Hovland, Steffes Spike Hopes of Stoklos, Smith

Think Tim Hovland was excited after he and partner Kent Steffes bested top-seeded Randy Stoklos and Sinjin Smith to win the AVP/Miller Lite Open Sunday at Mariner’s Point?

Well, it’s hard to say.

He punched his fists in the air when Steffes sent a soft shot past Smith to cap off a 15-12 victory in the final. He then ran over to hug Steffes.

And this was his first beach volleyball title this year. And Stoklos-Smith had won all four previous tournaments and were a victory away from winning No. 100 as a team. And Hovland-Steffes were the runners-up in the past three tournaments and are always the second seeds.

Yet 20 minutes or so after the final spike, Hovland was fairly subdued. For a guy who earned a share in $15,750, he wasn’t exactly giddy.

Maybe that’s what happens when you’ve been on the tour since the days when tournament winners were rewarded with a steak dinner.

“We’re going to win again,” he said, matter-of-factly. “We’re going to lose again. I take this one like any tournament, you know? You can’t get too jacked up.”

Still, finishing second three consecutive weeks has to sting a little, right?

“Hey, listen,” he said. “Guys getting firsts and seconds shouldn’t be that bummed out. Guys that get 17ths every weekend, those are the guys that need to look at themselves. You get to the final of one of these tournaments and you’re doing pretty damn good.”

Last week in Phoenix, Hovland got heat exhaustion on the tournament’s first day. He threw up and was taken into the players tent to be hooked up to an IV and checked by doctors. And then he got up and advanced to the finals.

“I looked at him,” Steffes said. “I thought he was going to die.”

Perhaps Hovland does take winning in stride, but make no mistake, he absolutely hates to lose. Quit a tournament? He’d sooner eat a bowl of sand.

And certainly, there is no one he’d rather beat than Stoklos and Smith, who have been the top seeds on this tour for an entire decade.

“He hates losing to me,” Smith said. “He doesn’t like losing at all, but he particularly hates losing to me because I beat him all the time.”

Not this time. Hovland-Steffes sent Smith-Stoklos to the losers’ bracket with a 15-13 victory Sunday morning. Then, in the final, Smith-Stoklos took a 10-5 lead. Three blocks by Steffes and a Hovland kill helped tie the score at 11.

After Hovland-Steffes took a 13-12 lead, the two teams exchanged 15 sideouts before Hovland finally blocked Smith to bring on match point. Steffes’ final shot gave him his fourth victory with Hovland, who now has 61 career titles.

The big difference between these two teams is that Smith and Stoklos have played together forever and the Hovland-Steffes partnership still can be measured in months. Synergy helps. In the final, for instance, Hovland and Steffes stood planted while two Smith serves dropped between them.

“But give us 12 years together, and we know exactly who takes that ball,” Steffes said. “I served them the same ball and they figured it out.”

So maybe, Hovland-Steffes is a team to keep an eye on. A nice blend of old and new, of experience and spunk. A teacher and a student.

“We’ve got a decade gap,” Hovland said. “I’m 32, he’s 22. I’ve got 10 years experience and ten years of wear and tear on my legs.

“He listens to me when I yell at him, and he hangs tough. A lot of these young kids have a lot of talent, but when it’s 10-5 against Smith-Stoklos they’ll fold instead of coming back and winning the tournament.”

With the victory, Hovland and Steffes put to rest the jokes about Stoklos and Smith winning all 24 AVP events this season.

“Everybody looks at our record and all of our accomplishments,” Stoklos said. “You gotta understand, I’ve lost as many tournaments as I’ve won.”

Which isn’t to say that it’s easy.

“There’s only one loser,” he said. “And that’s the guys that took second.”