'UPSETTING' SATURDAY ON PERE MARQUETTE PARK BEACH VOLLEYBALL COURTS;THE SUNKIST OPEN AT MUSKEGON CONCLUDES SUNDAY
MUSKEGON, MICH. - It was an "upsetting" day on the Pere Marquette Park sand courts for the top teams on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP)Pro Beach Volleyball Tour with only three of the top eight-seeded teams surviving unbeaten in The Sunkist Open at Muskegon here Saturday (July 14).Only two of the top four seeded women's team survived the "upset bug" Saturday with second-seeded Barbra Fontana/Elaine Youngs and fourth-seeded Carrie Busch/Rachel Wacholder advancing to the fourth-round of the winner's bracket with 2-0 records.  Top-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak fell into the elimination bracket after losing to ninth-seeded Diane DeNecochea and Wendy Stammer (21-19 and 21-19).Fourth-seeded Brent Doble, a local favorite and Michigan Tech grad, and Lee LeGrande were the only highly-seeded men's team to advance unbeaten through the winner's bracket.  Top-seeded Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Gold Medallists, will seek a spot in Sunday's semi-finals through the elimination bracket after being upset by Aaron Boss and Colin Smith (21-13,19-21 and 15-11)Sunday's competition in the $125,000 event starts at 8 a.m. (EDT) with play on eight courts at Pere Marquette Park.  The finals are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with the winning teams in each gender sharing the $14,000 first-place
prize. Brighton Entertainment of New York, N. Y., will be taping The Sunkist Open at Muskegon action for replay July 23 on FOX Sports Net.  Saturday's play featured eight seed break-through wins in the women's competition and nine for the men.DeNecochea and Stammer challenge Busch and Wacholder in one of the opening women's matches while Jennifer Meredith and Jen Pavley face Fontana and Youngs,who have claimed two titles this season in Florida and Italy.  Boss and Smith face Doble and LeGrande in an opening men's match Sunday with seventh-seeded Albert Hannemann and Sean Scott facing 11th-seeded Daniel Cardenas and JimNichols.Arce and McPeak, who captured an AVP event in Hermosa Beach, Calif., last month, will play in an opening elimination match Sunday against fifth-seeded Liz Masakayan and Cary Wendell while eighth-seeded Danalee Bragado and Ali Wood challenge seventh-seeded Linda Hanley and Sarah Straton.  Bragado and Wood eliminated third-seeded Stephanie Cox and Katy Eldridge in Saturday's final elimination match.Blanton and Fonoimoana ousted third-seeded Nick Hannemann and Adam Jewell to finish their day Saturday to advance to an opening elimination match Sunday against 12th-seeded Paul Baxter and Jason Ring.  Second-seeded Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh, the Silver Medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with
Mike Dodd, play ninth-seeded John Anselmo and David Smith in an opening Sunday
elimination match.The Muskegon event is the third of eight stops on the 2001 AVP Pro Beach Vollebyall Tour.  The Sunkist Open at Muskegon is Round 3 of the men's
competition and Round 2 for the women.  The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is at
Belmar, N. J., next weekend (July 20-22) followed by a stop in Virginia Beach,
Va. (July 27-29).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).PUBLIC RELATIONS - The Robbins Group handles the public relations' duties for the AVP Tour (Marcia Robbins, Debbie Rubio and Ann Victor, 818/776-1244,
drubio@robbinsgrp.com).  PRESS OPERATIONS - Tim Simmons (303/678-8484; e-mail bfishinc@aol.com), Dominic Clark (702/735-7123, dominiccnv@aol.com) and Doug Strauss (303/306-7543, statzman@hotmail.com) are the Press Information Officers
for the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.  The AVP Press Operations staff is
headquartered at the Best Western Park Plaza in Muskegon (231-733-2651, Room
424).  The on-site telephone number at Pere Marquette Park is 231/759-2532.