Todd Rogers and Dax Holdren advanced from the men's pool play competition
while
Leanne Schuster and Liz Masakayan earned spots in Friday's opening
women's
action at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. With $24,000 in prize
money being
distributed Thursday, all four advancing players each earned $3,000
for their
three match victories at Sunset Park.
Tickets are on sale for the final three days at the Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino
Box Office (800-693-ROCK) or through any TicketMaster outlet.
Ticket prices
range from $5 to $15 per day. The first matches will start at
10 a.m. (PDT)
each day on the purpose-built AVP Hard Rock Beach Stadium..
All four first round advancers from Friday's action posted 3-0 match
marks in
pool play. Rogers, who was seeded seventh overall entering the
competition,
will remain as the seventh-seeded team this weekend as he competes
in Pool D
with Stein Metzger, Brent Doble and Canyon Ceman.
Like Rogers, Holdren maintained his seed for Friday and Saturday's schedule
as
he will compete in Pool C with Kevin Wong, LeGrande and Mike Whitmarsh,
the
defending Paul Mitchell King of the Beach Champion. Whitmarsh
won the 2000
crown at the Hard Rock Hotel last October over Holdren, Brian Lewis
and Ceman.
Masakayan, who was seeded 12th entering play Thursday, will be seeded
seventh
this weekend with Schuster eighth. Schuster will compete with
Elaine Youngs,
Holly McPeak and Wendy Stammer in women's Pool C. Barbra Fontana,
the
defending Queen of the Beach, headlines Pool D with Lisa Arce, Sarah
Straton
and Masakayan.
Eric Fonoimoana, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Gold Medallists and 1998
King of
the Beach winner, failed to qualify as Holdren advanced. Fonoimoana
and Carrie
Busch will be the alternates Friday and Saturday for injured players.
The 10th annual Paul Mitchell King & Queen of the Beach, being hosted
for the
fifth consecutive year by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is Las Vegas,
concludes
the eight-stop 2001 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. The special
tournament,
with players switching partners for each match, will be played Friday
through
Sunday in the purpose-built AVP Beach Stadium at the Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino.
The official entries for The Paul Mitchell King & Queen of the Beach
were
identified with a player's top three finishes during the 2001 domestic
season
determining the top 14 players in each gender for Las Vegas.