Kiraly Not Quite Ready to Hang Up His Spikes

Karch Kiraly, the all-time leader in pro beach volleyball victories with 148, returns today for the Manhattan Beach Open after missing the last four events because of a knee injury. He said he is leaning toward playing another season on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

Kiraly, 45, had arthroscopic surgery to repair ligament damage in his right knee after the Sacramento Open in June. He had a similar surgery on his left knee in April, but missed only one tournament because of a break in the schedule.

He has also had three shoulder surgeries since 1996 and many speculated that with all the time Kiraly has spent in the operating room it would lead to his retirement after this season.

“If some other part gives out on me, then that would be a pretty clear signal that it’s time,” Kiraly said. “But I feel like I’ve had my 30,000-mile checkup. I feel like I’ve played some decent volleyball. I’m still really enjoying myself out there and I’m leaning toward playing one more year.”

This will be the 18th Manhattan Beach Open for Kiraly, who has won 10 titles -- more than any other player. His last Manhattan title came in 2004.

His victory with Mike Lambert last year at Huntington Beach gave him at least one title in 18 of the last 19 years. He didn’t win in 2001, but played only two tournaments that year while recovering from shoulder surgery.

This year, Kiraly and partner Larry Witt have played five tournaments. Their best finish was fifth place in the season opener at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Since then it has been a ninth, seventh, 13th and ninth.

The 13th-place showing at Hermosa Beach was only the fifth time Kiraly had finished outside of the top 10 in 321 domestic tournaments, but three of those were in the last two years.

“Injuries have obviously hurt our momentum,” Kiraly said. “But when I’ve been healthy, I felt like we’ve played pretty good and that we can contend.”

Last week Kiraly tested his knee during the Manhattan Beach six-man tournament and said he felt fine. His plan was to stay in the back row to limit his jumping, but as the tournament went on, he felt good enough to play in front.

“My knee has felt fine for a couple of weeks,” he said. “And that tournament just re-enforced that for me.”

Recovery time for the surgery Kiraly had is generally four to six weeks. This week is the seventh since he had the operation. Kiraly said he and Witt had a four-hour practice session on Wednesday and he can’t imagine leaving the sport just yet.

“We had a ball practicing,” he said. “I get to play a kid’s game and my office is the beach. Now, if the injuries continue to plague me, then that’s a good sign I should walk away. But unless that happens, I’ll probably be back for another year.”