ON THE BEACH / MIKE REILLEY : While Ex-Teammates Go for Gold, Kiraly Seeks a Record

Karch Kiraly will be nowhere near Barcelona this weekend, when the U.S. Olympic volleyball team opens play against Japan.

He will be playing pro beach volleyball, going for the green instead of the gold. And he won’t be anywhere near the East or West coasts.

Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has bypassed a shot at an unprecedented third consecutive medal to play in a beach tournament this weekend.

In Michigan.

Kiraly, of San Clemente, and partner Kent Steffes of Pacific Palisades are top-seeded in the Miller Lite Open at Grand Haven.

Although Kiraly won’t be trying to make Olympic history this week, he will be trying to make history on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ tour.

Kiraly and Steffes won their 10th consecutive tournament last weekend at Belmar Beach, N.J. That tied the record for single-season consecutive victories set in 1986 by their longtime rivals, Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.

They’re hoping to break it this weekend in Grand Haven, where they’re the defending champions. Their victory last year was part of a four-tournament winning streak.

“I think there’s less pressure on us now that we have tied the record,” Kiraly said. “It would have been a shame to lose last week, and miss tying the record, than to lose this week.

“I never really expected it to go this long. And if we lose this weekend, we can always start another streak.”

The winning streak comes at an interesting time for Kiraly.

He had considered returning to the U.S. national team in April, after completing his second consecutive season in the Italian pro indoor leagues, where he earned a reported $1 million.

But Kiraly decided to play on the beach tour instead, adding that the world travel with the national team would take him away from his wife, Jana, and sons Kristian and Kory.

“My wife asked me this morning if I was going to miss it (playing in the Olympics),” Kiraly said. “And I haven’t felt one pang yet, although I can’t say I won’t have them at all.”

Kiraly hasn’t lost much sleep over his decision, although he will probably be snoozing about the same time the Olympic matches come on TV.

Most of the matches are scheduled for 9:30 p.m. starts on the West Coast, about the same time Kiraly goes to bed. He doubts he will stay up past bedtime to watch.

“I wish them all (U.S. team members) the best of luck,” he said. “It would be great for volleyball to see both the men and the women win it. I would say that the U.S. (men) have between a good and a great chance to win the gold.”

In the meantime, Kiraly and Steffes pursued other forms of compensation by:

--Winning 11 of the 12 tournaments they’ve played together.

--Not losing since May 10.

--Winning $127,000 as partners this season. (Steffes, who won two early-season tournaments with Capistrano Beach’s Adam Johnson, has $158,000 total winnings.)

--Beating Smith and Stoklos, the tour’s dominant team the past decade, in five finals, including narrow victories in San Diego and Manhattan Beach.

“Any streak takes some luck,” Kiraly said. “We were lucky to win at Manhattan. Sinjin and Randy outplayed us there, but we were fortunate enough to win (1-0) in the double final.

“In San Diego, I was in the right place and right time. I covered a ball that Randy had blocked straight down, or that match would have been over.”

Will the luck continue, and will the winning streak be intact when the tour comes to the Seal Beach Pier Aug. 14-16?

Kiraly isn’t making any promises, but he and Steffes are looking forward to Seal Beach for a couple reasons.

Smith and Stoklos are the two-time defending champions there, and they beat Kiraly and Steffes, 7-2, in a double final last year. It was the last time Smith and Stoklos have beaten them in a championship match.

The final two days of the tournament will be televised live by NBC, and Kiraly and Steffes have yet to win a title on the network.

In two televised tournaments last year, they finished fifth (at Milwaukee) and seventh (Hermosa Beach). Both tournaments were won by Johnson and Ricci Luyties.

“We would first like to make a final on TV,” Kiraly said. “We played poorly in both tournaments last year. We won a third tournament (televised from Daytona Beach, Fla.), but they didn’t show it because of a rain delay.”

But disappointments have been few this summer. Kiraly and Steffes’ last loss was to Brent Frohoff and Mike Whitmarsh on May 10 at New Orleans.

Since then, they’ve beaten Smith and Stoklos in four finals, and Tim Hovland and Brian Lewis the past two weeks. Other victories came against Hovland and Mike Dodd, Lewis and Pat Powers, Johnson and Luyties, and Larry Mear and Eric Wurts.

Their winning streak has sparked several partnership changes on the tour. Powers dumped Lewis and teamed with Dodd, while Lewis joined Hovland. Johnson and Luyties split, as have Frohoff and Whitmarsh.

“I’m happy to see other players frustrated at their lack of success against us, and that they’re resorting to change,” Kiraly said. “Most of the time, they’re better off not changing.”

Kiraly learned that lesson two years ago, when he dumped Steffes after losing yet another match to Smith and Stoklos. They reunited last year, and instantly became one of the top teams on the tour.

“I’ve been in the same boat as these guys are now,” Kiraly said. “I remember what it was like to be frustrated. I dumped Kent two years ago because of our lack of success against Sinjin and Randy. I think we would have been better off if I had not been so impatient.”

While Kiraly and Steffes are looking unbeatable on the men’s tour, the dominant team on the Women’s Pro Beach Volleyball Assn. tour the past two seasons has split.

San Diego’s Karolyn Kirby and El Toro’s Angela Rock, who won 20 tournaments together over the past 1 1/2 seasons, agreed to a mutual split after finishing seventh in a tournament at Cape Cod, Mass., in late June.

Kirby teamed with Carlsbad’s Nancy Reno and has won the past two tournaments. Rock finished seventh and ninth with Janice Opalinski-Harrer of San Juan Capistrano before forming a partnership last week with Gail Castro of Carlsbad.

Rock’s matchup with Castro broke a five-year, 69-tournament partnership between Castro and Lori Kotas of Oceanside.

Surfing update: Newport Beach’s Richie Collins remains in sixth place on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ overall standings after a ninth-place finish last weekend in the Gunston 500 at Durban, South Africa.

Collins was eliminated in the fourth round by former Seal Beach resident Marty Thomas.

Kelly Slater, a Cocoa Beach, Fla., native now living in Huntington Beach, lost in the first round and dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings. Australia’s Shane Herring continues to lead the tour standings.

Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia edged Australia’s Gary Elkerton, 30.97 to 29.97, in the finals of the Gunston.

In the women’s division, Australia’s Pam Burridge defeated Australia’s Neridah Falconer, 26.7 to 25.1, in the finals to strengthen her lead in the overall standings.

The next stop on the tour will be July 29-Aug. 2 on Reunion Island, a French island in the Indian Ocean off Africa’s southeast coast.

San Clemente’s Shane Beschen and Mike Parsons are among the 175 surfers competing at the $20,000 Budweiser Open this weekend at Malibu Beach.

Beschen leads the tour with 4,385 points, while Parsons, the 1991 champion, is fifth with 3,050. San Clemente’s Brian Wise, Jay Reale and Pat Caldwell are scheduled to compete in the bodyboarding division.

The tour stops at Malibu and Ventura have traditionally been two of the most important in determining the overall champion.

Beach Notes

Redondo Beach’s Jackie Silva, who teams with Huntington Beach’s Cammy Ciarelli on the beach tour, will play for Brazil’s Olympic team. Silva, 30, also was a member of Brazil’s 1980 and ’84 Olympic teams. . . . The Tom Ryan Memorial beach volleyball tournament will be Aug. 7-9 at the Huntington Beach Pier. The entry fee for two-player teams is $20, and $40 for four-player mixed teams. There will be novice and open divisions for the four-player teams. For more information, call (714) 960-2852.

They’re Ca$hing In

San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes of Pacific Palisades have dominated the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ tour this year, winning the past 10 tournaments and $127,000 each:

Tournament Winners Honolulu Sinjin Smith-Randy Stoklos Pensacola, Fla. Finals canceled by rain Ft. Myers, Fla. Johnson-Steffes Fresno Johnson-Steffes Phoenix Smith-Stoklos Clearwater, Fla. Pat Powers-Brian Lewis Austin, Tex. Kiraly-Steffes New Orleans Whitmarsh-Frohoff San Antonio, Tex. Kiraly-Steffes Fort Worth Kiraly-Steffes San Diego Kiraly-Steffes Boulder, Colo. Kiraly-Steffes Chicago Kiraly-Steffes Cape Cod, Mass. Kiraly-Steffes Louisville, Ky. Kiraly-Steffes Manhattan Beach Kiraly-Steffes Philadelphia Kiraly-Steffes Belmar, N.J. Kiraly-Steffes

Tournament Second-place Honolulu Adam Johnson-Kent Steffes Pensacola, Fla. Ft. Myers, Fla. Smith-Stoklos Fresno Mike Whitmarsh-Brent Frohoff Phoenix Johnson-Steffes Clearwater, Fla. Smith-Stoklos Austin, Tex. Smith-Stoklos New Orleans Kiraly-Steffes San Antonio, Tex. Powers-Lewis Fort Worth Larry Mear-Eric Wurts San Diego Smith-Stoklos Boulder, Colo. Smith-Stoklos Chicago Mike Dodd-Tim Hovland Cape Cod, Mass. Smith-Stoklos Louisville, Ky. Johnson-Ricci Luyties Manhattan Beach Smith-Stoklos Philadelphia Hovland-Lewis Belmar, N.J. Hovland-Lewis

REMAINING TOURNAMENTS: Grand Haven, Mich., Saturday-Sunday; Milwaukee, Aug. 1-2; Cleveland, Aug. 8-9; Seal Beach, Aug. 14-16; Santa Cruz, Aug. 20-22; U.S. championships, Hermosa Beach, Aug. 28-30.