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Top seeds face different paths at AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open

July 8, 2023

Top-seeded Hailey Harward and Kelley Kolinske face off with the UCLA duo of Devon Newberry and Jaden Whitmarsh in a first-round match at the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Fans watch from the stands during the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Ninth-seeded Chase Frishman and Bill Kolinske take on eighth-seeded Phil Dalhausser, left, and Avery Drost in a first-round match at the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Phil Dalhauser, with partner Avery Drost looking on, serves during their first-round match against Chase Frishman and Bill Kolinske at the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Fans watch as ninth-seeded Chase Frishman and Bill Kolinske take on eighth-seeded Phil Dalhausser, left, and Avery Drost in a first-round match at the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

A general view of the AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

The AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open on Friday, July 7, 2023.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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HERMOSA BEACH — The stakes are as high as ever going into the AVP Hermosa Beach Pro Open this weekend, and no one knows that better than the tournament’s top seeds.

Upsets are always part of the double-elimination tournament, something this year’s top-seeded women’s team learned on Friday afternoon.

Hailey Harward and Kelley Kolinske were upset by ninth-seeded Brook Bauer and Katie Horton in the second round, 19-21, 21-15, 15-11. Harward and Kolinske can still play their way into Sunday’s semifinals, but instead of needing to win one quarterfinal on Saturday to secure a final four berth, they now need to win three contenders’ bracket elimination matches (two Saturday and one Sunday) to get there.

Bauer and Horton next face the 13th-seeded duo of Megan Rice and Savannah Simo, who outlasted 12th-seeded Macy Jerger and Megan Rice, 18-21, 21-16, 15-11, in their second-round match.

The other women’s teams to start 2-0 were second-seeded Megan Kraft and Emily Stockman and sixth-seeded Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn, who defeated third-seeded Deahna Kraft and Zana Muno, 21-19, 21-17.

The top-seeded men’s duo of Chaim Schalk and Tri Bourne avoided any missteps and advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals with a pair of 2-0 victories. They next face 12th-seeded Billy Allen and Alison Cerutti, who took down fourth-seeded Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in their second-round match, 21-17, 27-25.

Second-seeded Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb and the third-seeded team of Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander also started 2-0 and will square off in the other winner’s bracket quarterfinal.

Schalk was happy to start strong Friday, but his goals are much bigger.

“I love playing in Hermosa. Obviously, I live right here and we train here all the time. If I was able to repeat, that’d be incredible, so that’s the goal,” said Schalk, who teamed with Brunner to win the 2022 Hermosa title. “Obviously it’s a long ways away still, but we just gotta keep going one match at a time.”

Schalk is an accomplished volleyball player no matter the setting.

He won two indoor national championships at Red Deer College in Alberta, Canada before transitioning to beach volleyball full-time in 2010. Schalk participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished ninth with partner Ben Saxton.

Schalk’s partner has Olympic experience as well. Bourne, a former USC indoor standout, teamed with four-time Olympian Jake Gibb to finish ninth at the 2020 Tokyo Games (delayed until 2021 because of the pandemic).

“(Tri Bourne) is super. He’s very motivated and takes care of himself really well,” Schalk said. “It’s nice to be playing with someone who just checks all those boxes.”

Schalk and Bourne breezed through their first-round matchup against former Penn State volleyball player Spencer Sauter and Dylan Maarek, 21-10, 21-17, then survived a tight battle with ninth-seeded Chase Frishman and Bill Kolinske, 29-17, 21-19.

Schalk said his experience winning the Hermosa Open last year is helpful, but this year’s tournament brings new challenges and adjustments.

“I feel confident playing here personally. But obviously, it’s a new team this year though, so everything’s kind of a little bit different,” Schalk said. “But I think since it’s a whole new team dynamic. It’s all about just building and trying to figure it out. Our goal is to win.”

The tournament is a homecoming for Harward and Kolinske. Harward earned All-American honors while playing for USC’s dominant beach volleyball program from 2017-2022.

Kolinske (formerly Larsen) was an accomplished indoor and beach player while at Pepperdine, helping the Waves win a pair of AVCA national championships in 2012 and 2014 before it was an NCAA-sanctioned sport. Kolinske is also the winningest player in Pepperdine beach volleyball history.

“It’s so much fun just to have a lot of family members, friends, just bike down here and not have to hop off a plane,” Kolinske said. “It’s just so awesome playing in your hometown and just having this atmosphere, nothing beats it.”

Harward and Kolinske leaned on their experience to survive a gritty first-round match against the UCLA duo of Devon Newberry and Jaden Whitmarsh, the daughter of late beach volleyball legend Mike Whitmarsh. The Bruins won the first set, 21-19, but the experience of Harward and Kolinske proved to be the difference-maker as they won the final two sets, 21-16 and 15-8.

Before their second-round loss, Kolinske said the pressure of being a top seed can be beneficial.

“It’s a good pressure because I believe in our team and we want that pressure. We welcome that pressure. So we know every match out here is gonna be a fight. Doesn’t really matter what the seeds are. Everyone at this level is super competitive,” Kolinske said.

Saturday’s men’s and women’s quarterfinal losers will still have a chance to reach the semifinals via the contenders’ bracket as well. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Orange County Register

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Top seeds face different paths at AVP Tour’s Hermosa Beach Open

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