Where were Billy Allen and Theo Brunner?
They were just there, only two seconds ago! Everyone saw them! They had just beaten Avery Drost and Gregg Weaver in the semifinals of the 2016 AVP Seattle Open, 21-14, 21-16.
The final, scheduled an hour later, promised to be a thriller, a matchup with the Crabb brothers, Taylor and Trevor, one of the hottest American teams at the time. Allen hadn’t played in a final in more than half a decade, when he and Brad Keenan lost to Sean Scott and John Hyden in a Jose Cuervo stop in 2011 in Manhattan Beach. Surely he couldn’t just be … gone.
But he was.
Allen and Brunner skedaddled as soon as their semifinal ended, hopped in a rental van and high-tailed it to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. A few days later, they were scheduled to play in an FIVB tournament in Hamburg, Germany. Allen had never played on the FIVB Tour, and he was predictably thrilled at the opportunity –- but if he didn’t check his bags, and checkthemrightthissecond, there was a good chance he’d miss his flight. Then again, if he checked his bags rightthatsecond, there was an equally good chance he’d miss the Seattle final.
To hell with it. They were going to make it work. Allen and Bruner zipped through the airport, checked their bags, raced back to the van, hopped on the highway, which was, of course, congested with a parade of red taillights. They both called the AVP, giving them updates on their status –- 10 minutes away! 5! The AVP reserved a parking spot for them outside of the stadium.
By the time they arrived, the women’s final had already concluded, won by the then-precocious duo of Lane Carico and Summer Ross, and the Crabbs were lathered in sweat from warming up.
“We had no idea where they were,” Trevor said.
“I was stressed out because of that, but it also helped out because it never gave me time to worry about playing in a final,” Allen said. “We were just so worried about making it to the airport that it just kind of helped with the nerves.”
Evidently so. Allen and Brunner beat the Crabbs, 21-19, 19-21, 15-12.
Allen wouldn’t celebrate until two weeks later, after the FIVB in Germany and another in Poland.
“It was definitely happening so fast, like you weren’t even taking it all in,” Allen said. “It wasn’t until on the way home from our FIVB trip that I was like, ‘Oh yea, that was pretty cool, I won that tournament.’”
Last year was the same result, different celebration. Allen won with Stafford Slick, again beating a Crabb brother –- Trevor, who was playing with Sean Rosenthal -– and again having the final point sealed by his partner making a block.
“I just tried not to mess up,” he said in his signature knack for understatement. He didn’t, and afterwards he was able to reflect stateside with his wife, Janelle, and her family, “checking my phone every two minutes to read another congratulations text.”
And though he has not yet been given the key to Sammamish, Allen is, at the moment, its unofficial mayor. Ross, too, has won in consecutive years, though she will be in Czechoslovakia for a four-star FIVB.
The only one, then, who can extend the streak to three straight Seattle titles is Allen.