BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Top Teams Square Off at Seal Beach

The two best teams in professional volleyball got what they wanted Saturday at the $100,000 Seal Beach Open: a shot at each other.

Top-seeded Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh face second-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes today at 9 a.m. after both teams had relatively easy times during the second day of matches.

Kiraly and Steffes posted two 15-4 victories. In their opener, they defeated Leif Hanson and Chris Young. Kiraly served three aces in the victory over Kevin Martin and David Swatik in the afternoon.

Dodd and Whitmarsh, two-time Seal Beach champions and this year’s leading money winners on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, jumped to an 11-1 lead over Troy Tanner and Wes Welch, then slumped briefly before recovering for a 15-7 victory. Later, they pulled away from an 8-6 lead against fifth-seeded Brian Lewis and Bill Boullianne to win, 15-9.

Just about everyone on the beach thought things would turn out this way, and most won’t be surprised to see the loser from the 9 a.m. match battle back into the 1 p.m. final through the losers’ bracket.

“This is what we wanted,” Dodd said. “It should be a good match.”

Dodd and Whitmarsh have defeated Kiraly and Steffes in the last two finals here. Dodd is shooting for his fourth consecutive Seal Beach title.

The only surprise of the day came when fourth-seeded Randy Stoklos and Scott Ayakatubby were eliminated. They ran out of time while trailing, 12-11, to Boullianne and Lewis and then surrendered an 11-8 lead and fell to third-seeded Jose Loiola and Adam Johnson, 15-12. Johnson and Stoklos began the season as partners, but split about a month ago.

Loiola and Johnson, knocked into the losers’ bracket Friday by a 17-15 defeat to Martin and Swatik, earned a rematch this morning with a 15-5 victory over Eduardo Bacil and Tim Hovland.