MEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Kiraly and Frohoff Rise to Occasion

Karch Kiraly was a bit worried before Sunday’s Manhattan Beach Open final that he and partner Brent Frohoff would still be in a “nap stage” when the championship match began.

As it turned out, Kiraly and Frohoff woke up just in time--when they were down, 10-5--to top-seeded Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.

Kiraly and Frohoff battled back to win, 15-13, and take the title in one of pro beach volleyball’s most prestigious events.

The winners split the first-place pot of $13,200. The winning point came when Stoklos tried to go over Kiraly’s block and missed wide with a spike.

It was also Kiraly who got his team even, 11-11, when he faked Stoklos to one side, and dropped a shot into the open court.

“My goal for this summer is for Brent and me to come out as the best team on the beach,” Kiraly said. “Sinjin and Randy have been great for a long time, but everybody wants to be No. 1.”

Sunday was another big step in that direction for the sport’s hottest new tandem.

Kiraly and Frohoff have reached six consecutive finals, winning three, since Kiraly switched from partner Kent Steffes in late May.

The pair practiced for only one game before teaming up to win the Venice Open on May 29 with a 15-2 victory over Smith and Stoklos. They also won the Cape Cod Open last weekend at West Dennis Beach in Massachusetts.

“We’re really starting to click as a team,” Frohoff said. “We’re playing off of each other really well right now, and that fires both of us up.”

Smith and Stoklos have been the sport’s dominant team for the last decade. But they lost twice to Kiraly and Frohoff in Sunday’s double-elimination tournament, the first time in the winner’s bracket final, which knocked Smith and Stoklos into the consolation round.

Kiraly and Frohoff waited almost two hours for Smith and Stoklos to come through the consolation bracket, setting up the final matchup.

Smith and Stoklos advanced to the final with a 15-10 victory over Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd.

In the meantime, Kiraly napped.

“Sometimes a team can be a little too rested,” said Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. “Then they never really snap out of it.”

Kiraly and Frohoff did.