Volleyball Teams

The Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series hits the South Bay this weekend, when 32 men's and 32 women's teams will be vying for a piece of the $100,000 purse in the Hermosa Beach Open, Friday through Sunday. None of the 2012 Olympic qualifiers will be competing, as they've been overseas since June, but several notable players will be present. On the women's side, Jenny Kropp and partner Whitney Pavlik, runners-up in Hermosa last year, have won the first three Cuervo tournaments this year in dominating fashion.

Sometimes it takes a losing coach to give the best assessment of the next event. Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik lost to top-seeded Brigham Young on Thursday night in the NCAA semifinals at Pauley Pavilion, and he saw second-seeded UC Irvine beat Loyola Chicago. Saturday at 6 p.m. the two teams each of which has been in the NCAA finals four times and won three titles (the Anteaters most recently a year ago) will meet for the third time this season. The Cougars (26-4)

The top-seeded men's and women's teams advanced through Saturday's main draw competition at the Hermosa Beach Open. Sean Scott and John Hyden, the No. 1 pair in the 32-team men's bracket, will face fourth-seeded Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge in a quarterfinal match at 8 a.m. Sunday. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik, No. 1-seeded in the 32-team women's bracket and the winners of three straight Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series events, open quarterfinal play at 8 a.m. against fifth-seeded Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira.

This is a story about doing the right thing. It was kind of overshadowed by lots of stories about doing the wrong thing. The story is late to the table but still worth telling. The London Games ended a month ago. They were highly successful on all fronts. There were, of course, moments of controversy, one of which was when eight badminton players were disqualified from the Games - two doubles teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia - for throwing pool-play matches.

Neal Newman's idea was simple when he started the California Volleyball Tournament of Champions in 1987. Newman, volleyball coach at University High, wanted to give boys an opportunity to play against some of the best competition in the state before a crowd that included college coaches in search of players. Forty teams competed in the one-day tournament at UCLA in 1987.

Some of the best boys' volleyball teams in Orange County will begin tournament play at the Orange County Championships today at Marina and Huntington Beach. Preseason top-ranked Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Harbor are among the competitors in Division I. The final is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Marina. The Division II tournament, which includes Calvary Chapel, will be at Huntington Beach.

Sixteen teams, including six ranked in the top 10 in Orange County, will compete in today's Orange County boys' volleyball championships at Estancia High School. Heading the list of teams are No. 1 Laguna Beach, No. 2 Corona del Mar, No. 3 Huntington Beach and No. 4 University. Round-robin competition begins at 9 a.m. The top two teams in each of the four divisions will advance to the championship round. The tournament's final is estimated to start at 6 p.m.

Several Orange County boys' volleyball teams will be among the 100 teams competing this weekend in a junior tournament. The double-elimination tournament starts Saturday at several sites. Three age groups will compete--18 and under, 16 and under and 14 and under. The tournament will include local entrants Laguna Beach, El Toro Volleyball Club, South Coast YMCA, Balboa Bay Club, Crown Valley and Rip It Up. The finals are scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The NORCECA Zone Championships begin Sunday in Regina, Canada, for the San Diego-based U.S. men's and women's volleyball teams, but aside from a starting day, the championships mean something different for each team. For the women, it is one of the few remaining opportunities to qualify for the 1992 Summer Olympics--there are five berths left. If the U.S. women don't win this seven-team championship, their last chance to qualify would be the World Cup in Japan in November.

Two highly regarded local women's volleyball teams met in La Jolla Wednesday night, and UC San Diego defeated Point Loma Nazarene, 15-7, 15-9, 14-16, 15-11. UCSD, ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division III, was led by Elizabeth Tan (13 kills) and Vikki Van Duyne (11). The Tritons improved to 22-6. PLNC, ranked 15th in the NAIA, got 15 kills from Roberta Simpson and 13 from Debbie Simpson but fell to 15-6.

Karch Kiraly , one of the most decorated volleyball players of all time, has been chosen as head coach of the U.S. women's national volleyball team in preparation for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Kiraly, the only athlete to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball, takes over for Hugh McCutcheon , who led the women's team to a silver-medal finish at the London Olympics. McCutcheon, who also coached the men's national team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, has taken over as head women's coach at Minnesota.

LONDON - Someone cut Destinee Hooker from a volleyball team once. She was 13 years old. Now Hooker is 24 and the brightest new star on the U.S. women's Olympic volleyball team that has advanced to the gold-medal match. Yet Hooker still cried Thursday when she remembered the moment when someone told her she wasn't good enough to play. "I told my dad I quit that day," Hooker said. "I told him, 'I don't want to do this anymore.' But I remember I got embraced, I got a big hug from my dad. He said that if we had another tryout the next day, I should just give it my all. " PHOTOS: 2012 London Olympics | Day 13 The U.S. beat South Korea, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22, on Thursday at Earls Court in the semifinals and will play defending Olympic gold medalist Brazil on Saturday for the championship in a rematch of the 2008 Beijing final.

— The U.S. stunned the men's volleyball world in the 2008 Olympics, streaking to its first gold medal in 20 years. The only surprise this time was how quickly the U.S. was ousted. Italy ended the U.S. Olympic run in the quarterfinals, 28-26, 25-20, 25-20, in a too-bad-to-be-true match Wednesday at Earls Court. It was strange, accurate and a total reversal of what happened in Beijing, when Clay Stanley's kill sent the U.S. into a celebratory frenzy. Four years later, the U.S. earned the top seeding after preliminary play but somehow never won a set after that.

  Join us for a live chat at 8 a.m. PDT on Tuesday with Times sports editor Mike James in Los Angeles, along with Deputy sports editor and Olympic coordinator John Cherwa and sportswriters Lisa Dillman and Bill Plaschke in London. After 10 days of events, some interesting things have happened. Today, Gabby Douglas returns to the gymastics competition, the women's basketball team plays Canada in the quarterfinals and both U.S. women's beach volleyball teams play in the semifinals, with a chance to make it an all American final.

LONDON — The ball, thrown by Brazilian setter Sergio Santos, sailed high and long, finally settling softly into the crowd of jubilant fans sitting in his country's colors and flags near the team's bench. Brazil had merely won the first set Thursday night at Earls Court. And the U.S. men's volleyball team took note — sort of. PHOTOS: London Olympics — Day 6 "We let them do what they do, and we do what we do," setter Donald Suxho said. Added Reid Priddy: "I love playing Brazil.

— Americans continued to advance on the second day of competition in beach volleyball. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser had an easy time with Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, 21-15, 21-16. Rogers and Dalhausser will next play Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera Allepuz of Spain on Tuesday. April Ross and Jennifer Kessy also had it easy with a win over Argentina's Ana Gallay and Maria Virginia Zonta, 21-11, 21-18. Their next opponents are Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands, also Tuesday.

Two South Bay girls' volleyball teams won United States Volleyball Assn. national age division titles at a tournament last week at UC Davis. The South Bay Volleyball Club's 18-and-under team won its division by defeating Mission Valley, 15-3, 15-6, 15-13. In the 14-and-under division, the Hermosa Beach-based Spoliers defeated Bakersfield, 15-11, 16-14, 15-10, in the title match. * The United States men's volleyball team will play Brazil at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Forum.

— Americans continued to advance on the second day of competition in beach volleyball. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser had an easy time with Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, 21-15, 21-16. Rogers and Dalhausser will next play Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera Allepuz of Spain on Tuesday. April Ross and Jennifer Kessy also had it easy with a win over Argentina's Ana Gallay and Maria Virginia Zonta, 21-11, 21-18. Their next opponents are Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands, also Tuesday.