Ross catches fire
MANHATTAN BEACH — Having won nine of the previous 10 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals beach tournaments and 22 AVP titles overall, April Ross is used to sustained excellence. But even she admits there are times when the sun beams align to produce competitive radiance.
Such was the case Saturday at the Manhattan Beach Open, when she and fellow Costa Mesa resident Jennifer Fopma combined to win both of their matches and advance to the championship semifinal on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Ross, who has earned the AVP’s last two MVP awards and has long been recognized as the tour’s best server, erupted for seven aces in a 21-9, 21-14 thrashing of No. 4-seeded Kim DiCello and Kendra Van Zwieten in Saturday’s winner’s bracket semifinal.
The top-seeded duo of Ross and Fopma, playing their fourth and final tournament together while Ross’ regular partner and three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings has been recovering from a shoulder separation, handled No. 8-seeded Ali McCulloch and Emily Stockman, 21-14, 21-16, in the winner’s bracket quarterfinals earlier Saturday.
Ross had posted just six aces in three previous matches before blasting away at DiCello and Van Zwieten, who struggled to even touch the diving jump serves launched by the 6-foot-1 Newport Harbor High graduate.
Ross served 12 straight points in the opening set to turn an 8-7 deficit into a commanding 19-8 advantage. She had four aces during the run and later added three more to dazzle the crowd, and her teammate alike.
“I don’t think she was going for the ace,” said Fopma, who had eight aces of her own in the first three matches of the event. “She’s trying to put the ball in the best spot possible, and it worked out incredible for us. Part of our defense is her serves. I love that I get to be on this side of the net and not [the opposing] side when she’s serving.
“She contacts the ball at a really high point, so she can make the ball come down. And also, she’s very powerful and hits the snot out of the ball. So not only do you have to absorb it, but it’s probably moving away from you. It’s insane. It’s the hardest serve in the world to pass.”
Ross said such serving brilliance does not come to pass often.
“Serving is all you, right?” Ross said. “You do everything. But sometimes it’s just hard to summon it every single time. You have to kind of work into it and, I guess, adjust your mentality until it gets going. My mentality and my physicality kind of clicked in that one. It felt really good; as good as it has felt in a long time.”
Ross waited a long time for her first Manhattan Beach Open title, winning in her ninth attempt last year alongside Walsh Jennings.
Fopma, who reached the Manhattan Beach final three straight times from 2011 to 2013, is now two wins away from her first title in the event.
The duo won the AVP Seattle Open last weekend.
“I think every tournament, every match, we’ve gotten better and better,” Ross said. “I feel like [our improvement] is night and day from our first tournament.”
Fopma echoed that notion.
“I think there is a little more confidence after [the Seattle title],” Fopma said. “Definitely, for me at least. April wins all the time, so she’s probably not fazed by it. I just feel like we’re getting better and better every match we play, which is really exciting.”
Ross and Fopma will meet No. 2-seeded Jennifer Kessy and Emily Day in the semifinals. Day and Kessy, who teamed with Ross to win a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, were knocked into the contender’s bracket by DiCello and Van Zwieten on Saturday.
The women’s final, televised live by NBC, is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Costa Mesa resident Brad Keenan and partner Billy Allen, the No. 7 seeded men’s duo that swept its two matches on Friday, dropped both of its matches Saturday and settled for ninth place.
Keenan and Allen fell to No. 2-seeded Ryan Doherty and John Meyer, 21-16, 22-20, in the winner’s bracket quarterfinal Saturday morning. They were then outlasted by the No. 13-seeded brother tandem of Taylor and Trevor Crabb, 23-25, 21-13, 15-12, in a 54-minute battle.
Costa Mesa resident Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes, seeded No. 14, upset No. 6-seeded Amanda Dowdy and Heather McGuire, 21-12, 21-10, in the contender’s bracket. But Hughes and Claes were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion to finish tied for ninth.
Hughes and Claes, the reigning college sand volleyball pairs champions who will be juniors at USC in the fall, fell to McCulloch and Stockman, 19-21, 22-20, 22-20, in 65 minutes. Hughes and Claes led, 17-14 and 18-16 in the second set and squandered leads of 4-0 and 9-6 in the deciding set.
UC Irvine product Will Montgomery and Ed Ratledge, seeded No. 15, lost to No. 14-seeded Brian and Tim Bomgren, 21-15, 21-16, and were eliminated to finish tied for 13th.