H.B. resident Priddy trying a different game

HERMOSA BEACH — Reid Priddy is used to the indoor volleyball game, where he won a gold medal last year with the United States men’s volleyball team at the Beijing Olympics.

So playing on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour this summer has amounted to a change of pace for Priddy, 31, a Huntington Beach resident.

Not that he’s doing too shabby. In his second tournament of the summer, Priddy and partner Will Strickland finished tied for ninth over the weekend at the AVP Hermosa Beach Open.

Not shabby indeed, especially considering they were seeded No. 24, although Priddy said that’s only because an AVP rule change meant his points earned from his last stint in 2006 weren’t counted.

Priddy has never finished higher than ninth on the AVP tour, but has been ninth seven times since 2005.

“Everything about [beach volleyball] is different,” Priddy said, on the one-year anniversary of winning gold in Beijing. “For 10 years I’ve been playing professional indoor. I’m in a rhythm of showing up to a gym, playing hard for three hours and leaving. It’s been an adjustment ... the rhythm of the game is slower, the shots, the wind, the elements.

“I’m just out here trying to do my best. It’s really going to take probably me being able to give [beach volleyball] a full year in the off-season to really maximize my potential. Right now, I’m just coming out here and having some fun.”

Don’t get him wrong, Priddy isn’t quitting the indoor game.

“I’m probably going to be going on another long push here indoors,” he said. “I have two more years on a contract in Russia, as well as returning to the national team maybe as early as [this] week. This has been a really good break, just physically and mentally. It feels good to change up the routine a little bit.”

Priddy’s tournament was a success, but it was Fountain Valley High graduate Brad Keenan who had the best finish among locals in Hermosa, the last Southern California stop of the year. Keenan and partner Nick Lucena tied for third, also tying a season-best finish and taking home $7,100 each.

Keenan and Lucena, seeded sixth, got an upset win over No. 3 Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal midway through the tournament. They advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion and top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, 21-10, 21-19, on Sunday morning.

The third-place finish was the team’s second in a row.

“Last two tournaments, Manhattan and Hermosa, you want to do well in, since it’s a hometown,” Lucena said. “We played well and we’re going to get better.”

Huntington Beach resident Casey Patterson and partner Ty Loomis, seeded eighth, finished fifth. They lost to Keenan and Lucena, 21-19, 15-21, 9-15, in the fifth-place match Sunday and Patterson takes home $3,120.

Among other local men, Huntington’s Ed Ratledge and partner Ryan Mariano, seeded 13th, finished tied for ninth and split $3,960. Former Golden West College standout Jeff Carlucci and partner Larry Witt finished tied for 17th, splitting $960. Surf City resident Bryan Stewart and partner Evan Engle tied for 25th.

On the women’s side, the sister team of Katie and Tracy Lindquist finished tied for ninth and split $3,960. They’ve finished in ninth in six of 10 tournaments this year.

Huntington Beach resident Raquel Caulkins, in her first year on tour, finished tied for 13th with partner Paula Roca. They split $1,800.

The tour continues this weekend in San Francisco.