Hyden/Lambert Roll To First Title

New team dominates first tournament together

By Ed Letsinger 

John Hyden and Mike Lambert may have been playing their first tournament of the year together at the AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open but the newly-formed team looked like they have been playing together for years after walking way with the title on Sunday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Hyden/Lambert defeated Dax Holdren and Jeff Nygaard 17-21, 21-12, 15-10, and from the look of their performance all weekend in Cincinnati it may be a preview of things to come in the future.

The duo, seeded No. 12 at the start of the tournament, lost only one game during their six-match run to the title (15-1 record) and from the second round on defeated a team that has already won at least one AVP title.

"We didn’t come in expecting to win but we just wanted to make a statement,” said Lambert. 

Nygaard/Holden, the only team to advance to a Final Four in each of the six events on the AVP Tour this season (winning one and finishing runner-up twice), stole the first game after trailing almost the entire way.  Hyden/Lambert led until a Holden kill gave Nygaard/Holden a 17-16 lead, their first of the game.  Leading 19-17, Nygaard put the game away with two consecutive blocks on Lambert for a 21-17 win.

Hyden/Lambert stormed back with a vengeance in game two and bolted to a quick 6-1 lead and never let up, stretching their lead to as much as 17-8 before winning 21-12 and forcing a third game.  Lambert dominated the game at the net.

“We just stayed positive after the first game and then Mike came out and just took over the second game,” said Holdren.

The third game was tight and tied at 7-7 until a run of three straight points put Hyden/Lambert up 10-7; a lead they would never lose.  A Lambert block put the game away at 15-10 and Hyden took off in celebration, circling the court doling out high fives to whoever was available.

Hyden/Lambert teamed up at the Best of the Beach tournament last year and played together on national and Olympic indoor teams back in the 1990s but other than that the pair has never played together.  The mojo they have found on the court together appears to be special.

“I’m just on top of the world right now, I don’t know what else to say,” said a grinning Holdren, who won his first-ever AVP title.