Hawaii’s Crabb brothers win gold, bronze at FIVB beach volleyball

Hawaii’s Taylor Crabb teamed with Jake Gibb to win gold at Sunday’s FIVB World Tour beach volleyball event in Chetumal, Mexico, while Crabb’s brother Trevor paired with Hawaii’s Tri Bourne for bronze.

It was the first medal on the FIVB World Tour as a team for Taylor Crabb (Punahou) and Gibb, who defeated Alexander Brouwer-Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands 21-16, 16-21, 15-12 in the men’s final. Crabb-Gibb are now Olympics eligible after completing their 12th event Sunday, earning 800 points toward Olympic qualifying along with $20,000.

“It feels amazing,” Taylor Crabb said. “We battled so hard for the last three years, and to get this on the last tournament in the year especially in an Olympic qualifying year and I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than Jake.”

The pair also won the AVP Tour finale, the Hawaii Open, at Fort DeRussy in September.

Bourne (Academy of the Pacific/Maryknoll) and Trevor Crabb (Punahou) also made the podium after defeating Germany’s Sven Winter/Alexander Walkenhorst, 21-16, 21-12 in the bronze-medal match.

Last week, Taylor Crabb won three major awards from the AVP, including Best Defender for the fourth consecutive year, as well as the pro tour’s MVP. Crabb led the tour with 437 digs.

Crabb-Gibb also were named AVP Team of the Year, winning four of the eight tour stops.