Manhattan Open next for pair

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ Crocs Tour returns to the southland Thursday with the Manhattan Beach Open.

Laguna Beach High alums Rachel Wacholder (1993) and Dain Blanton (1990) will compete in the women’s and men’s events respectively.

Qualifier-round competition begins Thursday at the south side of the Manhattan Beach pier. The main draw competition starts Aug. 11 and continues both Aug. 12 and Aug. 13.

Wacholder and Blanton will not begin competing until Fri., Aug. 11.

The men’s final is Sat., Aug. 12 and the women’s final is Sun., Aug. 13.

Both finals will be televised by NBC.

Wacholder, who lives in Redondo Beach, and teammate Elaine Youngs are the No. 2 seed in the women’s tournament, behind No. 1-ranked Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

At last year’s Manhattan Beach Open on Aug. 21, Wacholder and Youngs, who a week earlier had defeated May-Treanor and Walsh at the Huntington Beach Open, were edged by the world’s top-ranked team, 23-21, 22-20, 15-11, before a standing-room-only crowd.

As is tradition with the Manhattan Beach Open, which the AVP’s all-time victory leader, Karch Kiraly, called the “grand daddy of them all,” the men’s and women’s winners of the event get their names engraved on the Manhattan Beach pier.

Kiraly has won 10 Manhattan Beach Open titles, the most of any player.