BEACH VOLLEYBALL : McPeak-Reno Team Ends Season With 15-11 Victory in Nationals

Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno capped an incredible year in the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. by winning the tour’s season-ending nationals in Huntington Beach on Sunday.

Top-ranked McPeak and Reno defeated second-seeded Linda Hanley and Karolyn Kirby, 15-11, in a lengthy match that was nationally televised and included 63 side outs.

McPeak, a setter on UCLA’s 1990 national championship team, and Reno, a former Stanford All-American, finished the season with a 28-match winning streak, seven WPVA titles and a tour-high $54,240 each in prize money.

Hanley is a former UCLA All-American and Kirby a former U.S. national team member who competed at Kentucky. In only their third tournament together, Hanley and Kirby could not overcome McPeak-Reno’s consistent and powerful game.

“It’s a tough story going up against Nancy and Holly, who have trained together for eight months, in the nationals,” Hanley said. “We thought we could come out and be the dream team, but it’s not that easy.”

Time together is only one of many weapons McPeak and Reno possess in a sport in which frequent partner changes are commonplace. This team has it all: Reno, who at almost 6 feet is a powerful blocker and a lethal hitter, and 5-7 McPeak, who can dig the hardest of shots and leap well above the net to smash balls.

“We’re only going to get better,” McPeak said. “Sometimes we’re so steady we break teams down.”

With the score, 11-11, Kirby-Hanly fought off four match points, but couldn’t score after a side out. McPeak dinked a winner softly to the right corner for the victory.