Lambert takes long road to win

HUNTINGTON BEACH— It may not have worked for anyone before, but this weekend, for Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger, the words “first-round losers” translated to “tournament winners.”

Lambert and Metzger had a long way to go — nine matches — to get to the final round of this weekend’s Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open. But once there, Lambert, a Costa Mesa resident, and Metzger defeated Jake Gibb (also of Costa Mesa) and Sean Rosenthal, 21-17, 21-18.

It was the first time on record on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour (since match statistics have been kept, beginning in 2002) that a team has lost in the first round and come back to win a tournament.

Lambert and Metzger lost Friday to Vincent Robbins and Jason Wright, 16-21, 21-18, 15-9.

“I still can’t believe that qualifier team though,” Lambert said. “I saw them warming up and I’m like, ‘I’ve never seen those two guys in my life. This’ll be easy. And then you go out, and they were just balling.”

For the third straight tournament, Gibb and Rosenthal finished second.

At stake in the final was more than just the tournament title and the $20,000 to be split by the winning team. With a win, Gibb and Rosenthal could have clinched the $100,000 Cuervo Gold bonus. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, who won the Miami and Dallas opens, took home that prize, since they led the three-tournament series in points.

Knowing the fate of the bonus was out of their hands, Dalhausser and Rogers elected not to watch the men’s final.

“You gotta think that it put a lot of pressure on [Gibb and Rosenthal],” Metzger said. “I know when we played against them and it was mano a mano for all the marbles last year, I felt tight at that time. That was a big payday; it was our biggest payday ever. I have to imagine that they came out, and it’s the first thing on your mind, and we were just loose. We felt like, ‘We already made a big accomplishment by making it all the way through the losers and making it to the final. This is just going to be icing.’ ”

Not only is making it to the final from the first-round losers’ bracket highly unlikely, it’s physically grueling. With the toll of six matches weighing on his body, Metzger started to feel the aches Saturday evening on his way home.

“I had to put my car in cruise control yesterday to keep from cramping,” Metzger said. “I was on the 405 [freeway], and I started to cramp. I had to throw it in cruise control and straighten out my leg. And then I’d start to feel better and take it off cruise control and speed up a little bit.”

Lambert and Metzger had not had an easy ride leading to Huntington Beach. They were done by Friday afternoon of the Dallas Open, and finished third in Miami. The first-round loss this weekend made their fourth in a row.

“When we lost that first one it was like, ‘OK, let’s start with goal No. 1: Let’s make it to Saturday. Let’s find a way to make it to Saturday,’ ” Lambert said. “... and then Saturday came, and it was like, ‘Somehow, I know we’ve got to play four matches, but we’ve got to somehow make it to Sunday.’ ”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613