Roque, Castro Get Rolling at Hermosa Beach : Volleyball: The WPVA’s No. 4 team is impressive in advancing to quarterfinals. They have a showdown today with top-seeded Kirby and Masakayan.

Elaine Roque and Gail Castro have not won a Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tournament in three weeks, but at Saturday’s Hermosa Beach Open, they played as if they were the team to beat.

Roque and Castro started the season as the tour’s second-ranked team behind Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan, but they dropped to No. 4 after two fifth-place finishes and a fourth-place finish.

But Roque and Castro cruised through their first two matches (15-2 and 15-3) and beat fifth-seeded Ali Johnson and Dennie Knoop, 15-9, in the quarterfinals to earn a spot in today’s semifinals.

“We’re not doing anything different physically,” said Roque, 33. “We were just mentally flat.”

Castro, 35, said the team just got into a negative cycle.

“Our chemistry is so good and we have so much fun together,” she said. “We know we have the physical tools to win.”

Roque and Castro will play Kirby and Masakayan this morning at 9:30.

Kirby and Masakayan, who have won five of six tour events, were in top form. They started with a 15-0 victory over No. 32 Carolyn Hueth, a Torrance native, and Ann Windes.

An hour later they beat the 16th-seeded rookie team of Kengelin Gardiner and Christine Schaefer, 15-8, and in the quarterfinals they defeated ninth-seeded Heather Hafner and Shannon Millen, 15-5.

“I think the competition is getting better and people are getting used to us,” said Masakayan, a 28-year-old former Olympian and UCLA All-American. “We’re not just breezing through every match.”

Today’s other semifinal will feature second-seeded Barbra Fontana and Lori Kotas against third-seeded Janice Harrer and Deb Richardson. Fontana and Kotas gave up five points in three matches.

They opened with a 15-0 victory over No. 31 Tiffany Jestadt and Michele Kohler and beat No. 15 Michel Clingman and Johanna Wright, 15-1, in the second round. Fontana and Kotas beat 10th-seeded Jackie Campbell and Monique Oliver, 15-4, in a quarterfinal match.

Harrer and Richardson beat sixth-seeded Wendy Fletcher and Marla O’Hara, 15-13, in the quarterfinals.