DAVENPORT & OLYMPIAN NYGAARD "SURPRISE" TEAM IN MEN'S MICHELOB LIGHT OPEN; TOP WOMEN'S TEAMS ADVANCE IN AVP SANTA BARBARA BEACH VOLLEYBALL  EVENT
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - Unheralded Scott Davenport and Jeff Nygaard scored the
biggest upset here Saturday (August 18) during the opening rounds of the men's
Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara as the pair advanced to Sunday's final
rounds in the $125,000 Association of Volleyball Professionals' event with a 3-0 mark.
While Davenport and Nygaard, a member of the United States National Team at
both the 1996 Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games, were scoring their wins
Saturday, the top eight-seeded women's teams advanced to Sunday's AVP Pro Beach
Volleyball Tour matches that begin at 8 a.m. (PDT) on East Beach.
Sparked by a 15-21, 21-14 and 15-12 upset win over third-seeded Scott
Ayakatubby and Karch Kiraly, Davenport and Nygaard play second-seeded Canyon
Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh in an opening winner's bracket match Sunday with the
winning team advancing to the semi-finals.
Top-seeded Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers, who are trying to rebound from last
year's disappointing loss in the Santa Barbara AVP title match to Lee LeGrande
and Franco Neto (17-15 after leading 14-6), face fourth-seeded Albert Hannemann
and Sean Scott in a battle of unbeatens.
The women's teams of top-seeded Lisa Arce/Holly McPeak, second-seeded Barbra
Fontana/Elaine Youngs, third-seeded Nancy Mason/Leanne Schuster and
fifth-seeded Carrie Busch/Rachel Wacholder posted 2-0 marks Saturday to advance
to Sunday's first semi-final qualifying matches.
Arce and McPeak, the winningest team in terms of earnings in United States pro
beach history ($512,000 with 15 pro titles), play Busch and Wacholder while
Fontana and Youngs are challenged by Mason and Schuster.  Busch and Wacholder
advanced with a 19-21, 21-12 and 15-10 upset win over fourth-seeded Linda
Hanley and Sarah Straton, who won the last AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour
women's stop last month in Muskegon, Mich.
Four men's and four women's teams remain in contention for Sunday's first-place
prize of $14,500 in each gender and will open play at 8 a.m. Sunday with
elimination matches.  Echo Entertainment of Studio City, Calif., will be taping
the Michelob Light Open at Santa Barbara action for broadcast August 27 on FOX
Sports Net.
Sunday's opening women's elimination matches have Hanley and Straton playing
eighth-seeded Jennifer Meredith and Wendy Stammer while seventh-seeded Dianne
DeNecochea and Liz Masakayan challenge sixth-seeded Stephanie Cox and Katy
Eldridge.
The opening men's elimination matches have seventh-seeded Stein Metzger and
Kevin Wong against ninth-seeded Eric Fonoimoana and Rob Heidger and 10th-seeded
Ian Clark and Adam Jewell against 27th-seeded Sean Rosenthal and Mark Williams.
 Fonoimoana won the Sydney 2000 Olympic beach Gold Medal with Dain Blanton
while Heidger and Wong placed fifth on the Bondi Beach games.
A three-time Olympic Gold Medallist, Kiraly returned to pro beach competition
Saturday as he teamed with Ayakatubby to win three of five matches.  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 SydneyOlympics.
Kiraly, who has won a record 142 titles and earned over $2.95-million on the
beach, and Ayakatubby eliminated beach legend Sinjin Smith and newcomer George
Roumain 18-21, 21-13 and 15-10.  The oldest elite player in the world at 44,
Smith and Roumain placed 13th.  Like Nygaard, Roumain was on the USA indoor
team in Sydney.