QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENTS LAUNCH MICHELOB LIGHT OPEN AT SANTA BARBARA;60 TEAMS SEEK FINAL EIGHT AVP PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOUR MAIN DRAW BERTHS
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - A total of 40 men's and 20 women's teams begin play
here Friday (August 17) in the Qualification Tournaments for this weekend's
$125,000 Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara on 11 sand courts at East Beach.
With 108 teams forming the largest field in the history of the Association of
Volleyball Professionals (AVP), The Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara
features the United States' top men and women pro beach volleyball players.
The Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara, presented by Paul Mitchell, begins
Friday at 9 a.m. (PDT) competition in each gender battling for the final four
berths in the 32-team men's and 24-team women's Main Draws.Twenty-eight (28) men's and 20 women's teams have already been placed into the Main Draws due to their AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour rankings.  The first 88 Main Draw matches (52 for men and 36 for women) will be played Saturday starting at 9 a.m.
Sunday's competition starts at 7.30 a.m. with the final 20 matches being played
(10 for men and 10 for women).  The final matches will begin approximately at 1
p.m. Sunday with the final two teams in each gender battling for the $14,000
first-place prize.  Echo Entertainment of Studio City, Calif., will be taping the Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara action for broadcast August 27 on FOXSports Net.
With the Santa Barbara-area being one of the top breading grounds for pro beach
volleyball players, Friday men's qualifiers will have at least seven players
with area ties, including Anthony Medel, Morgan Mainz, Dan Fisher, Matt Riley,
Corey Glave Jim Alzina, Tye Thoreson and Bret Shellabarger.
Medel is the No. 2-seeded men's team in the Qualification Tournament with John
Moran behind top-seeded Adam Roberts and Jim Walls.  Mainz and Dancer Styles
are seeded eighth with Fisher and Riley teaming at No. 10 in the qualifier.
Led by three-time Olympic Gold Medallists Karch Kiraly, another 10 players with
Santa Barbara ties are in the men's Main Draw.  Other players are Eric
Fonoimoana, Jim Nichols, Rob Heidger, Dax Holdren, Todd Rogers, Ian Clark, Andy
and Larry Witt and David Fisher.  Holdren and Rogers will be the top-seeded
team in the men's Main Draw with Kiraly third with Scott Ayakatubby.
Fonoimoana, the Sydney 2000 Gold Medallists, and Heidger will be ninth.
Saturday's play will also mark the return to pro beach competition for Kiraly,
who competed in 1995 with Ayakatubby.  Kiraly dislocated his right shoulder
last year in an August international event in Belgium where he and Adam Johnson
were trying for a spot in the Sydney Olympics that was captured by Dain Blanton
and Fonoimoana.Kiraly, who has won a record 142 titles and earned over $2.953-million on the beach, was expected to return to the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour in June.  He
withdrew from the first two events this season due to a calf injury. Kiraly was
recognized last December by the FIVB as the beach volleyball player of the
century.  Kiraly and Ayakatubby played in 14 events in 1995 with eight titles
and 13 "final four" finishes on the AVP Tour.