BEACH VOLLEYBALL : Frohoff, Heidger Lose More Than a Match

The way Brent Frohoff and partner Rob Heidger played in their beach volleyball match Thursday on center court, it appeared that nothing was on the line. There were a lot of soft serves, long balls and goofing around.

They looked more like a couple of guys having fun in a pickup game at Club Med than serious athletes in a tournament that is part of an Olympic qualifying series.

Frohoff and Heidger, the 13th- and 15th-ranked players on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, lost, 15-3, to Americans Scott Friederichsen and Eric Wurts in a Federation Internationale de Volleyball qualifier in Hermosa Beach.

The loss cost Frohoff-Heidger a spot in today’s 32-team main draw. It also freed them to travel to New Jersey for an AVP tournament that will be televised nationally.

“No, I did not purposely tank the match,” Frohoff said. “We just weren’t in it, I guess.”

Fans disagreed and booed loudly. Many of them were angry at the lack of effort by Frohoff and Heidger, 1994 AVP rookie of the year.

Three other U.S. men’s teams qualified for the main draw, among them the AVP’s second-ranked team of Karch Kiraly and Scott Ayakatubby.

Randy Stoklos-Bruk Vandeweghe and Jim Nichols-Mike Schlegel are the two other American qualifiers.

The AVP’s top-ranked team of Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh received a wild-card berth into the main draw.

On the women’s side, three U.S. teams qualified for the 24-team main draw--Linda Hanley-Angela Rock, Lisa Arce-Chris Schaefer and Deb Richardson-Dennie Knoop.