VOLLEYBALL WOMEN AT MANHATTAN BEACH : Top Team Feels No Pressure

Liz Masakayan and Linda Carrillo are the defending world champions and the top-seeded team at this weekend’s $80,000 Coors Light pro beach volleyball world championships in Manhattan Beach.

Both women say their status carries no extra pressure, and their confidence showed in solid play Saturday.

They started the day with a 15-2 victory over 17th-seeded Amy Baltus and Pat Keller, then defeated eighth-seeded Rita Crockett-Royster and Lori Kotas, 15-7, in the quarterfinals.

“Everyone around us is putting more pressure on us,” said Masakayan, a former All-American at UCLA. “But it’s not in our eyes.”

Carrillo and Masakayan, seeded first for only the second time this season, will meet fifth-seeded Elaine Roque and Patty Dodd in today’s winners’ bracket semifinal at 9:30 a.m. Roque and Dodd upset fourth-seeded Holly McPeak of Manhattan Beach and Cammy Ciarelli of Huntington Beach, 15-7.

Second-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno will meet third-seeded Jackie Silva and Angela Rock in today’s other winners’ bracket semifinal. Kirby-Reno took about 15 minutes to defeat 10th-seeded Ali Johnson and Dennie Knoop, 15-4, in an uneventful quarterfinal match.

Masakayan-Carrillo took a 9-0 lead against Crockett-Royster and Kotas, but the margin was cut to 9-6 before Masakayan took control of the match with her jump serve.

Roque and Dodd won their match against McPeak and Ciarelli by overcoming a 7-3 deficit with 12 unanswered points.

“We came out a little slow, but we were able to side out,” said Dodd, a former UCLA All-American who had shoulder surgery shortly before the start of the 1991 season. “It’s a great feeling to be able to come back and do that.”

Kirby and Reno, who lost their No. 1 ranking when they finished ninth at the U.S. Open at Venice Beach on Aug. 2, are coming off last week’s victory in a $50,000 exhibition tournament in Spain.

“The victory in Spain did a lot for our confidence,” said Reno, a former Stanford All-American and U.S. national team member. “After a tournament like Venice Beach you tend to doubt yourself. It also takes a little bit of pressure off to be seeded No. 2.”

Silva and Rock easily defeated sixth-seeded Gail Castro and Janice Harrer, 15-6, in the quarterfinals. Castro-Harrer fought off five match points, but Silva’s serve was returned short by Castro and pounded at the net by Rock for match point.

“I’m so happy I’m not in the losers’ bracket . . . ,” Rock said after the victory. “We’ve been working very hard. We’ve been training real hard.”