NINE GAIN MAIN DRAW BERTHS FOR THE SUNKIST OPEN AT MUSKEGON FRIDAY;OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLISTS BLANTON & FONOIMOANA BEGIN PLAY SATURDAY
MUSKEGON, MICH. - The final nine Main Draw berths for The Sunkist Open at
Muskegon were determined here Friday (July 13) at Pere Marquette Park with the top-seeded teams in both the men's and women's Qualification Tournament advancing to the "money" rounds in the $125,000 event.Pacing Friday's qualifiers were the top-seeded Qualification Tournament teams of Jake Elliott/Brian Soldano in the men's competiton and Deanne Johnson/Barbara Nyland in the women's play.  Among the other advancing
tandems was Jeanette Simenson and Stacy Wanshek, who was celebrating her 30th
birthday.Other qualifying men's teams were Tom Black/Andrew Vasquez, Morgan
Mainz/Dancer Styles, Shawn Garus/Chad Turner and John Moran/Anthony Medel.
The other two women's spots in the Main Draw were earned by Kerri Eich/Catie
Fliesher and Arcadia Berjonneau/Rhonda Kottke.The Muskegon event is the third of eight stops on the 2001 Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Pro Beach Vollebyal Tour.  The Sunkist Open at Muskegon continues Saturday at 9 a.m. (EDT) on nine sand courts at Pere Marquette Park with Round 3 of the men's competition and Round 2 for the
women.Friday's Qualification Tournament determined the final berths in both the 24-team Main Draws for men and women.  The first 72 Main Draw matches (36 matches per gender) will be played Saturday.  Sunday's competition starts at 8 a.m. with the final 20 matches being played (10 matches per gender).The final matches will begin approximately at 1 p.m. Sunday.  Brighton Entertainment of New York, N. Y., will be taping The Sunkist Open at Muskegon action for replay July 23 on FOX Sports Net.  The 2001 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour season opened with a pair of events in Southern California last month with a combined men's and women's event in Hermosa Beach (June 8-10) and a men's tournament in Huntington Beach (June 15-17).The men's Main Draw competition will feature Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, the Gold Medallists at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.  Blanton and Fonoimoana have competed the past four weeks in Europe and will return to Muskegon for their only July domestic event.