Plan by Men’s Volleyball Group Threatens Women’s Tour : Beach tour: AVP wants to include a women’s division, a move that could jeopardize future of the WPVA.

Officials with the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals men’s beach tour are planning to expand with a women’s division this season, a move that could jeopardize the future of the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour.

Officials with the women’s tour and the Women’s Sports Foundation are upset with the AVP, which is attempting to sign eight of the top WPVA players to six-year contracts. Sources said the contracts are worth $20,000 to $40,000 per player, depending on their ranking.

AVP President Jon Stevenson said no final decision has been made but added that a tour announcement could come as early as Monday.

Losing the players would be another in a series of setbacks for the women’s tour, which has undergone several administrative changes, budget cuts and has decreased tournament prize money in the last year.

Tour players and officials have sought advice from the Women’s Sports Foundation concerning the AVP’s expansion.

“Our impression is that the men’s tour saw an opportunity when the women’s tour was down,” said Kathryn Reith, assistant executive director of communication and advocacy with the sports foundation.

“There has been some talk about beach volleyball being considered for the Olympics, and organizations (AVP and the U.S. Volleyball Assn.) are trying to gain control of the sport. Having both the men’s and women’s players would put the AVP in control.”

But Stevenson said the WPVA players, not the men’s tour officials, initiated the contract discussions in November. Stevenson said the men’s tour has considered adding a women’s division since it started in 1983.

“We’re doing it in a way to better the sport,” he said. “The idea was not initiated by us, but we have been considering this for a long time.”

Flo Bryan, the WPVA’s executive director, said the women’s tour will survive without those players.

“We believe the tour has proven it can stand alone,” she said. “We feel women’s volleyball should be autonomous, rather than a sideshow, which is the status it’s being assigned over at the AVP. It’s being set up as exhibition volleyball over there.”

Six of last year’s top 11 WPVA money winners are expected to sign with the AVP, including fourth-ranked Angela Rock, a former Olympian and El Toro High standout, and sixth-ranked Cammy Ciarelli of Huntington Beach.

Sources say the players are leaving because they are frustrated with administrative and financial problems with the Laguna Beach-based WPVA, which is entering its seventh season.

“I’m not going to speculate on why some of the players are going elsewhere,” Bryan said. “But those who stayed believe in an organization where they can control their own destiny.”

Patty Dodd and WPVA Linda Chisholm-Carrillo resigned from the WPVA board of directors in December because of conflicts with other board members. Player Barbara Fontana is now the tour’s president.

Officials reduced the women’s tour from 18 to 13 events this season, eliminating its annual Orange County tournament. The tour also reduced prize money this season from $40,000 per tournament to $25,000.

“I think it’s a good decision to scale back the tour,” Bryan said. “It’s a calculated attempt to rebuild the organization. We have faced some unexpected roadblocks in the past, but we expect to come back stronger in 1994.”

Bryan said 12 of the 13 tournaments will be televised regionally by Prime Ticket, and another is expected to be televised nationally by CBS.

But the women leaving the tour say they will receive more exposure by playing in conjunction with the men’s tour, which draws larger crowds and is televised by Prime Ticket and NBC.

The players’ two-year contract with the WPVA expired at the end of the year, so the women are free to sign with any organization. The AVP contract includes a two-year signing option after the fourth season, sources said.

Although contacted last November, AVP officials opened serious discussion with the players two weeks ago.

According to two sources, the players planning to sign with the AVP are:

--Rock, who dominated the women’s tour in 1990 and 1991 with ex-partner Karolyn Kirby.

--Chisholm-Carrillo of Van Nuys, who tied for second last season with Liz Masakayan.

--Ciarelli, who finished sixth on the tour last season.

--Seventh-ranked Jackie Silva of Redondo Beach, the No. 2 all-time winningest player on the tour behind Kirby.

--Fifth-ranked Nancy Reno of Carlsbad, who won her first pro tournament with Rock at last season’s Seal Beach Open.

--Laguna Beach native Linda Hanley, wife of AVP player John Hanley, who is returning after part of the past two seasons off.

--Former UCLA standout Holly McPeak, who is ranked 11th.

The eighth player has yet to be selected.

San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly, a two-time Olympian and one of the AVP’s top players, said adding a women’s division has some drawbacks.

“Many of the men ranked No. 20 and lower might be upset that the women’s prize money isn’t going to the men,” Kiraly said. “That’s one of the negatives. But if the women can attract a lot of the fans that we can’t, that would be a positive.”

Kiraly said the AVP organized men’s and women’s tournaments together briefly in the early 1980s, before the women decided to form their own tour in 1987.

Although many of the top players are leaving the women’s tour, top-ranked Kirby and Liz Masakayan, who tied for second with Chisholm-Carrillo last season, plan to stay.

“It took a lot of courage to do what Karolyn and Liz did,” Reith said. “They gave up a sure thing, and decided to take a risk to help further their sport.

“I think this will bring the women staying with the WPVA closer together. I don’t think the divide-and-conquer tactics will hurt the tour.”