VOLLEYBALL AT MANHATTAN BEACH : Smith and Stoklos, Other Favorites in Quarterfinals

There were no surprises on the first day of the Off Shore Manhattan Beach Open volleyball tournament. The top eight seeded teams advanced to today’s quarterfinals, which begin at 9 a.m., adjacent to the Manhattan Beach Pier.

The top-seeded team of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos cruised through its first two rounds Friday, 15-0 and 15-8. Smith and Stoklos have won two Manhattan Beach Open titles together, in 1986 and 1989, and Smith won the Manhattan Beach Open with Jim Menges in 1979 and Karch Kiraly in 1980.

This season Smith-Stoklos have won 12 tournaments while maintaining their No. 1 ranking in the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals. They will meet 16th-seeded Wally Goodrick and Bill Boullianne in the quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Tim Hovland and Brent Frohoff also won easily Friday. They will face 15th-seeded Wes Welch and Mark Eller in their quarterfinal.

The tournament’s most popular player was Kiraly, who is appearing in his third pro beach event of 1991. A two-time gold medalist on the U.S. Olympic volleyball team, Kiraly recently returned from Italy, where he competes in a pro indoor league.

Kiraly won last year’s Manhattan Beach Open with Frohoff. This year he is seeded third with 23-year-old Kent Steffes. They placed fifth in their first tournament at Cape Cod and won last week’s event at Belmar Beach.

“Karch has showed in years past that he can go from indoor to the beach with no problem,” said AVP President Jon Stevenson, who fell into the losers’ bracket on Friday. “He’s just that good and that all-around.”