Karch Kiraly

Second-seeded Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos upset top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, 1-15, 7-3, Sunday in a double final of the $75,000 Miller Lite pro beach volleyball tournament at Ft. Myers, Fla. Smith and Stoklos, of Pacific Palisades, split $15,000 for the victory in the double-elimination tournament. It was their first victory on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals' tour this season.

Westwood will welcome home one of its heroes Sunday. Karch Kiraly, who led the UCLA men's volleyball team to three national championships from 1979-82, will have his jersey No. 31 retired before the final match of the UCLA tournament Sunday at Pauley Pavilion. Most sports fans know Kiraly as the Olympic volleyball star who led the United States to two gold medals in the 1980s. But at UCLA, where Coach Al Scates' teams have won 13 NCAA championships, Kiraly is a favorite son.

Karch Kiraly was named the most valuable player of the 1992 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour.

Kent Steffes grew up idolizing Jim Menges, and for two summers watched Menges and Greg Lee dominate the pro beach volleyball tour. Fresh off outstanding athletic careers at UCLA, Menges and Lee won a record 13 consecutive tournaments in 1975-76, a streak few figured would be matched. Then along came two other former Bruins--Steffes and San Clemente's Karch Kiraly.

Karch Kiraly will be nowhere near Barcelona this weekend, when the U.S. Olympic volleyball team opens play against Japan. He will be playing pro beach volleyball, going for the green instead of the gold. And he won't be anywhere near the East or West coasts. Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has bypassed a shot at an unprecedented third consecutive medal to play in a beach tournament this weekend. In Michigan.

Cocky or just confident? Kent Steffes faces that question every day. "If someone comes up to you and asks, 'How good are you?' and you say 'I'm the best in the world,' they say you're cocky," Steffes said. "But if you say, 'Oh, I'm all right,' then they say you're stuck up. "You can't win." Arguments, no. Volleyball games, yes. Steffes, 24, is the top-ranked player on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals-Miller Lite tour.