McPeak, Reno Are Team to Watch : Beach volleyball: Top-seeded pair at Nationals in Huntington Beach have won 22 consecutive matches.

The hottest team on the women’s pro beach volleyball tour is Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno, winners of 22 consecutive matches and three straight tournament titles.

Seeded No. 1 in this weekend’s 32-team Nationals in Huntington Beach, McPeak and Reno have won six of 13 events on the 1995 Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour and made it to the final of five others.

McPeak, the best defensive player in the WPVA, is a 26-year-old from Manhattan Beach who competed at Cal and UCLA. Reno, 29 and a resident of San Diego, played at Stanford and is probably the most powerful blocker on the beach.

“We’re a new team this year so it took time for us to get to the point where we got used to our different styles of play,” said McPeak, who is 5 feet 7. “Now we’re very comfortable together and we have a great rhythm.”

Reno and McPeak are tied for first place with $47,840 in prize money on the domestic tour. They have also each earned $17,500 this year by winning three events--in Hermosa Beach; Pusan, South Korea; and Osaka, Japan--on an international tour that eventually will serve as a qualifier for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“We’re just on a roll right now and we’re very confident,” Reno, 5-11, said. “We’re an extremely hard team to beat.”

Second-seeded Linda Hanley and Karolyn Kirby will probably provide the toughest competition for McPeak and Reno.

Hanley, a graduate of Laguna Beach High and former UCLA All-American, and Kirby teamed up two weeks ago and made it to the final of their first tournament together in Portland, Ore. Last week in Long Beach, Kirby, the winningest player in the WPVA with 55 tournament titles, and Hanley placed third.

Another team to watch is third-seeded Liz Masakayan and Angela Rock, in their first tournament as a team. Masakayan, a former UCLA All-American and U.S. National team member, had reconstructive knee surgery before the start of the season, yet teamed with former longtime partner Kirby to win three events.

Gail Castro of Carlsbad and Lori Forsythe of Encinitas are seeded fourth and Elaine Roque of Santa Monica and Dennie Knoop of Topanga Canyon fifth.

Cammy Ciarelli, a graduate of Laguna Beach High who lives in Huntington Beach, is seeded sixth with partner Barbra Fontana.

The tournament begins at noon today near the pier. Matches start at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and the final, which will be televised live on CBS, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.