Kirby, Rock Provide Proof for Top Ranking

Respect your first opponent as you do your last.

Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

So goes the motto Karolyn Kirby and Angela Rock by which they abide and consistently win.

Sunday near Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, Kirby and Rock made it crystal clear why they are the undisputed No. 1 women’s beach volleyball team. Their 15-7 victory over Lori Kotas and Gail Castro in an all-San Diego final of the San Diego Open was their fifth title in seven stops on the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour.

In Clearwater, Fla., four weeks ago, after a rocky start, Kirby and Rock learned a lesson that has served them often, serve them well.

“We still finished third,” Rock said. “But we learned something. Everyone gets 100%. You should give 100% to everyone you play. We don’t take our first match Saturday lightly. You have to have enough respect for (your opponent) to give them your best.”

Said Kirby: “We know everyone has a game plan for us and we have a responsibility because of that.”

Giving preferential treatment to no one, the ease in which they picked up this $9,600, the shared first prize in the $40,000 event, was nothing short of criminal.

Linda Carrillo and Liz Masakayan put up a fight in a 15-10 semifinal loss, then Kotas and Castro extended them to the same score before dropping into the loser’s bracket--Kotas-Castro came back through that bracket for another shot at Kirby and Rock in the title game.

But unlike three of their previous four championship meetings which went into sudden death, Kirby and Rock didn’t need a double final.

It was Rock’s bullet serves, Kirby’s precision setting and the combined “in your face” net play--kills and blocks--that proved too much to overcome.

Not that Kotas and Castro folded. Hardly. After taking an 8-6 lead, there were 14 side outs before top-seeded Kirby-Rock could make it 9-6.

Kotas and Castro, who met Kirby and Rock for the 13th and 14th times and trail 4-12 in the series, have to wonder what will turn back their nemesis.

“What can you do against this team?” said Kotas, shooting the rhetorical question in Castro’s direction as well as her own.

Neither could pinpoint the problem, but they did agree on one thing.

“I don’t know,” said Kotas. “We’ve beaten them, so we know we can do it. But I thought I knew (what it takes to defeat them), until today. Maybe we have to go back to the basics.”