VOLLEYBALL / SEAL BEACH OPEN : Finalists Battle to Get the Matchup They Want

SEAL BEACH —  The two best teams in professional volleyball got what they wanted at the $100,000 Seal Beach Open: A shot at each other.

The top-seeded team of Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh will face second-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes at 9 a.m. today. Both teams had relatively easy times Saturday on the second day of matches.

Kiraly and Steffes posted two 15-4 victories. In their opener, they beat Leif Hanson of Laguna Beach and his partner Chris Young. Kiraly served three aces in the victory over Kevin Martin and David Swatik in the afternoon.

Dodd and Whitmarsh, two-time Seal Beach champions and this year’s leading money winners on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, had the more difficult time.

They jumped to an 11-1 lead over Troy Tanner and Wes Welch of San Clemente, then slumped briefly before recovering for a 15-7 victory. In the afternoon session, they slowly pulled away from an 8-6 lead against fifth-seeded Brian Lewis and Bill Boulianne to win, 15-9.

“They were serving better than we were early there,” Whitmarsh said about the match with Corona del Mar’s Lewis and Boulianne. “Most people serve better than we do, but we began to pass a little better and that did it for us.”

Just about everyone on the beach thought things would turn out this way, and, most won’t be surprised to see the loser of the Dodd-Whitmarsh vs. Kiraly-Steffes match battle back into the final through the losers’ bracket.

“This is what we wanted,” Dodd said. “It should be a good match.”

Dodd and Whitmarsh have defeated Kiraly and Steffes in each of the last two finals here. Dodd is seeking his fourth consecutive Seal Beach title.

“They’ve been playing well every stop on the tour,” Kiraly said of Dodd and Steffes. “They’ve played two good matches to beat Kent and I here in the last two years. We want to turn it around.”

Steffes called the match even, but admitted that “Mike and Mike are tough to beat on this beach.”

The only surprise came when fourth-seeded Randy Stoklos and Scott Ayakatubby were eliminated. They ran out of time while trailing, 12-11, to Boulianne and Lewis and then surrendered an 11-8 lead and fell to Jose Loiola and Laguna Beach’s Adam Johnson, 15-12. Johnson and Stoklos began the season as partners, but split up about a month ago.

Loiola and Johnson, knocked into the losers’ bracket Friday, when they lost to Martin and Swatik, 17-15, beat Eduardo Bacil and Tim Hovland, 15-5, to earn a rematch with Martin and Swatik today.