BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Sand Gives Them All a Hot Foot

The top-seeded team of Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan cruised through the quarterfinals of Saturday’s pro beach volleyball tournament in Long Beach, but they had one complaint: the sand.

The event is being held four blocks from the beach.

The city decided to have it in a downtown parking lot in an effort to promote the area.

Fifteen thousand tons of sand were trucked in to create four courts on which the surface looked more like kitty litter than the soft, deep sand most players are accustomed to.

“Of course it’s not the best conditions, but we’ve played on this before,” said Masakayan, a former UCLA All-American and U.S. national team member. “This is the only time we’ve had this situation, where we’re so close to the beach but we’re not playing on it.”

Kirby and Masakayan gave up a total of 11 points in three matches to advance to a semifinal against fourth-seeded Dennie Knoop and Deb Richardson today at 9:30 a.m.

The top-seeded team also broke a Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. record by increasing its winning streak to 21 games.

Knoop-Richardson defeated fifth-seeded Janice Harrer and Shannon Millen, 17-15, in a quarterfinal on center court. The 37-year-old Knoop also complained about the sand.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “It’s so hard. That’s why we’re wearing knee pads and elbow pads. This is the kind of sand you use to construct some kind of cement foundation.”

Today’s other semifinal matches second-seeded Barbra Fontana and Lori Kotas against sixth-seeded Lori Biller and Alison Johnson.

Biller-Johnson upset third-seeded Gail Castro and Elaine Roque, 16-14, in the quarterfinals. Roque-Castro were ahead, 13-4, but Biller-Johnson scored nine unanswered points to tie the score at 13-13.

“(Alison) started serving real well and they started feeling pressure,” said Biller, a former UCLA All-American. “Then we started siding out real well and they didn’t know what to do.”

The final is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today. The winning team in the $20,000 event will split $5,300.