VOLLEYBALL SEAL BEACH OPEN : Dodd, Powers Roll to Victory; Streak Ends

Brian Lewis and Mike Whitmarsh began Sunday by knocking Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes out of the $100,000 Seal Beach Open and ending the pair’s winning streak at 14 consecutive tournaments.

But the day ended with a dehydrated Whitmarsh taking fluids intravenously in a nearby medical van and Lewis apologizing for their 15-5 loss to Mike Dodd and Pat Powers in the championship match.

“Sorry about the finals,” Corona del Mar’s Lewis told the crowd. “You were ready to go off, and we didn’t give you anything to go off about.”

Dodd and Powers, seeded fifth, needed only 30 minutes to beat third-seeded Lewis and Whitmarsh in the double-elimination tournament final, played in front of a national television audience and an estimated crowd of 12,000 at the Seal Beach Pier.

Powers and Dodd earned $10,000 each for the victory. Lewis and Whitmarsh won $6,000 each.

“I had absolutely nothing left for the finals,” said Whitmarsh, a former NBA player with the Minnesota Timberwolves. “I knew Dodd and Powers were coming at me right from the start.”

Said Dodd: “It was sad. They had such a tough match earlier, we knew he (Whitmarsh) was cooked.”

Whitmarsh and Lewis played three losers’ bracket matches in the sweltering 90-degree temperatures, including overtime victories over Kiraly and Steffes (15-14) in the losers’ bracket quarterfinal and over Brent Frohoff and Ricci Luyties (12-11) in the semifinals.

It was the third tournament this season in which Whitmarsh has become ill. He said doctors have yet to diagnose his problem, but said he feels light-headed and has muscle spasms during and after some of his matches. He had IV fluids three times Sunday.

“Something’s missing,” said Whitmarsh, who stands 6 feet 7 and weighs 210 pounds. “In the off-season, I’m going to go take some tests at Duke University and try to find out what’s wrong.”

Whitmarsh and Lewis, playing in their first tournament together, had about an hour break between the championship match and their 12-10 victory over Tim Hovland and Capistrano Beach’s Adam Johnson in the losers’ bracket finals.

“I was feeling pretty bad in the third match,” Whitmarsh said. “It was just the heat. I never had a problem with it when I played basketball, and you’re expending a lot more energy there than you do out here.”

Said Lewis: “Mike’s a pretty big guy and this heat takes a lot out of you. I felt fine out there.”

Powers said Whitmarsh needed to pace himself better during tournaments.

“He’s the type of player who goes hard every play,” Powers said. “He’s the most physical player on the tour. He hasn’t paced himself during matches.

“His nickname on the tour is ‘Senor Sabado’ because he plays so well on Saturdays.”

Said Whitmarsh: “I don’t think it’s the pacing. I always play my hardest.”

Dodd and Powers had the luxury of a 2 1/2-hour break between their 15-5 winners’ bracket victory over Johnson and Hovland. Lewis and Whitmarsh played four matches Sunday to two for Dodd and Powers.

“(Lewis and Whitmarsh) had three brutal matches before the finals,” Dodd said. “Mike tends to have trouble in this type of weather.”

Dodd and Powers regularly served to Whitmarsh, who finished with 12 kills and four hitting errors. Lewis also struggled, finishing with one kill and five service errors.

“When you see someone’s not 100%, you go at him,” Dodd said of Whitmarsh. “That’s the beauty of this sport.”

Dodd said the heat had little impact on him.

“I never cramp at all,” he said. “(Former partner Tim) Hovland nicknamed me ‘The Camel.’ I was as fresh as a daisy out there.”

Dodd had an ace to open the match, and he and Powers built a 7-1 lead and were never threatened. Dodd finished with seven kills and Powers 12.

The victory was the first for Dodd this season and the second for Powers. Powers, 34, said he and Dodd, who will turn 35 this week, are the oldest team to win an Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ tournament.

“I think I’m playing as good now as I was in my early 30s and late 20s,” Dodd said. “I hope we can be the oldest team to win a few more tournaments.”

Dodd and Powers nearly wound up in the losers’ bracket Sunday. They trailed Hovland and Johnson, 9-6, with 31 seconds left, but rallied to tie it, 9-9, to force overtime. Hovland hit the ball out in overtime to give Dodd and Powers the victory.

Lewis said the victory over Kiraly and Steffes “got us going,” but added that it was no consolation for losing in the finals. He got his first career victory April 24 with Powers in Clearwater, Fla.

Kiraly and Steffes, who dropped into the losers’ bracket Saturday with a quarterfinal loss to Scott Friederichsen and Tim Walmer, rallied from 6-0 and 11-4 deficits to tie it, 14-14, and force overtime.

But a kill down the sideline by Whitmarsh ended the match and Kiraly and Steffes’ hopes for breaking the tour record of 13 consecutive victories, which they share with Jim Menges and Greg Lee. Lee and Menges set the record in 1975-76.

Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ President Jon Stevenson said the tour’s board of directors will meet Tuesday night to determine a fine and suspension of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.

The pair skipped the Seal Beach Open to play in the Olympic year ’92 tournament in Almeria, Spain, a violation of the AVP’s players agreement, Stevenson said.

Stevenson said Saturday that the fine and suspension were “automatic,” but added Sunday that the board must first approve it.