BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Kirby, Masakayan Team for Victory at Long Beach

It was a long day but a good one for Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan at Sunday’s $20,000 U.S. Open in Long Beach.

The top-ranked team in women’s professional beach volleyball had a difficult time with two opponents before winning the event in a downtown area known as the Promenade. They earned $5,300.

Kirby and Masakayan beat second-ranked Lori Kotas and Barbra Fontana, 15-9, in the final. The top-seeded players have dominated this year’s Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour, winning 11 of 12 events and a record 24 consecutive matches.

Trailing, 11-3, Fontana and Kotas scored five points in a row. They were outscored, 4-1, after that, and Masakayan served an ace for the match.

Masakayan, a former UCLA All-American, had struggled while serving in an earlier game, but came back to serve 11 of her team’s points in the final.

“My serve couldn’t have gotten worse,” she said. “There was only room for improvement. I focused a bit more on my toss, which was the problem.”

Kirby and Masakayan took a tough road to the championship match. They beat fourth-seeded Dennie Knoop and Deb Richardson, 15-9, in the winners’ bracket semifinal and Fontana-Kotas, 16-14, in the winners’ bracket final before the championship.

In both matches Kirby and Masakayan had to rally. They were down against Knoop-Richardson before taking a 9-8 lead when Kirby blocked Knoop’s spike.

Twenty minutes later, in the winners’ bracket final, Kotas-Fontana took an 11-5 lead. Kirby and Masakayan cut the deficit with four consecutive points and later tied the game, 14-14.

Kotas and Fontana gave up five match points and, at 15-14, Kirby served the game-winning ace.

“We blew it,” Kotas said. “We choked. We haven’t played them in a long time and I forgot about their tenacity.”