Smith-Stoklos Still Taking Air Out of the Ball for Everybody Else : Volleyball: Pacific Palisades team scores its 10th victory of 1990 tour with an easy win in the final of the Orange County Open at Seal Beach Pier.

Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos continued their domination of the 1990 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals pro beach tour Sunday with an easy 15-6 victory over Mike Dodd and Brent Frohoff in the championship of the $100,000 Miller Lite Orange County Open at the Seal Beach Pier.

Smith and Stoklos claimed their 10th victory of 22 tournaments on the tour and increased their season earnings to $162,287 apiece though they barely broke a sweat in the finals. The Pacific Palisades duo earned $10,000 each for a near-flawless weekend of work, but later agreed they did not play particularly well in the double-elimination tournament.

“We won, but I don’t feel that we played our best,” Smith said. “It’s hard to be at your very best because it’s such a long season. I thought we played well earlier in Hawaii, Phoenix and Colorado, but I don’t think we played a very good tournament here.”

Smith might get a different opinion from the estimated 10,000 fans who jammed the center court and watched the two toy with the second-seeded team of Dodd-Frohoff. Smith-Stoklos opened with six consecutive points and held a 13-3 lead before a weary Dodd-Frohoff team could string together two points in a row.

Six matches, including a lengthy 15-12 victory over Jon Stevenson and Mike Whitmarsh in the loser’s bracket, finally took its toll on Dodd and Frohoff. To conserve energy, Frohoff never used his patented jump serve, but little that Dodd-Frohoff did really mattered.

“I thought we were going to have to get some breaks when Brent told me he wasn’t going to jump serve,” Dodd said. “This is the best year I’ve ever seen those guys (Smith-Stoklos) have. They seem to win all the matches that they have to. They’ve won a lot of big-money tournaments this year.”

The victory was the 112th in Smith’s career, but the oldest player on the beach circuit at 33 insisted the pressure remains on the sport’s top-ranked team.

“The pressure is on us to win in every match,” he said. “It seems every team we play, they seem to play their best match of the tournament against us. We’re playing not to lose. If a team beats us, it’s the biggest accomplishment they’ve had in any beach tournament.”

Jon Stevenson and Mike Whitmarsh nearly pulled off an upset against Smith-Stoklos in the finals of the winner’s bracket. Stevenson-Whitmarsh opened with six consecutive points and held a 10-4 lead before Smith-Stoklos rallied for a 15-13 victory.

Whitmarsh, a lanky 6-foot-6 former basketball player at the University of San Diego, repeatedly blocked Smith’s spike attempts and dominated play at the net. Whitmarsh is quickly developing into the top rookie on the tour.

“The guy’s a monster at the net,” Smith said. “I couldn’t hit anything over him. Any time you go down, 6-0, you should lose. We were very fortunate to win that match.”

Stevenson had teamed with Kent Steffes to win the tournament last year but had to settle for third place this year with Whitmarsh after losing to Dodd-Frohoff in the loser’s bracket final, 15-12.

The victory clinched the AVP overall championship for Smith-Stoklos, as the only remaining tour events are the Cuervo Cup in San Diego next weekend, the Seattle Open Aug. 18-19 and the U.S. Championship in Hermosa Beach Aug. 25-26.

Smith-Stoklos also surpassed Dodd-Tim Hovland’s single-season money total of $162,287 set last year. Next weekend, they’ll attempt to become the first team to win the three events that comprise the Cuervo Cup series.

Results

Loser’s Bracket

First Round

Wally Goodrick (Pacific Palisades) and Larry Mear (San Clemente) d. John Hanley (Pacific Palisades) and Ricci Luyties (Pacific Palisades), 15-11.

Mike Dodd (El Segundo) and Brent Frohoff (Hermosa Beach) d. Robert Chavez (Playa del Rey) and Steve Rottman (Los Angeles), 15-10.

Tim Walmer (Manhattan Beach) and Al Janc (San Diego) d. Pat Powers (San Diego) and Roger Clark (Pacific Palisades), 15-13.

Andrew Smith (Pacific Palisades) and Dan Vrebalovich (Costa Mesa) d. Scott Friederichsen (Laguna Beach) and Craig Moothart (Irvine), 15-9.

Quarterfinals

Dodd-Frohoff d. Hanley-Luyties, 15-9.

Smith-Vrebalovich d. Walmer-Janc, 15-8.

Semifinals

Dodd-Frohoff d. Rudy Dvorak (Laguna Beach) and Bruk Vandeweghe (Westwood), 15-11.

Smith-Vrebalovich d. Leif Hanson (Laguna Beach) and Eric Wurts (Newport Beach), 15-9.

Finals

Dodd-Frohoff d. Smith-Vrebalovich, 15-8.

Winner’s Bracket

Semifinals

Sinjin Smith (Pacific Palisades) and Randy Stoklos (Pacific Palisades) d. Dvorak-Vandeweghe, 15-10.

Jon Stevenson (Manhattan Beach) and Mike Whitmarsh (San Diego) d. Hanson-Wurts, 15-2.

Finals

Smith-Stoklos d. Stevenson-Whitmarsh, 15-13.

Third Place

Dodd-Frohoff d. Stevenson-Whitmarsh, 15-12.

Championship

Smith-Stoklos d. Dodd-Frohoff, 15-6.