The Usual Pair Expected to Win the One That Got Away : Volleyball: Kiraly and Steffes, who have won 13 of 19 tournaments this year, are favorites in Seal Beach Open that starts today.

When the $100,000 Miller Lite Open beach volleyball tournament begins here today, there won’t be any doubt which team is favored.

Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes have won 13 of 19 tournaments this year and 50 of their last 61. However, they have never teamed to win this event.

A total of 48 men’s teams and eight women’s teams will compete in the three-day event, which will feature the world’s top professional beach volleyball players, including Randy Stoklos, Adam Johnson, Mike Dodd, Mike Whitmarsh, Tim Hovland, Nancy Reno, Angela Rock, Cammy Ciarelli and Holly McPeak.

Play will run from 9:30 a.m to 5 p.m. today, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. Sunday, with the men’s championship match scheduled for 11:30 a.m. The women’s final will be earlier, probably around 10.

The prize money for the men includes $20,000 for the first-place team; the women will play for $20,000, including $5,714 for the champions.

The matches will be played next to the Seal Beach Pier, at Eighth Street and Ocean Avenue.

At last year’s tournament, Kiraly and Steffes made it to the championship match but lost a grueling final to tour veterans Dodd and Whitmarsh.

On the women’s side, Ciarelli and McPeak will be trying to defend their title.

Kiraly and Steffes, who played for UCLA, won 11 of the first 13 tournaments this season before Kiraly was sidelined for several weeks because of a bruised kidney suffered June 11 during a tour stop in Boulder, Colo.

The pair bounced back July 24 and won the championship match in Chicago and followed that with a victory last weekend in Santa Cruz.

Kiraly is third among active players in tournament victories with 92; Steffes is fourth with 67. Sinjin Smith, who will not participate because of lingering knee problems, leads all active players with 135 victories. Stoklos, the former longtime partner of Smith, has won 120 tournaments.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Miller Brewing Company will award $750,000 in bonus pool money for season-long point leaders on the AVP tour.

The bonuses, which will be awarded during the Hermosa Beach tournament in two weeks, include $100,000 for the point leader. The remainder will be shared among the rest of the top 48 players.

Each player receives 10.5 points for first place. Steffes currently holds a 6.25-point advantage over Kiraly because Steffes earned points when he teamed with Scott Ayakatubby in Puerto Rico while Kiraly was sidelined with the kidney injury.

Dodd and Whitmarsh are third in the standings and trail Kiraly by 40 points.

Past Seal Beach Winners

1993--Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh (Cammy Ciarelli and Holly McPeak in women’s division)

1992--Mike Dodd and Pat Powers (No women’s division)

1991--Sinjin Smith-Randy Stoklos

1990--Smith-Stoklos

1989--Kent Steffes-John Stevenson

1988--Mike Dodd-Tim Hovland

1987--Smith-Stoklos

1986--Dodd-Hovland

1985--Smith-Stoklos

1984--Stevenson-John Hanley