Baltimore, Md., - (June 9, 1996) Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, the No. 1 ranked team on the Miller Lite/AVP Pro Beach Tour, captured the second spot on the first-ever U.S. Olympic Beach volleyball team by dominating the No. 2 seeded team of Adam Johnson and Randy Stoklos, 15-3, Sunday in the Olympic Qualification match.
In the match, Kiraly drew first blood with his service ace down the middle of the court. After Stoklos and Johnson battled back to tie the match at 2-2, the top seeds rallied to score eleven straight points for a lopsided 13-2 lead. Stoklos, suffering from a sprained right ankle that occurred in warm-ups prior to Saturday's Olympic Qualification match against Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh, was no factor at the net as he had only one block for point and the No. 2 seeds' third and final point in the match. Kiraly finished the match by hitting around a Stoklos block for championship point.
"I was very fired up. We had to win to get to the Olympics. You have to push through a match like this because the other team has nothing to lose when there is a player hurt," Kiraly said. "Sometimes you have a tendency to let up or become much more passive in an effort to go at the injured player. We stayed aggressive and converted almost all of our point opportunities."
Kiraly and Steffes have won six tournament titles on the Miller Lite/AVP Tour this year and have played in 105 tourneys together, winning 70, for a 66.6% winning percentage.
"The Americans have talked about how we are the dominate players in the world and we'd like to go to the Olympics and prove in front of everybody that we are the best country and have the best beach volleyball players," Steffes said.
Johnson and Stoklos scored just two points with kills. The team committed five unforced hitting errors and seven serving errors. Johnson, one of the most powerful servers on the Tour, had only one jump serve for an ace in Sunday's match.
"The ball is completely different from what we are used to. It is a very light ball. It's almost like an indoor ball," said Johnson. "With the wind swirling like it was during the match, sometimes one centimeter off on your toss can make the difference between a net or an ace serve."
"It was remarkable timing," said Stoklos of his ankle injury. "Throughout my career, I've twisted my ankle maybe twice on the beach. I have never even seen somebody land on the volleyball. I landed and hit that thing as square as I could hit it. It was remarkable. It was a one in a billion chance."
Baltimore, Md., - (June 8, 1996) Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, the No. 4 ranked team on the Miller Lite/AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, captured a spot on the first-ever U.S. Olympic Beach volleyball team by defeating the No. 2 seeded team of Adam Johnson and Randy Stoklos, 15-7, Saturday in the Olympic Qualification match.
In the match, Whitmarsh's stifling block accounted for four of the first six unanswered points. Whitmarsh finished the match by smothering a Stoklos attack for championship point. It was his seventh block of the match.
"I felt good out there blocking today. I just felt big out there. There have been games this year where I haven't even come close to blcoking a ball," Whitmarsh said.
"I think the biggest key was the way we sided out. We scrambled on the plays were they did get us in trouble and blocked or dug the ball to make sideout. With the court smaller and ball difficult to control, when you have to go up against Mike Whitmarsh, you're in trouble," Dodd said.
Dodd and Whitmarsh have won just one tournament title on the Miller Lite/AVP Tour and had placed 5th and 7th in the last two tour outings.
"Mike and I picked a good time of the year to play our best. We haven't been playing all that well at all this year. The past week here in Baltimore we've been playing right at the top of our game," Whitmarsh said.
Johnson and Stoklos scored just three point with kills while Stoklos blocked for two points. The team committed five unforced hitting errors and five serving errors. Johnson, one of the most powerful servers on the Tour, failed to serve an ace in Saturday's match.
Johnson and Stoklos face Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes in Sunday's final Olympic qualification game. Kiraly and Steffes had little trouble defeating Carlos Briceno and Jeff Williams, 15-7.
Kiraly and Steffes, the prohibitive favorites to capture an Olympic berth, were defeated Friday by Whitmarsh and Dodd, 15-8.
In Saturday's game, Kiraly and Steffes flubbed seven match points before Steffes hit around the block for match point.
"I felt like every match was important this week. From the first one on, we wanted to go undefeated, so we missed that goal. We'll just have to try and win tommorrow. We think of it the same way we thought of every game that we didn't want to lose any of them," Kiraly said.
Stoklos sprained his right ankle in warm-ups prior to the Dodd/Whitmarsh match. He was treated at a local sports medicine center and is expected to play in Sunday's final match.
Kiraly/Steffes and Johnson/Stoklos will play Sunday at 1:30 p.m. with a tape delay broadcast on NBC at 4 p.m. EST
Baltimore, Md., - (June 7, 1996) Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, the No.4 ranked team on the Miller Lite/AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, suprised the volleyball world as they played flawless beach volleyball and upset the No. 1 seeds of Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, 15-8, advancing to Saturday's Olympic qualifying match at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Baltimore, Md.
In the match, Kiraly and Steffes rattled off three unanswered points to take an early 4-2 lead. Whitmarsh and Dodd exchanged points with the No. 1 seeded team and took an 8-7 lead. Kiraly and Steffes garnered just one point as they committed five hitting errors and six serving errors down the stretch. Whitmarsh blocked two good attacks fo points.
"It's not going to be that easy next time," Whitmarsh said. "They had an off game right then and Mike and I played hard."
Dodd and Whitmarsh will face Adam Johnson and Randy Stoklos at noon Saturday in a match-up of big defenders. Stoklos had five blocks for points in a 15-4 drubbing of Carlos Briceno and Jeff Williams earlier Friday.
Kiraly and Steffes must now win two matches to capture a spot on the Olympic team. They will face Briceno/Williams Saturday at 1:15 p.m. Should Kiraly and Steffes advance, they will play the loser of the Dodd/Whitmarsh-Johnson/Stoklos match.
Saturday's matches will air on NBC with same-day-coverage at 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
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