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Lambert, Metzger must fight back again
Last week's champs lose early in Glendale
By Monique Moyal / AVP.com

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Desert temperatures and the competitive level stayed high
on Friday, when many new partnerships moved on to the next round and avoided
second-round double-elimination.

Securing one of the earliest wins of the day from the Contender's Bracket,
No. 16 John Mayer and Matt Prosser sent home 18th-seeded Brent Doble and Ty
Loomis, 21-13 and 21-16. Despite an early loss to powerhouse and top-seeded
Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers (21-14 and 21-19), Mayer and Prosser were
able to bounce back and get back to winning matches.

"I think I'm the smallest guy out here, so I gotta have a big guy," Mayer
said of his new partner. "I'd like to keep playing with him. I think it's
tough being a little guy, there's not a lot of big guys, but once you get
one, you gotta just battle with the guy you got."

Against Dalhausser/Rogers, the lower-seeded pair put together an impressive
second game. While an early run secured the first set for Dalhausser and
Rogers, Mayer and Prosser tried to emulate that move.

Mayer and Prosser maintained the lead, until Dalhausser tied the score at
7-7 with a major block. They managed to keep ahead for the rest of the
match, but Mayer and Prosser were right on their heels. With the score at
9-8 in favor of the No. 1 tandem, Mayer and Prosser kept within one or two
points for the rest of the match before succumbing.

Another new, albeit temporary partnership, No. 12 Aaron Watchfogel and Kevin
Wong, also found early success this weekend. Wong still held up on his own
even without Karch Kiraly behind him.

During the second round of the Winner's Bracket, Watchfogel and Wong pulled
off one of the few upsets on the day, when they sent fifth-seeded Casey
Jennings and Mark Williams to the Contender's Bracket after an 18-21, 21-17
and 15-10 decision.

Watching on the sidelines of that match were Wong's brother Scott and
Watchfogel's regular partner Austin Rester.

"It's funny to watch him [play with someone else], just to see the things he
does," said Rester. "It helps me; when we play together I'm blocking so I
can't see what he's doing behind me. So I can watch here what he does behind
me and appreciate what he does, and see what I can do better as a blocker
when he runs defense. So I'm just kind of watching and supporting, too."

In their third match of the day, Watchfogel and Wong continued their tear
and cruised through yet another victorious match, defeating fourth-seeded
Matt Fuerbringer and Sean Scott. If the pair loses two straight matches, the
worst they could finish is in fifth place.

In the Contender's Bracket, Rester and Jose Loiola continued on as projected
with the 17th seed. They walk home from Arizona with a 17th-place finish,
after falling, 21-15, 21-14, to No. 15 Albert Hannemann and Ed Ratledge.

"For me, it's kind of more or less a free tournament, because I'm replacing
a 17th [seed] which is kind of a free roll for me," said Rester.

Joining Rester and Loiola with a 17th-place finish are No. 19 Dain
Blanton/Jason Lee and No. 14 Paul Baxter/Canyon Ceman.

Also moving into the Contender's Bracket and waiting to resume play on
Saturday are third-seeded Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, who were on the
wrong end of a 21-19, 21-18 loss to No. 6 Dax Holdren and Jeff Nygaard.

In Huntington, No. 1 Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger showed that they could
lose their first match of the weekend and still win the tournament outright.
They will have to win everything from here on out to do so again, as
10th-seeded John Hyden and Brad Keenan dropped the pair into the Contender's
Bracket, 21-19, 21-18.

The Wildcat's meow: University of Arizona alumnus Matt Olson and partner
Jason Ring teamed up for the No. 8 seed in the state of Olson's alma mater
and defeated an evenly-matched team in ninth-ranked Nick Lucena and Will
Strickland (21-14, 21-13).

During the second round of Winner's Bracket play, Olson and Ring came close
to pushing a third game against Dalhausser and Rogers, but were swept into
the Contender's Bracket after a score of 21-16 and 21-17. They will now try
to work their way back into the Final Four with one loss under their belts
this weekend.

"I like being the underdog, for sure," said Olson. "It feels better kind of
going into it expecting to lose, if you will, because we play looser and my
partner and I we kind of play loose when we're in the zone and we can
compete against anybody."

"There's so many upsets out here right now it's anybody's game and so I
think everybody's really getting that feeling and we definitely feel that we
can do it too," he said optimistically heading into Saturday play.

Contender's Bracket action will kick off the day at 1 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

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