It’s called “The Freeze.”

It’s an experimental scoring format used by the Association of Volleyball Professionals when a championship final is at match point. The scoring system then changes from rally scoring (point-per-serve) to traditional scoring (points only being scored when a team is serving).

In the Hawaii Invitational at Fort DeRussy, it went beyond frozen for Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser on Sunday. It was more like an ice age for the second-seeded pair who needed an extra 30 minutes, 10 match points and a combined 47 serves from both teams before finding the thaw and finishing off the fourth-seeded Dutch pair of Alexander Brouwer-Robert Meeuwsen, 21-16, 27-25.

“In that match, I did not like it, but it was entertaining for the crowd,” said Lucena, whose 44th swing got help from the tape to land for his 18th kill and end it. “I just wanted it to be over. At 20-14 all you need is a sideout. But hats off to them (Broudwer-Meeuwsen); they made some plays.”

Broudwer-Meeuwsen had three set points that would have forced Set 3 but “The Freeze” was in effect for them as well, the last at 25-24. But Meeuwsen’s fifth service error put Lucena on the back line and he served out the match, a run that included Dalhausser’s fifth block, a stuff of Meeuwsen.

“We should have never been in that predicament,” added Dalhausser, who finished with seven aces and 16 kills. “But the venue was beautiful. Last time we were here was 2005.”

Officials and players expressed hope that Honolulu would become a permanent stop on the AVP Tour.

Said AVP managing partner Donald Sun: “We would be humbled to be welcomed back to the islands. We’re excited to continue with the momentum to grow the event in years to come.”

“Being home is the best,” said Trevor Crabb (Punahou), teaming with Tri Bourne (Academy of the Pacific) to finish tied for third. “To finish third in this tournament is an accomplishment. We hope it can happen every year. Right now, we’re living in California so we can make a living.”

“We definitely had the crowd on our side,” Bourne said. “It was the best crowd we’ve played in front of in terms of home-court advantage.”

Crabb-Bourne, seeded No. 7, had sent Lucena-Dalhausser into the contender’s bracket earlier with a 21-15, 16-21, 15-7 victory. The teams met again in a semifinal that went the way of Lucena-Dalhausser, 21-13, 21-18.

“I think they were winning the long rallies that we usually do,” Crabb said. “They played a lot better yesterday. We weren’t as on as we were.”

In the women’s final, the “A Team” of Alix Klineman and April Ross won its fourth AVP event, and third in a row, by rallying past second-seeded Sara Hughes-Summer Ross, 18-21, 21-19, 15-10.

Although they dropped Set 1, the third seeds gained momentum when Klineman’s consecutive aces split the Hughes-Ross serve-receive to pull to 17-16.

“I thought April did an amazing job on defense,” Klineman said. “By no means did we think it was going to be an easy match. We know we’re going to be battling them a lot the next few years.”

The third-seeded Ross-Klineman had defeated Hughes-Ross on Saturday, 21-15, 21-12. On Sunday, Hughes-Ross advanced to the All-U.S. rematch by knocking off top-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk-Duda Lisbon of Brazil, 23-25, 21-17, 15-12, in a semifinal.

Note:

In Friday’s King/Queen of the Court, Hawaii’s Taylor Crabb (Punahou) teamed with Jake Gibb to take the men’s title and Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman won the women’s.