Lambert, Metzger rebound

They’re back.

Maybe not all the way back, but Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger are at least still playing as the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour Huntington Beach Open heads to its final day.

After a brief period of panic brought on by four consecutive match losses, including a 17th-place finish in Dallas two weeks ago, last year’s Crocs Cup champions are a match away from familiar ground -- the final four.

They did that by getting through the losers’ bracket after an opening-round loss Friday. They defeated Karch Kiraly and Kevin Wong, 21-17, 21-18, in Saturday’s final match and advanced to a match against Nick Lucena and William Strickland with a spot in the semifinals on the line.

“Was there panic? Yeah a little bit,” Metzger said. “But we’ve just got to remember that we were the most consistent team last year and have faith that we are OK.”

Last year, Lambert and Metzger made the final four in their first 14 tournaments and won the season-ending Crocs Cup as the team with the highest season points total. They seemed to be back on track with a third-place finish at the season opener in Miami, but consecutive losses two weeks ago in Dallas sent them home with their worst finish as a team.

When they lost their first match Friday against qualifiers, onlookers wondered aloud if one of the players was injured or if there was team turmoil. Metzger said that was not the case.

“We didn’t play a lot of matches in the off-season,” he said. “We did a lot of drills, but we haven’t had a lot of real game time on the court since last year.”

Now, with nearly three tournaments complete, Metzger said he can feel the difference.

“I’m starting to get to the point where my vision is better and I’m making better choices against defenses,” he said. “The stuff that you can only get better at when you’re competing against a team.”

But Metzger and Lambert, seeded second, aren’t the only top team that has had setbacks. Third-seeded Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost Saturday to Brad Keenan and John Hyden.

That loss set up some potential drama, however, because should Gibb and Rosenthal win today against Anthony Medel and Fred Souza, they would meet top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the semifinals with a potential $100,000 payday on the line.

Dalhausser and Rogers need only to make the final to claim the prize, but should Gibb and Rosenthal knock off the top-seeded team and then win the tournament, they would take the $100,000 bonus as the top team on the points list through the first three events.

Conspiracy theorists said Gibb and Rosenthal tanked against Keenan and Hyden to get a semifinal shot at Dalhausser and Rogers, but Gibb needs only to look at their 2-13 all-time record against the top-seeded team for the answer to that.

“Ha, with our record against those guys, right,” he said. “We love that matchup.”

The match of the day on the women’s side was a 17-21, 24-22, 15-12 victory by Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh over Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner. Youngs and Branagh overcame a 14-10 deficit in the second before winning the match, which included red cards called on Youngs and Wacholder for kicking the ball into the stands.

“Two red cards in a women’s match? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it,” Youngs said.

Youngs and Branagh, seeded second, advanced to the semifinals and should they win that match, would win the $100,000 bonus regardless of the outcome in the final. Top-seeded Kerri Walsh and Misty May must win the tournament and hope that Youngs and Branagh lose their semifinal to win the bonus.

“Everyone is saying ‘You got the 100 grand’ ” Youngs said. “We’re like, tell us when it’s in the mail because we still have work to do. We have a match to play.”

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