Dodd, Hovland Win at Volleyball : They Defeat Smith and Stoklos to Capture Orange County Open

Mike Dodd of Manhattan Beach and Tim Hovland of Playa del Rey used a series of sparkling defensive plays and timely spikes to pull off a 15-11 victory over Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos, both of Santa Monica, in the final of the $100,000 Orange County Open beach volleyball tournament Sunday at Seal Beach.

Hovland and Dodd, who entered the tournament as the second-seeded team behind Smith and Stoklos, took advantage of an errant Smith spike to take a 12-11 lead after tying the score on a long, soft return by Dodd. Sparked by a diving, one-handed save by Hovland of a Smith shot, Hovland and Dodd scored the game’s final three points to seal the victory and the $25,000 first prize.

Had Smith and Stoklos won, the teams would have played again Sunday for the championship of the double-elimination tournament. Hovland and Dodd were undefeated in their tournament matches. Smith and Stoklos’ only loss came against Dodd and Hovland in the winners’ bracket final, 15-7, earlier Sunday.

That loss forced Smith and Stoklos to qualify for the championship final by defeating Smith’s brother, Andrew, and Leif Hansen of Laguna Beach, 15-11, in the losers’ bracket final.

“It was definitely to our advantage to defeat Smith and Stoklos in the winners’ bracket finals,” Hovland said. “That allowed us to relax and wait for who would play us for the championship, while Smith and Stoklos would have to play one additional match before they could play us for the title. That had to take a little bit out of them.”

“We fell way behind in both our first game against Hovland and Dodd and in our game against my brother and Hansen,” said Sinjin Smith. “We just got our game in high gear and forced (Hansen and Andrew Smith) into late-game errors to win our match against them. We did a far better job against Tim and Mike when we played them in the winners’ bracket finals, but it seemed like every time we would make a great play against them, they would counter with a great play.”

Smith and Stoklos, who entered the tournament leading the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour with $39,750 each, got $16,000 to split for their second-place showing. Andrew Smith and Hansen earned $11,250 for their third-place finish.

“They didn’t play very well (in the first game),” said Dodd, who was tied for third with Hovland behind Smith and Stoklos among AVP money-winners with $30,850. “They didn’t come out and play their normal game. We knew they would come out a lot better in the championship game, and that they did. But we made the plays when we had to.”

Said Stoklos: “You’ve got to give (Hovland and Dodd) credit. I thought we had a chance to win the match when we were leading, 10-9, but we didn’t attack the ball the way we should have late in the game.”