Stoklos, Smith Find No Threats at Beach

Pass the coffee.

Or, better yet, wake us up when Karch Kiraly returns from Italy.

No, maybe that’s not right. The AVP men’s volleyball tour might be getting predictable with top-seeds Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos winning each week, but the fans don’t seem bored.

Stoklos and Smith, who have 99 career victories together, took a step toward No. 100 Saturday in the AVP/Miller Lite Open at Mariner’s Point, winning three matches to advance to the semifinals of the winner’s bracket.

And the crowd loved it. One woman danced for several minutes after Stoklos presented her with his headband.

People are still cheering for these guys even though they’ve won all four AVP events this season and aren’t showing signs of sharing this weekend’s $15,750 prize.

So then, isn’t this getting boring?

“The Boston Celtics did it for a long time,” Stoklos said. “And they weren’t so called boring.”

Short pause.

“Maybe they were,” Stoklos acknowledged. “But I’ll tell you one thing, a lot of people liked it. And I know a lot of people like us winning.”

Said Smith: “Actually, I think it’s probably better at this point that there are stars in the game as opposed to having a different team win every weekend.

“It’s like golf. You don’t go out to see the guy who’s No. 100 on the list. You see Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus. You know, the big names.”

Still, the predictions, sarcastic as they may be, are beginning to circulate. There are 24 events this year. People are beginning to wonder if Smith-Stoklos will win all of them. If that happens, Stoklos says he’ll retire. Smith, in turn, says he’ll tank the last event if they win 23 in a row, so his partner will stick around another season.

Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who offered Smith-Stoklos their stiffest competition last season, is currently in Italy playing for $500,000. He won’t be back for at least another month. That leaves few who are capable of actually defeating the No. 1 seeds.

Two young players gave it their best shot on Saturday. Ed Carrillo and Bill Suwara, the 25th seeds, reminded you of kids who went to sleep and suddenly found themselves on the championship court, tied with the best beach volleyball players in the world.

At one point, the score was 9-9. And Stoklos had tumbled into the crowd to pass the ball back to Smith, who managed to send it over the net. But it was quickly sent back by Suwara. Sideout underdogs.

Spectators began to nudge each other. As Smith puts it, if he and Stoklos aren’t in the finals, “people would be looking around saying ‘What happened? What’s going on?’ ”

Anyway, Smith-Stoklos kicked up their game and pulled ahead to win, 15-10. Later, Suwara, the nephew of San Diego State Coach Rudy Suwara, said: “We had center court. The adrenaline was definitely a factor. But I wasn’t nervous, because we weren’t favored.”

No, Bambi wasn’t favored against Godzilla, either. The point is, if two young upstarts who are seeded close to the back of the pack could give the champs a tussle, maybe Smith and Stoklos aren’t invincible after all.

Tim Hovland subscribes to that theory. He and partner Kent Steffes are the second seeds. They’ve finished second in the past three tournaments. Along with John Hanley and Mike Dodd and Pat Powers and Adam Johnson, Hovland-Steffes advanced to today’s semifinals with Smith and Stoklos.

Suffice it to say, Hovland doesn’t plan to finish second too many more times.

“Hell,” he said. “I’ve been around when they won the first six tournaments and I won the last six.

“Things change. Wait around. Hang out.”