BEACH VOLLEYBALL : KIRALY-STEFFES (AND AVP) PREVAIL.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Karch Kiraly kept drawing lines in the sand. Sinjin Smith kept stepping over them.

Carl Henkel kept yelling under the net. Kent Steffes kept his eyes glued straight ahead - he was not one bit surprised at the drama he found himself in.

Above, Mike Dodd watched the most dramatic and personal match in the modern history of beach volleyball. ``It was like Ali-Frazier,'' Dodd marveled, as Kiraly and Steffes fell behind 12-8 to a team they had labeled as impostors.

But the poster boys for the Association of Volleyball Professional (AVP) tour finally realized how much they had to lose. Steffes and Kiraly took turns successfully blocking Henkel, and they solved Smith's mystifying skyball serves. On their fourth match point, Kiraly-Steffes won 17-15 and headed into the Olympic semifinals.

``If we keep playing like that,'' said the 39-year-old Smith, ``we have a good chance of seeing them again.''

But they didn't, so they don't. Smith-Henkel lost their elimination match three hours later, to Portugal's Miguel Maia and Joao Brenha 15-13.

No U.S. women will win gold or silver beach-volleyball medals, and one team won't be seen again.

Holly McPeak said she and Nancy Reno are through but not as a consequence of their elimination Friday at the hands of the Laguna Beach-based team of Linda Hanley and Barbra Fontana Harris.

``I think I just need to move on and find another partner,'' McPeak said. ``It's the end of McPeak and Reno. I think she needs to move on as well.''

Last year McPeak-Reno would have been odds-on to win this gold, but Reno walked away this year to play with Karolyn Kirby. Reno-McPeak reunited for the Olympics and appeared to be getting along, but Hanley-Fontana Harris eliminated them 15-10.

Later, Hanley-Fontana Harris were beaten by Brazil's Jackie Silva-Sandra Pires 15-8.

In the men's match, Smith was able to kick months of criticism back into Kiraly's face. To his credit, Kiraly swallowed every adjective.

``Yes, I'm surprised Sinjin was able to play this well,'' Kiraly said. ``I was mistaken. I still think his team should have been forced to qualify through our U.S. volleyball trials. But the way they played today, I'm not so sure they wouldn't have qualified.''

But the AVP beach boys also feel validated. Kiraly-Steffes and Dodd-Mike Whitmarsh are AVP regulars who will probably meet for gold here Sunday. And that was their whole point - that AVP is the home of the world's best men's beach volleyball, and they shouldn't have been forced to disrupt their tour to participate in the FIVB schedule, which is the vehicle Smith-Henkel used to make the Olympic team.

Kiraly did not apologize to Dr. Ruben Acosta, the director of the FIVB, or his wife, Maio.

``I heard her during the match, yelling, `Go, Sinjin! Go, Mike,' '' Kiraly said. ``I guess she's a big Sinjin fan. So when it was over, I yelled something in that direction.''

What was it?

``I don't remember,'' Kiraly said.

``I remember what it was,'' Steffes said, smiling hugely. ``But maybe you better ask him what it was.''

``I honestly don't remember,'' Kiraly said.

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Photo

Photo: Karch Kiraly celebrates after he and partner Kent St effes defeated rivals Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel 17-15.

Associated Press