Fast serves, quick volleys and overhead smashes will take over Mariner’s Point on June 19-21 when the Beach Tennis San Diego Smash returns to Mission Beach. The San Diego Smash is one of only two West Coast events on the Beach Tennis USA 2009 tour. “It’s not like a tennis match where you have to be quiet during a match – people can be talking and there’s music,” said defending national champion and Pacific Beach resident Laura Maloney. “It’s a really good atmosphere with the waves crashing and people walking by on the boardwalk.” Laura Maloney and her sister Lisa Maloney will enter the San Diego Smash as favorites in the women’s pro division as defending event and national champions. The Maloney sisters were undefeated in each of the four events they appeared in last season and will be making their first appearance on the tour this season. “We’re just excited to get out there. The thing about beach tennis is that it’s a really fun sport,” Laura Maloney said, adding that she’s excited to get the 2009 season started off in a familiar place. Laura and Lisa Maloney discovered beach tennis about four years ago when they read about the sport in a magazine. As competitive tennis players who grew up around the beach, the idea of beach tennis seemed like a match made in heaven. “I used to bike down Mission and see everybody playing beach volleyball every weekend and I wanted to do something like that,” Laura Maloney said. “When the Beach Tennis USA tour came to Mission Beach three summers ago, we entered the tournament and we just fell in love with the sport.” Beach Tennis USA held their inaugural U.S. tour on the East Coast in 2005 and expanded to include Southern California the following year. The tour has included a stop in San Diego each of the past three years.? Beach tennis has elements of both tennis and beach volleyball. The equipment – tennis racquets and less-pressurized tennis balls – along with scoring and serving rules come from tennis. Another rule that beach tennis adopts from tennis is only allowing one hit to get it over. Matches are one pro set apiece – first team to eight games without advantages wins. As far as its similarities to volleyball, beach tennis is played on a regulation beach volleyball court, with a shorter net of 5 feet 10 inches. The ball is not allowed to touch the sand. The men’s and women’s pro divisions will play Sunday, June 21. The women’s preliminaries will be played in the morning with the final at 1 p.m. and the men’s preliminaries will wrap up the weekend with the men’s final at 5 p.m. For those wanting to try their hand at beach tennis, there are men’s, women’s and mixed amateur divisions on Saturday and a paddle mixer division on Friday. Registration is $30 per team for the amateur divisions and $10 per team for the mixer. Friday is kids day at the San Diego Smash, featuring a free kids clinic from 10 a.m. to noon, followed by a parent/child mixer from noon to 2 p.m. Registration for the mixer is $10. Laura Maloney hopes the San Diego Smash is the start of a summer full of beach tennis on the beaches of San Diego. “After the tournament, beach tennis will be played on beaches around San Diego as well. There will be open play days and social tournaments coming up this summer,” Laura Maolney said. “It’s not just a one-time thing.” For more information on the San Diego Smash and to register for amateur and mixer divisions, visit www.beachtennisusa.net.