Singin Smith Is Top Selection in Team Cup Volleyball Draft

Draft day came to the Forum again Wednesday, but this time without the analysis and speculation that had prevailed the day before for the NBA.

It was for Team Cup Volleyball, the Forum-based, four-team league, and even those in the know couldn’t say for sure which team had come away with the best talent.

“It’s all so foreign to us,” said Karch Kiraly, the former UCLA and 1984 Olympic star who will serve as player-coach for one of the squads. “I’ve never seen this format and I’ve never played mixed volleyball before, so I couldn’t even tell you.”

The format Wednesday was simple: Each team drafted five players--two of them women--to go with the player-coach. In addition, the one beach team, formed to capitalize on the rivalry existing between the indoor and outdoor games, could select beach players only in the first three rounds. In turn, the three other teams had to stay away from that quasi-territorial pool until the fourth round.

Mike Dodd, player-coach of the beach team, made Singin Smith, a three-time All-American at UCLA and the all-time money winner on the outdoor tour, the first of many well-known players picked. Paul Sunderland followed with the No. 2 selection and drafted Dusty Dvorak, with Pat Powers then going to the Steve Timmons-coached team and Jeff Stork to Kiraly.

Laurel Brassey Kessel, the former San Diego State star and current University of Arizona assistant coach, was the first woman chosen, by Kiraly in the fourth round.

The league will open July 22, with the round-robin schedule continuing with doubleheaders July 23, 30 and 31 and Aug. 5 and 6.

The complete rosters:

MIKE DODD--Singin Smith, Tim Hovland, Randy Stoklos, Nina Matthies, Patty Orosco.

KARCH KIRALY--Jeff Stork, Dave Saunders, Steve Salmons, Laurel Brassey Kessel, Lindy Vivas.

PAUL SUNDERLAND--Dusty Dvorak, Craig Buck, Ricci Luyties, Dale Keough, Rita Crockett.

STEVE TIMMONS--Pat Powers, Bob Ctvrtlik, Rod Wilde, Debbie (Landruth) Brown, Jan Saunders.