers for putting on the tournament. Longtime local volleyball players Gary and Eric Wedbush, of Wedbush Financial, were the title sponsors of the $150,000 tournament.
The men’s finals, on Saturday, was an all Olympian match between locals Budinger and Evans, and Olympian Miles Partain, of Pacific Palisades, playing with Italian Olympian Alex Ranghieri.
Budginger and Evans won in two sets, 21-14 and 21-17, where the difference may have been the 6-foot-7 Budginer rallying Evans’ boisterous fans.
The women’s finals was an all Trojans battle. Hughes and Cheng (class of 2017) won 103 consecutive matches together at USC. Their opponents in the finals were USC All Americans Teresa Cannon (class of 2019), and Megan Kraft (class of 2017).
Cannon and Kraft won the first set, and lost the second and third sets. Because Hughes and Cheng came up through the contenders bracket, the match went to a fourth set, where Hughes and Cheng squeezed out a 20 to 18 win for the title.
This year’s Hermosa Open was reminiscent of the 2010 Manhattan Beach Open when AVP filed for bankruptcy and canceled the tournament, on its 50th anniversary. That year’s Manhattan Open was rescued by a consortium of Manhattan Beach volleyballers, led by David Behar, founder of the ION network.
This year, AVP decided not to hold a Hermosa Open, prompting Paaluhi, and the local volleyball community to step up on short notice.
The double elimination tournament began on Thursday with 130 teams, including 10 Olympians from five countries.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, the council directed the Parks and Recreation Commission and the city staff to draft a long term agreement with Paaluhi’to produce future Hermosa Beach Opens. ER
