Smith, Vrebalovich Are Sent to Sidelines : Open: Fifth-seeded team loses to 29th-seeded Duarte and Holdger. Kiraly and Steffes meet Dodd and Whitmarsh in winners’ bracket final.

Sinjin Smith has won a record 134 career pro beach volleyball tournaments, so his 13th-place finish at the Manhattan Beach Open on Saturday was surprising to many.

Smith and partner Dan Vrebalovich, the fifth-seeded team, were upset by 29th-seeded Marcelo Duarte and Rob Holdger, 15-12, in a morning consolation bracket match.

Smith-Vrebalovich fell into the losers’ bracket after losing, 15-6, to 11th-seeded Troy Tanner and Eric Wurts on Friday.

“Sure it’s disappointing, but it’s not like the team of Smith-Stoklos that was so successful lost,” said the 36-year-old Smith.

Smith and Randy Stoklos were partners for more than 10 years and they won two Opens. Smith has also won the event with Jim Menges and Karch Kiraly.

Kiraly, seeded first with partner Kent Steffes, is on track to win a record sixth Open. Kiraly and Steffes have dominated this year’s Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour by winning 10 of 14 events.

They won two matches Saturday to earn a spot in today’s winners’ bracket final at 9 a.m.

Kiraly-Steffes beat eighth-seeded Brian Lewis and Steve Timmons, 12-10, and fourth-seeded Adam Johnson and Bruk Vandeweghe, 15-9.

In that game Kiraly-Steffes held a 14-3 lead before Lewis and Vandeweghe got rolling. Johnson, a former USC All-American, served his team’s last six points.

“Obviously we lost our momentum at 14-3,” Kiraly said. “And Bruk was blocking so well. . . . I think what won the game for us was Kent’s blocking.”

Kiraly-Steffes will play second-seeded Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh in the winners’ bracket final. Dodd and Whitmarsh beat third-seeded Brent Frohoff and Ricci Luyties, 12-11, in a semifinal on center court. The match ended when time expired on the nine-minute clock.

Dodd, a Manhattan Beach native, is the only other player alive in the tournament who has won five Opens.

He won them all with former partner Tim Hovland, who was eliminated early Saturday. Fifth-seeded Hovland and partner Scott Ayakatubby lost, 11-6, to Tanner and Wurts. Hovland-Ayakatubby finished ninth.

“It’s hard to get over,” said Ayakatubby, a Hermosa Beach native. “We played pretty well in our first game this morning. We had things going, but in this game they just sided out well. We could not get to any of their balls.”

Frohoff and Luyties were eliminated in the last match of the day on center court. They were defeated by Timmons and Lewis, 18-16, and finished fifth.

With the score tied, 16-16, Lewis served two points for the victory. During the match, Frohoff, a Hermosa Beach native, broke a finger in his left hand trying to dig a Simmons’ spike.

“It’s just so hard to take a loss like that,” said Frohoff, who teamed up with Kiraly to win the 1990 Open. “They just played great. I haven’t seen Steve play that well in a long time.”

Today’s championship match, which will be televised live by NBC, is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

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In the four-team AVP women’s round-robin tournament, Nancy Reno and Angela Rock will meet Cammy Ciarelli and Holly McPeak in today’s 10 a.m. final.

The team of Jackie Silva and Linda Carrillo forfeited a semifinal match on Saturday because Carrillo suffered muscle spasms.

“I’ve had better days,” Carrillo said. “I’m just getting over the flu.”