Beach Volleyball Event Settles for Non-Olympians

There might be a bittersweet mood surrounding the Evian Women’s Pro Beach Volleyball tournament at Long Beach, beginning today, because three teams will be conspicuously absent.

The teams of Nancy Reno and Holly McPeak, Barbra Fontana Harris and Linda Hanley, and Gail Castro and Deb Richardson are in Atlanta preparing to represent the United States in the Olympic beach volleyball tournament, which begins July 23.

The rest of the WPVA tour, including several teams that came close to qualifying for the Olympics, will try to keep their hearts in the games for the $40,000 purse at Belmont Shores.

Karolyn Kirby and Angela Rock, the second-winningest team in tour history, are the top-seeded team in the Long Beach Open. Kirby and Rock won 17 tournament titles together in 1991 and 1992 before splitting.

Kirby also was part of the winningest team in tour history, winning 26 titles with Liz Masakayan from 1993-95.

In the Olympic Trials at Baltimore in June, Kirby paired with Lisa Arce, the WPVA’s most improved player last year. Kirby and Arce were top-seeded but were upset twice in the trials and were eliminated, along with Rock and trials-partner Masakayan.

Arce and Patty Dodd are seeded second in the Long Beach Open and Elaine Roque and Dennie Shupryt-Knoop are seeded third. Of all the teams that participated in the trials, Roque and Shupryt-Knoop have reason to be the most frustrated at playing in Long Beach this weekend rather than Atlanta.

Roque and Shupryt-Knoop fought their way through the contenders’ bracket to advance to the final four at the trials. Hanley and Harris defeated Roque and Shupryt-Knoop to earn an Olympic berth. After that, Roque and Shupryt-Knoop dropped into a consolation match, where Castro and Richardson defeated them to earn an Olympic berth.

Masakayan, who had knee surgeries in 1994 and 1995, will pair with Cammie Ciarelli, also the Huntington Beach High girls’ volleyball coach, for the Long Beach Open. Masakayan and Ciarelli are seeded eighth.

The first round begins at 9 a.m. today and the second round begins at 8 a.m. Sunday. Four teams advance to the final four beginning at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, and the final is scheduled for 3 p.m.