VOLLEYBALL / AT HERMOSA BEACH : War of Words Moves to Sand Today

Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos got what they wanted Saturday--a trip to the winners’ bracket finals and another showdown with rivals Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes.

Second-seeded Smith and Stoklos will meet top-seeded Kiraly and Steffes at 10 a.m. today in the $250,000 Miller Lite U.S. pro beach volleyball championships at the Hermosa Beach Pier.

The championship match of the three-day, double-elimination tournament is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Kiraly and Steffes defeated fifth-seeded Brent Frohoff of Hermosa Beach and Ricci Luyties of San Diego, 15-13, Saturday in the semifinals. Smith and Stoklos beat Tim Hovland and Adam Johnson, 12-10, in the other semifinal.

The matchup renews a longtime rivalry between Kiraly and Smith-Stoklos.

“If we win tomorrow, we’ll make a statement,” Stoklos said. “Karch said on national TV a couple weeks ago that we had to leave the country just to win a tournament.

“It’s funny for him to say that, because I’ve beaten him in probably 40 Open finals. I thought he respected me more than that. It was a little premature for him to say that, don’t you think?”

Smith and Stoklos, both of Pacific Palisades, are playing the tournament in protest of a $70,000 fine levied against them last week by the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ board of directors because they violated the players agreement.

They were fined and suspended from last week’s tournament at Santa Cruz for skipping the AVP’s Seal Beach Open to play in another tournament in Spain.

“Karch didn’t show up for the first part of the season because he was over in Italy and making more than $1 million,” Smith said. “Did anyone fine him? No.”

Said Kiraly: “It’s like comparing apples and oranges. I was playing indoors in Italy, not on a competing beach tour. They’re telling everyone that they went to Spain to promote volleyball as an Olympic sport.

“They went because the prize money was more than Seal Beach’s and they hadn’t won a tournament in the U.S.”