BELMAR, N.J. (August 18, 1996) --- In a hard fought battle, Olympic gold medalists Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes battled back against No. 3 seeds Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis 15-13, 7-2 today in the championship double final at the $100,000 Kodak FunSaver Pocket Camera Open at Belmar.
With their tenth Miller Lite/AVP tournament victory of the season, Kiraly and Steffes split $20,000 for their first place finish while Ayakatubby and Lewis share $17,100 for second.
Steffes, the No. 2 ranked player on the Miller Lite/AVP Tour, also became only the second player in history to reach the $2 million dollar mark in career earnings. With the win this weekend, Steffes has now earned $2,008,258 in prize money. Steffes, at age 28, already ranks fourth with 87 career victories in nine seasons.
"Next to my Olympic gold medal, it's an amazing milestone," said Steffes. In the championship match, Kiraly and Steffes battled back from a 9-6 deficit to tie the score at 10-10. The two teams exchanged points to tie the match at 11-11 and 12-12. Lewis responded with a cut shot past an outstreched Steffes for a 13-12 side change. However, Kiraly and Steffes stayed alive as they rallied off three straight points for a 15-13 win to set up the double final.
In the double match, Ayakatubby and Lewis scored to quick points for an early 2-0 lead. However, Kiraly and Steffes refused to bow down to the No. 3 seeds as the No. 1 ranked team tied the score at 2-2. Kiraly and Steffes capitalized on four hitting errors by Ayakatubby and a mishandled set by Lewis to pull ahead 6-2. Kiraly then sealed the victory with a dramatic service ace for the 7-2 championship point.
"We stuck together when it mattered and played extremely well today," said Kiraly, after defeating Ayakatubby and Lewis.
The Miller Lite/AVP tour returns to Southern California next weekend for the $175,000 Miller Lite U.S. Championships at Hermosa Beach on August 23-25.
$150,000 total prize money
64 Teams
1st- Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes $20,000 2nd- Scott Ayakatubby/Brian Lewis $11,400 3rd- Rob Heidger/Troy Tanner $ 9,030 4th- Bill Boullianne/Eric Fonoimoana $ 7,130 5th- Dain Blanton/Canyon Ceman $ 5,700 5th- Ian Clark/Leif Hanson $ 5,700 7th- Lee LeGrand/Wayne Seligson $ 4,280 7th- Daniel Cardenas/Mark Paaluhi $ 4,280 9th- Adam Johnson/Jose Loiola $ 3,090 9th- Brent Frohoff/Ricci Luyties $ 3,090 9th- Mark Kerins/Andrew Smith $ 3,090 9th- Scott Friederichsen/Kevin Martin $ 3,090 13th- Jim Nichols/Dan Vrebalovich $ 2,130 13th- Dax Holdren/Todd Rogers $ 2,130 13th- Lance Lyons/Justin Perlstrom $ 2,130 13th- Aaron Boss/Raul Papaleo $ 2,130 17th- Amaury Velasco/Tony Zapata $ 950 17th- James Fellows/Albert Hannemann $ 950 17th- Wes Welch/Henry Russell $ 950 17th- Jeff Rodgers/Bruk Vandeweghe $ 950 17th- Brian Gatzke/Mike Schlegel $ 950 17th- Nick Hannemann/David Swatik $ 950 17th- Eric Wurts/Chris Young $ 950 17th- Marcelo Duarte/Bill Suwara $ 950 25th- Curtis Griffin/Burke Stefko $ 500 25th- Craig Moothart/Serge Tkachev $ 500 25th- Stace Lougeay/Greg Ryan $ 500 25th- John Brajevic/Doug Foust $ 500 25th- Todd Ahmadi/Brent Doble $ 500 25th- Kurt Dumm/Matt Winterburn $ 500 25th- Al Janc/Ken Lentin $ 500
BELMAR, N.J. (August 17, 1996) -- The No. 5 seeded team of Rob Heidger and Troy Tanner jumped to leads of 6-2, 13-8 on their way to upset Olympic gold medalists Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes 15-10 in the winner's bracket semifinal on Saturday to advance to Sunday's winners bracket final at the $100,000 Kodak Fun Saver Pocket Camera Open.
Hediger's five stuffed blocks and Tanner's eleven digs dismantled the top seeds' offensive attack. Kiraly and Steffes drew first blood with an early one point advantage. Hiedger and Tanner quickly responded to tie the score at 2-2 and then move ahead 3-2 after Tanner's service ace. Heidger and Tanner combined offensively for 27 kills in the match and took advantage of the top seeds' 8 service errors to push the score to 13-8. Kiraly and Steffes cut the lead to 13-10 after Tanner's hitting error down the line and a Kiraly service ace. However, Heidger's defensive threats at the net forced Steffes' two final cut shot attempts to fall short into the net, sealing the 15-10 upset victory.
"We were a little hot..and they were a little flat," said Heidger, after beating Kiraly and Steffes. "Sometimes when you score points faster you catch your opponents offguard. Troy and I stole the momentum from Karch and Kent and never gave it up again."
Heidger and Tanner will face off against the No. 3 seeded team of Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis that advanced to tommorrow's winner's bracket final after beating Dain Blanton and Canyon Ceman 15-9 in the earlier semifinal match. The winner's bracket final on Sunday is scheduled for a 10:00 am start.
The No. 2 seeded team of Adam Johnson and Jose Loiola were forced to forfeit their quarterfinal match against Blanton and Ceman on Saturday morning after Johnson could not continue after fracturing his right index finger during a defensive play on Friday. Johnson and Loiola came into the Belmar tournament as the hottest team on the beach after winning four of the last five tournaments. Due to a forfeit by default, Johnson and Loiola settled for ninth place.
Top seeds Kiraly and Steffes will face off against No. 13th seeds Ian Clark and Leif Hanson. Blanton and Ceman will battle Bill Boullianne and Eric Fonoimoana in Sunday's consolation matches to see who will stay alive in the tournament's double elimination format.
Sunday's competition resumes at 10:00 am with the championship match scheduled for 2:00 pm.
The world's top professional beach volleyball players
including Karch Kiraly, Kent Steffes,
Randy Stoklos, Adam Johnson, Jose Loiola, Brian Lewis,
Rob Heidger and Troy Tanner.
A total of 32 teams are scheduled to compete.
The $125,000 Kodak Open at Belmar
The twenty-second stop on the 1996 Miller Lite/AVP Tour, which will
travel to 24 cities and 17 states during the eight month season.
August 16-18
Friday 9AM-6PM
Saturday 9AM-4PM
Sunday 9:30AM-4PM (3PM FINAL)
Belmar Beach
For general and reserved ticket information, call
Telecharge at 1-800-432-7470
NBC Sports will televise
Saturday 3-4PM EST
Webmaster - Tom Jack
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