AVP takes step back in time - Kiraly rekindles Smith rivalry,settles for 9th
8/19/01
By DAVE LOVETON
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
On a  picture-perfect  Saturday afternoon when three of the top four men's seeds stayed alive in the $125,000 AVP Michelob Light Open, history was being made. In back-to-back,late-afternoon matches, Santa Barbara fans got to see the two winningest players in beach history square off, followed by a match between the last two Olympic gold medalists in beach volleyball.Santa Barbara legend Karch Kiraly, playing his first tourney of the year, returned to his stomping grounds at East Beach and rekindled his rivalry against his former partner, Sinjin Smith, in what may be their final battle.
"The fans would have been disappointed not to see us meet sometime here and it's nice that I'm still able to compete," said the 44-year-old Smith, who's had six knee operations and plans to retire after next week's AVP tourney in Manhattan Beach. "George (Roumain) has only been practicing a few days and he was incredible."The difference was my passing," he added."If I pass the way I can, and passing is my strength, we would have had a great chance
to win."I was very surprised Karch was able to do what he did after not playing all summer."Santa Barbarans Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers, the top-seeded duo, swept their three matches but gave up 17 or more points in five of the six games. Of course, with the new rally-scoring format (a point on every serve), most of the game scores
are close.Holdren-Rogers will meet another unbeaten team, fourth-seeded Albert Hannemann-Sean Scott, at 8 a.m. today.The winner will earn a spot in the "final four."The women's final is scheduled for 1 p.m.today with the men's final starting at approximately 3 p.m. The winners in each division will split $14,500.In their third-round match, Holdren-Rogers faced the ex-UCSB stars, Eric Fonoimoana-Rob Heidger, in an all-Santa Barbara matchup. In a close battle,Holdren-Rogers led most of the way en route to a 21-19, 21-17 victory."We played well today," said Rogers. "We had good ball-control. The teams we faced played well against us. In the first game of the first match, Fairfield-Gardner gave us a battle and the Witts were tough too.Eli Fairfield-Gabe Gardner fell to Holdren-Rogers 21-19 and then fell apart in a 21-4 loss. The 16th-seeded Witt brothers (Larry and Andy) from Santa Ynez dropped a narrow 21-19, 21-19 decision.The Witts won two matches before being eliminated by the 27th-seeded team of Sean
Rosenthal-Mark Williams.In this morning's other winner's bracket
semifinal, the surprising team of Scott Davenport-Jeff Nygaard, seeded 14th, will meet second-seeded Canyon Ceman-Mike Whitmarsh.Davenport and Nygaard, a member of the U.S. Olympic indoor team with Williams and Roumain, went 3-0 on Saturday and
scored the biggest upset of the day with a 15-21, 21-14, 15-12 second-round victory that sent Kiraly-Ayakatubby into the contenders' bracket.In the fourth round of the contenders'  bracket at 8 a.m., the ninth-seeded Fonoimoana-Heidger will meet No. 7 Stein Metzger-Kevin Wong with No. 10 Ian Clark, a former SBCC star, and Adam Jewell taking on Rosenthal-Williams.Defending champion Lee LeGrande, who rallied to beat Holdren-Rogers 17-15 with Franco Neto in last year's final, dropped
two straight contenders' bracket matches and tied for ninth with Brent Doble.Kiraly and Smith are the two winningest beach players in history with 281 titles.The "old men" -- Kiraly is 40, Smith 44 --are also fathers. Kiraly has two boys and Smith has three.
Scott Ayakatubby, who's won 18 times in 18 seasons, was playing with Kiraly while Roumain, the ex-Santa Ynez High and U.S.National Team star, was making his pro beach debut with Smith. Kiraly-Ayakatubby, the No. 3 seed, rallied for an 18-21, 21-13, 15-10 victory in the third-round contenders' bracket match before an appreciative stadium crowd of 1,500.Saturday's overall crowd estimate was in the 3,500-4,000 range. At 6:10 p.m., about ninety minutes after beating Smith and Roumain, the third-seeded Kiraly and Ayakatubby were ousted by Fonoimoana-Heidger, 21-19,19-21, 15-9, and finished in a tie for ninth  place.Kiraly looked strong, despite having to play four consecutive three-game matches following his opening-round victory."I know I'm in good shape if I can play four three-game matches in a row," said Kiraly,who's won two Olympic gold medals            indoors and a third on the beach. "It's funny how it worked out (playing against Sinjin).I'm a little surprised to hear he's retiring.It's the end of an era. George (Roumain) is young and raw. He's a real force at the net." Fonoimoana-Heidger took control of Game 3 against Kiraly-Ayakatubby with 4-1 run that made the score 11-6. On the third match point, Heidger pounded a ball off Kiraly's block.Kiraly will play next week with Ayakatubby in Manhattan Beach and then decide whether he'll come back for a 23rd season on the beach.
"This is my shortest season ever -- nine days," he said with a smile. "I'm trying to get into midseason form and it's a little tough to do it all in one day."