VOLLEYBALL : Sinjin Smith Sings the Blues After Defeat

The biggest upset at Saturday’s $750,000 Miller Lite U.S. Championships in Hermosa Beach took place when Sinjin Smith, pro beach volleyball’s winningest player, was eliminated in a late-afternoon losers’ bracket match.

Smith, a two-time U.S. Championship winner, placed ninth with partner Bruk Vandeweghe. Sixth-seeded Smith and Vandeweghe fell into the losers’ bracket Friday and were eliminated after losing, 15-6, to fifth-seeded Tim Hovland and Brian Lewis.

“Getting ninth doesn’t make me very happy,” said the 36-year old Smith, winner of 134 tournaments. “I don’t think we played as well as we can, but that comes with time.”

Top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes worked hard for their two victories, which put them in today’s 9:45 a.m. winners’ bracket final against second-seeded Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh.

Kiraly-Steffes beat eighth-seeded Brent Frohoff and Steve Timmons, 18-16, and fourth-seeded Scott Ayakatubby and Adam Johnson, 15-8, in the semifinals.

Kiraly and Steffes were ahead, 13-8, when Ayakatubby yelled a profanity at an official for ruling that he had touched the net on a blocking play. Ayakatubby received a yellow card and two red cards, which cost his team the match.

“I was upset,” Ayakatubby said. “It was a terrible call. It wasn’t even close to that.”