Volleyball Tournament

The fate of next month's venerable Manhattan Beach Open volleyball tournament is hanging in the balance, pending a court hearing early next week. Officials from the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, which sponsors the popular seaside event, say they will be in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday to see whether a judge upholds a temporary restraining order preventing the organization from selling tickets to the event.

It's been dubbed the Wimbledon of the sand. It is widely credited with transforming beach volleyball, once a refuge of gangly beach dudes, into an Olympic sport and a made-for-TV event replete with bronzed and buffed hard bodies. But now the success of the Manhattan Beach Open, by the pier in a town where the sport has deep roots, may be the very thing that could kill it.

A grass-roots beach protection group has filed a lawsuit challenging a pro volleyball tournament organizer's right to sell tickets to the Manhattan Beach Open instead of leaving many of the seats free to the public. In recent years, the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals sold 25% of its tickets to the event, allowing volleyball enthusiasts to sit in the rest of the seats for free or have access to the beach.

Long Beach State couldn't get past UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball tournament for the second consecutive year, losing, 15-8, 15-5, 15-11, Saturday at the Pyramid. The 49ers (19-10) finished with a hitting percentage of only .184, compared to .369 for UC Santa Barbara (17-8). Geoff Cryst led Long Beach with 26 kills and Gaby Amar had 13.

After giving up two hits and a run in the first inning, Nathan Choate combined with Nick Puoci to hold Tustin hitless as Esperanza defeated the Tillers, 10-1, to win the Newport Elks Tournament Saturday. Choate struck out seven in six innings and Puoci pitched a flawless seventh for the sixth-ranked Aztecs (4-0). Anthony Colacion led Esperanza with two hits and three runs scored. Brandon Pack had a double, sacrifice fly and three runs batted in for the Aztecs. Tustin drops to 3-1 this season.

The $8,000 Health Emporium Open, a men's volleyball tournament, will be held today and Sunday at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. Many professional beach players, including Ricci Luyties, are scheduled to participate. Former Long Beach State setter Jason Stimpfig and former UC Irvine player Leland Quinn, will also participate. The final will be Sunday at noon.

Manhattan Beach and the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals have agreed to allow paid seating at the annual Manhattan Open volleyball tournament, although the number of seats to be sold has not been determined. Last summer, the promoter drew fire from residents and volleyball players by attempting to charge for all seats. The city's coastal plan limits the sale of seats to 25% of attendance, and a proposal to change that must be submitted to the California Coastal Commission.

Sixth-ranked Laguna Beach defeated Torrey Pines in five games to win the Del Mar Torrey Pines girls' volleyball tournament Saturday. The fifth game played out to a score of 25-23, giving Laguna Beach the 16-17, 15-6, 15-6, 11-15, 25-23 victory. Cameron DeGues had 19 kills and Lizzy Belloni and Kelly Garner each had 15 for the Artists (13-1). Setter Carolyn Kittel was named tournament MVP and Belloni was named to the all-tournament team.