BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Whitmarsh, Dodd Rally to Upset Kiraly, Steffes

Shaquille O’Neal missed the best part Sunday.

The Orlando Magic center, who sat courtside at the $150,000 Miller Lite Open beach volleyball tournament, left with top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes holding an 11-9 lead over Mike Whitmarsh and Mike Dodd.

But the third-seeded Whitmarsh and Dodd rallied in the final 1 minute 48 seconds to win, 14-11, before an overflow crowd of 10,000 at the Seal Beach Pier.

Their upset victory ended Kiraly’s and Steffes’ six-tournament winning streak and kept Kiraly winless at Seal Beach in the tournament’s 10-year history. Dodd and Whitmarsh split $30,000.

“Shaq missed the best part by far,� said Dodd, who won his fourth Seal Beach title.

Here’s what O’Neal missed:

--A Whitmarsh block of Kiraly that tied the match, 11-11, with 1:31 left.

--Three consecutive digs by Whitmarsh, a 6-foot-7 blocker not known for his back-row play, on a rally that ended in a Whitmarsh kill and a sideout.

--A Whitmarsh kill and a one-arm dig by Dodd that sailed over the net for a point, giving them a 13-11 lead with 16 seconds left.

The victory was the 60th of Dodd’s career. He won at Seal Beach with Tim Hovland in 1986 and ‘88, and last year with Pat Powers.

Whitmarsh finished with 16 kills and three blocks, and Dodd had 10 kills and two aces.

Holly McPeak of Manhattan Beach clinched the $65,000 first-place money in the women’s bonus pool standings when she and Cammy Ciarelli of Huntington Beach beat Angela Rock of El Toro and Nancy Reno of Carlsbad, 14-11.