Kristen Nuss was covered in sand, dulling her neon two-piece swimsuit. A white lei hung around her neck as she attempted to balance her champion’s plaque awkwardly in one hand.
“This thing is heavy,” she said, “my arm is getting sore.”
Despite her and partner Taryn Brasher repeating as AVP Manhattan Beach Open champions — grinding out a 15-21, 21-18, 15-13 victory over former USC standouts Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon — on Sunday, the weight of both the hardware and the title wasn’t lost on Nuss.
“This is Wimbledon,” Nuss said. “It’s the granddaddy of them all. My mom always said she wanted me to play at Wimbledon. … This is definitely one of the most coveted trophies right here.”
Partners since 2021, Nuss and Brasher were greeted with a roar before the first serve. On the other side of the net, Kraft and Cannon seemed to be the underdogs to the Paris Olympians.
But as the former Trojan duo snatched the opening set, fans pressed shoulder to shoulder along the railings and bleachers, pulled into the possibility of a rally from the defending title-holders.
Kraft’s heavy serve and Cannon’s long reach at the net gave them the first game at 21-15. During the changeover between games, Brasher and Nuss zeroed in on the cracks by serving together and passing cleaner.
“We don’t like first sets,” Nuss joked. “That is something we’ve learned this year especially … we should just not play the first set. But we know we can battle back no matter what.”
Kristen Nuss dives for a ball during the women’s championship match at the Manhattan Beach Open on Sunday.
(Katelyn Mulcahy / For The Times)
Down three points in the second set, Nuss and Brasher rallied and took a 21-18 win. And in the third set, with the teams even at five, Nuss — the smallest player on the sand — swung above her size, disguising her shots by glancing one way and spiking the ball the other.
“There is nothing — no deficit — that is going to scare Kristen,” Brasher said.
Under the scorching Manhattan Beach sun, fans stayed jammed along the railings. But the second final would not follow the same fairytale ending.
For Phil Dalhausser and Trevor Crabb, this year’s Manhattan Beach Open doubled as both a curtain call and a chance to win a title.
Miles Evans, left, and Chase Budinger celebrate after winning the Manhattan Beach Open men’s title Sunday.
(Katelyn Mulcahy/For The Times)
For the former, it was the final time he’d ever tower over California sand — a four-time Olympian, International Volleyball Hall of Famer and seven-time Manhattan Beach Open champion competing in the second-to-last AVP event of his career. Crabb entered the weekend looking to win the tournament for the second straight year.
But Chase Budinger and Miles Evans had other plans, racing through the final and burying the storybook ending 21-19, 21-16 to clinch the men’s title.
Budinger and Evans tipped their caps to Dalhausser — recognizing the veteran who is a legend in the sport.
“[Dalhausser] is the best player to ever play the game,” Budinger said. “So every time I step on the court playing against him, I really try to cherish those times with him — those memories, those battles — because he’s such an unbelievable player.”
Dripping in champagne and holding his plaque, Evans said the triumph was validation for all the work the duo has put in to break through since pairing up in 2023.
“Hopefully this is the beginning of great things for us,” he said.
