SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - Olympian Nancy Reno will miss this weekend's $50,000 Mercedes-Benz Open Presented by Cybergenics due to stiffness in her right shoulder.

The top blocker on the 1995 and 1996 Evian Women's Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Reno hurt her right shoulder during a fall in a match May 18 at the Emerald Point Pro Volleyball Club on Lake Travis in Austin, Tex.

Playing with Karolyn Kirby as the second-seeded team in team in the WPVA Austin Open, Reno was able to complete the competition. However, the stiffness in Reno's shoulder did not respond to treatment and she has elected to skip this weekend's (May 30-June 1) event at Mariner's Point on Mission Bay in San Diego.

A member of the 1996 United States' Women's Olympic Beach Volleyball Team, Reno missed the final two domestic events and last three international stops of the 1996 season due to right shoulder problems.

Reno had surgery on the right shoulder last September and returned to competition in April as the Evian Tour opened the 1997 season with Florida events in Miami Beach, Deerfield Beach and Lake Buena Vista before visiting Austin.

The Kirby/Reno tandem captured the Lake Buena Vista event while finishing second in Miami Beach, and placing fifth in both Deerfield Beach and Austin. The pair had a 21-7 match mark this season and split $28,920 in earnings. Overall, Kirby and Reno have competed in 18 pro events with a 72-22 match mark together and eight titles.

"I just need time to rest the shoulder," said the 31-year old Reno, who plans to return to the action when the Evian Tour resumes competition June 13-15 on Mustang Beach at Los Colinas in Irving, Tex.

Reno has won 33 pro beach titles, including 18 Evian Tour championships. Reno and Holly McPeak won 14 pro beach titles during 1995 enroute to finishing as the top team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Reno has won over $427,000 during her eight-season pro career and ranks eighth on the Evian Tour's career list ($196,111).

Reno's right shoulder injury created the renewal of the winningest women's pro beach volleyball partnership in history with Kirby reuniting with Liz Masakayan for the Mercedes-Benz Open.

Kirby and Masakayan, the world's top-ranked team on the 1993-94 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, will be playing in their 45th pro beach event together, including their 34th Evian Tour stop. The pair won 26 titles in 33 Evian Tour starts from April, 1993 through July, 1995 enroute to an 180-18 match mark together while sharing $323,290 in domestic earnings.

Combined with 11 international events (three event titles), the Kirby/Masakayan tandem has posted a 220-33 match mark together with 29 championships in 44 starts. Kirby and Masakayan, who won three Evian Tour titles in 1995 when Masakayan was coming back from her fifth knee operation, have split $391,540 in pro earnings together. The partnership dissolved August 26, 1995 when Masakayan, who has had three operations on each of her knees, broke her right kneecap in Portugal.