HAVING FUN AND MAKING HISTORY.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

They are two females shattering racial barriers without seemingly breaking a sweat.

They get along fabulously on the court and famously off it.

They pursue lives outside their sport as vigorously as they go after returns.

They are on the verge of something big.

Perhaps you've heard of them?

No, not Serena and Venus Williams.

Meet Annett Buckner Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, who are taking the beach volleyball scene by tsunami, the same way the Williams sisters are the tennis world.

They've known each other since they entered UCLA together in 1991. They shared a dorm room as freshmen and have been close as kin since.

They didn't get together in beach volleyball until August of 1997, which means they're in their incubation period as far as the sport goes. Heaven help their competitors when they finally hatch.

The best two-man teams generally are composed of players with beach backgrounds as sweeping as the shoreline. It takes time to learn how best to cover so much space (agoraphobics need not enter). A lot of sand has to pass through the hour glass before beach players have much of anything to fall back on besides their athleticism.

And yet, in the third event they entered, Buckner Davis, 25, and Johnson Jordan, 26, became the first African-American pair to reach a final in a Women's Professional Volleyball Association tournament.

Their breakthrough title so far has eluded them. They're chasing it again this week, at the Women's Pro Beach Open in Hermosa Beach.

Buckner Davis has taken their string of seconds - they added two more this past month, in Huntington Beach and Clearwater, Fla. - in stride. Not so with Johnson Jordan, the list-making, sideline-pacing, strategy-mapping, order-craving one in the partnership.

``I think Jenny and I have different perspectives,'' Buckner Davis said the other day with a laugh. ``She's kind of like, `I'm tired of getting second.' She wants to get to the number one spot. Of course I want to get there too, but I look at our inexperience and I feel blessed to be where we are.''

Johnson Jordan readily acknowledged: ``I'm more task-oriented. I stress more about things. I'm constantly thinking. Annett is more laid-back.''

Their personalities complement each other and so do their playing styles. Johnson Jordan is a solid passer and her defense is airtight. Buckner Davis is a power hitter who loves to finish what Johnson Jordan sets.

``We are kind of fit for each other,'' Buckner Davis said. ``Her strengths are my weaknesses and her weaknesses are my strengths.''

Their partnership works because they complete each other. Too many other partners - in sports, business, life - compete against each other for attention, for superiority, for praise. That's particularly true in the self-absorbed world of beach volleyball. Predictably, there's more partner-swapping on the sand than at 1970s key parties.

It's amazing how many people a player can use and discard on her way to the top. Buckner Davis and Johnson Jordan, frankly, aren't that ambitious. Of course they want to earn one of two spots on the U.S. Olympic team in 2000 and be the best at what they do. But they refuse to pursue those goals at the expense of their family values.

Both players are close to their families and everyone on both sides are related by sports. Buckner Davis' father, Cleveland Buckner, played for the New York Knicks in the early 1960s (he gets so keyed up watching the Knicks play now, his doctors have suggested he give his heart a rest and just read about their NBA Finals pursuit in the newspaper). Her husband, Byron Davis, is a former UCLA swimmer who missed making the 1996 U.S. Olympic team by two places in the 100-meter butterfly. Like his wife, he is training (at USC) for a shot at the 2000 Olympics.

Johnson Jordan's father is decorated Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson. Her husband Kevin Jordan is a former football player at UCLA who is leading the Athletes in Action ministry on campus after retiring from the NFL.

``We love volleyball, but we have a life outside of it,'' said Johnson Jordan.

Added Buckner Davis: ``We both have strong family support. We both kind of put volleyball in perspective. It's a great thing and we feel blessed to be doing what we're doing. But if it was taken away from us, it wouldn't be the end of the world.''

It wasn't the end of their world in 1998, but professional volleyball players could see it from there. There was too much greed and not enough giving back by too many players. After a while, there wasn't enough style or substance for the sponsors, who took their cash elsewhere.

The player-run WPVA was disbanded, forcing the players to adopt a have-passport-will-travel mentality. Which spun Johnson Jordan's orderly world right off its axis.

One trip she'll never forget. She and Buckner Davis were flying home to L.A. from a tournament in Portugal via Paris. The first leg of their flight was delayed, which caused them to miss their connection, which forced them to spend the night in Paris and catch a flight to L.A. the following day, which made them miss their flight to Japan for their next tournament, which meant they had to purchase a new ticket to Japan and take a flight that touched down six hours before their first match.

Even the hard-to-ruffle Buckner Davis had to admit, ``A lot of the travel was stressful.''

That's why you won't find the pair griping about the morning commute on the 405 this week. Oldsmobile, a sponsor of USA Volleyball, is backing a handful of domestic tournaments, and other companies - this week it's Mervyn's and Paul Mitchell Salon Haircare - have stepped forward to sponsor other events.

``This year has been a complete turnaround,'' Johnson Jordan said. ``We get to play at home and there are great, competitive events. Sponsors are willing to back beach volleyball again. It's great to see.''

Buckner Davis and Johnson Jordan are the type of players - and people - that make a person want to watch.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) Annett Buckner Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan became the first African-American team to reach a final in a WPVA tournament.

Special to the Daily News