MAIN DRAW FIELD SET FOR AVP SANTA BARBARA OPEN

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - A total of eight men's and six women's teams qualified
here Friday (June 14) for Saturday's opening Main Draw rounds on East Beach for
the third stop of the 2002 Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour season.
Friday's qualifier was made up of 53 men's and 41 women's teams.  Play in the
32-team men's and 24-team women's Main Draw Brackets opens Saturday at 9 a.m.
(PDT) on East Beach for the $125,000 AVP Michelob Light Open, presented by
Michelob Light.  Sunday's final rounds are scheduled to start at 8 a.m. with
afternoon finals set for both genders.  The AVP Michelob Light Open winners
will share $14,500 for first-place.
Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (Durango, Colo.) will
be seeking their third-straight women's title this season after capturing the
Huntington Beach and Hermosa Beach stops.  Young will be chasing her
fourth-straight AVP women's title as she ended the 2001 season by winning the
Manhattan Beach stop with Barbra Fontana.  McPeak and Youngs have defeated
Dianne DeNecochea and Fontana in both title matches this season.
The first two AVP men's stops this season has featured different winners.  Eric
Fonoimoana and Dax Holdren won the Huntington event by defeating Canyon Ceman
and Mike Whitmarsh in the final.  Albert Hannemann and Jeff Nygaard captured
the Hermosa stop by defeating Stein Metzger and Kevin Wong in the title match.
Metzger and Wong are the defending Santa Barbara winners after defeating
Holdren and Todd Rogers 21-14 and 21-19 last August.  Metzger and Wong won
three events last season, including two AVP titles.  Wong also won the
season-ending AVP King of the Beach crown in Las Vegas last September.
DeNecochea and Liz Masakayan captured the 2001 Santa Barbara women's champions.
 The pair scored a 21-19 and 22-20 win over Jennifer Meredith and Wendy Stammer
to win the crown last August on East Beach.  The title marked the first-ever
for DeNecochea while Masakayan was winning her 47th.
After this weekend, the AVP takes a week off with the FIVB hosting its first
combined men's and women's event in Gstaad, Switzerland June 18-23.  Metzger
and Wong won the 2001 Gstaad stop while Misty May and Kerri Walsh placed third
in the women's competition.  The AVP Tour resumes June 28-30 in Belmar, N. J.
Missing from this weekend's event are the teams of Rogers/Sean Scott and Scott
Davenport/Carl Henkel due to their participation in the first men's FIVB Beach
Volleyball World Tour event in Berlin, Germany.  Rogers and Scott have won four
of their five matches in the international events, including an 1-1 pool play
mark in the 32-team Main Draw.  Davenport and Henkel are 0-2 in their Main Draw pool.

Past Santa Barbara Men's Champions (37 events)
1953 Don McMahon/Gene Selznick
1954 Walt Schiller/Tom Howlett
1956 Don McMahon/Mike O'Hara
1958 Barry Brown/Mike O'Hara
1965 Gene Selznick/Ron Von Hagen
1966 Ron Lang/Gene Selznick
1967 Ron Lang/Ron Von Hagen
1968 Ron Lang/Ron Von Hagen
1969 Henry Bergman/Larry Rundle
1970 John Vallely/Ron Von Hagen
1971 Henry Bergman/Ron Von Hagen
1972 Henry Bergman/Larry Rundle
1972 Tom Chamales/Greg Lee
1973 Henry Bergman/Larry Rundle
1974 Tom Chamales/Ron Von Hagen
1975 Greg Lee/Jim Menges
1976 Greg Lee/Jim Menges
1977 Chris Marlowe/Jim Menges
1978 Andy Fishburn/Fred Sturm
1979 Matt Gage/Jim Menges
1979 Karch Kiraly/Sinjin Smith
1980 Karch Kiraly/Sinjin Smith
1980 Karch Kiraly/Sinjin Smith
1981 Gary Hooper/Steve Obradovich &
Jim Menges/Jon Stevenson
1981 Andy Fishburn/Dane Selznick
1982 Mike Dodd/Tim Hovland
1982 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos
1983 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos
1984 Karch Kiraly/Sinjin Smith
1985 John Hanley/Jon Stevenson
1986 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos
1987 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos
1991 Adam Johnson/Pat Powers
1992 Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes
1999 Adam Johnson/Karch Kiraly
2000 Lee LeGrande/Franco Neto
2001 Stein Metzger/Kevin Wong
 
Past Santa Barbara Women's Champions (10 events)
1976 Kathy Hanley/Kathy Gregory
1981 Linda Hanley/Nina Matthies
1983 Kathy Hanley/Kathy Gregory
1984 Linda Hanley/Nina Matthies
1985 Linda Hanley/Nina Matthies
1986 Linda Hanley/Nina Matthies*
1989 Patty Dodd/Jackie Silva
1990 Janice Harrer/Jackie Silva
1991 Karolyn Kirby/Angela Rock
2001 /Dianne DeNecochea/Liz Masakayan