A match made on the sand

Heading into this weekend’s Manhattan Beach Open, April Ross is enjoying what could be considered her breakout year on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour.

Lately, she’s had one more person with whom to share that enjoyment.

Ross, a Newport Harbor High graduate who lives in Costa Mesa, has been dating fellow AVP player Brad Keenan for about four months.

The two met while training in Huntington Beach, and have since been enjoying traveling the country in search of sand supremacy.

Or supremacy in anything, really.

“She’s a pretty mellow girl and I’m a pretty mellow guy,” said Keenan, who turns 26 today and lives in Santa Ana. “But she wants to win. If we go miniature golfing, she wants to win.”

Guilty as charged, said Ross, 25.

“It’s definitely one of my favorite things to do, play games where there’s a winner and a loser,” she said with a laugh. “I really like to play any kind of game. We’re both really competitive though.”

The coupling makes sense for plenty of other reasons. When at home in Orange County — which is admittedly not often — they live just a few miles apart.

What’s more, last year, Ross was the AVP Women’s Rookie of the Year, while Keenan took the honor on the men’s side.

Also, Ross and Keenan both have had to adjust to the transition from indoor volleyball to the beach.

They both left impressive impressions indoors.

A three-time All-American, Ross helped lead USC to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2002 and ‘03, and in the latter year was American Volleyball Coaches Assn. National and Pac-10 Player of the Year. Keenan, meanwhile, led the nation in blocks as a senior at Pepperdine in ’03 and was the AVCA National Player of the Year.

“I think we definitely are going through a lot of the same experiences,” Ross said. “It’s cool to have someone to talk to about that stuff. I mean, a lot of it is just complaining, but at least you know the other person understands.”

There doesn’t seem to be that much complaining.

Both have quickly progressed up the ranks. Keenan and partner John Hyden are seeded No. 4 at Manhattan Beach this weekend, while Ross and partner Jen Boss are seeded No. 5 on the women’s side. Ross and Boss made the finals of the year-opening event in Miami in April, as well as the Seaside Heights Open in July in New Jersey.

In June, Ross and Boss won an Federation Internationale de Volleyball tournament in Norway as the No. 29 seed, the lowest in tour history. They are also one of just two teams to beat fellow Harbor alumna Misty May-Treanor and her partner Kerri Walsh this year on domestic sand. Ross and Boss did it in Hermosa Beach in May.

The 6-foot-8 Keenan said he used a disappointing personal result at the Miami Open — tied for 17th — to his advantage. It let him watch nearly all of Ross’ surprising run to the finals.

“It was pretty awesome,” Keenan said. “Her first final, and I got to watch almost all of her at that tournament.”

Ross laughed and said she was surprised at that level of commitment from her boyfriend.

“We hadn’t been dating for that long,” she said. “I was really surprised when he showed up to my 8 a.m. match.”

Keenan and Hyden made their first finals of the most recent AVP tournament, in Chicago on Aug. 4. But Ross couldn’t be there, as she and Boss were in Austria on the FIVB tour.

Usually talking by phone isn’t an option while Ross is overseas, but Keenan said they e-mail each other almost every day.

“It’s a bummer when she’s gone for two weeks, but she’s doing well trying to qualify for the Olympics,” he said. “I’m stoked for her and glad that she’s doing it. The nice thing is, we travel together for the local tournaments.”

Not much traveling required this weekend in Manhattan Beach, which is the last AVP stop of the year in Southern California.

And, predictably, both Ross and Keenan want to do well in front of what is close to a home crowd.

“For me personally, I get more excited for Huntington Beach than I do for Manhattan,” Ross said. “But my whole family is going to be there, and a bunch of my friends. Obviously, I want to win in front of them.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].