DOMESTIC BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOUR RESUMES PLAY IN MANHATTAN BEACH; FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENTS SLATED FOR JAPAN AND SPAIN; MAY & WALSH SEEK EIGHTH GOLD MEDAL FOR USA IN OSAKA
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
LONGMONT, COLO. - After five weekends off, the Association of Volleyball
Professionals (AVP) resumes its 2002 tour in Southern California while the
top-ranked team from the United States on the women's FIVB Beach Volleyball
Tour seeks an eighth Gold Medal for American in Japan.

Misty May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) will be one
of three women's teams from the United States playing in Osaka, Japan, this
weekend (August 7-11).  John Hyden (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Christian McCaw
(Santa Monica, Calif.) will be the only American men's team in the FIVB Cadiz,
Spain event this week.

Led by Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (Durango,
Colo.), the men's and women's domestic tour resumes this week for the AVP 2002
Michelob Light Manhattan Beach Open, Presented by Xbox.  The event starts with
Thursday's (August 8) qualifier followed by Main Draw play Friday through
Sunday.  NBC will televise its first of two AVP Tour stops this season Sunday
from 4-6 p.m. (EDT).

Manhattan Beach will be site for its 46th men's and 22nd women's pro beach
volleyball events to rank first as the beach to host the most domestic
tournaments.  Only San Diego (48) and Santa Barbara (47) have hosted more men's
events.  Once Thursday women's qualifying starts, Manhattan Beach will tie
Hermosa Beach as the site to host the most female stops.
 
McPeak and Youngs have won all four women's AVP Tour events this season along
with capturing FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Gold Medals in Norway, France
and Greece.  May and Walsh have won the other four international events for
women this season in Spain, Switzerland, Canada and last Saturday in Austria.

Overall, McPeak and Youngs have seven titles and $170,415 in shared earnings
this season.  The pair has won 57 of 60 matches this season.  In addition to
losing to May and Walsh twice, this season, McPeak and Youngs' only other
defeat was to Cook and Pottharst in Switzerland.

The winningest pro beach player in history in terms of money, McPeak has now
earned $943,087 in 201 pro beach starts.  With FIVB bonus money, she is the
only woman to win over $1,000,000 in her career ($1,021,126).  McPeak ranks
second on overall wins with 63 titles.  Karolyn Kirby holds the mark for women
at 67.

McPeak and Youngs are scheduled to resume FIVB Tour play August 14-18 in China
before returning to the United States for a men's and women's domestic event in
Chicago, Ill. (August 23-25).  The 2002 women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World
Tour concludes in September with events in Spain (Mallorca, 3-7) and Brazil
(Vitoria, 17-22).  The men's international tour concludes with stops in Spain
(August 7-11 in Cadiz and September 4-8 in Mallorca) and Brazil (October 1-6 in
Fortaleza).  The AVP Tour concludes for both men and women September 5-8 in Las
Vegas, Nev.

The men's 2002 AVP Tour has produced four different winners in the first four
events.  Eric Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.), the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold
Medallists with Dain Blanton, and Dax Holdren (Santa Barbara) won the domestic
season opener in Huntington Beach, Calif. (May 26) by defeating Canyon Ceman
and Mike Whitmarsh in the finals.  Fonoimoana and Holdren have also placed
fifth, second and second in the next three AVP events.

Albert Hanneman (Torrance, Calif.) and Jeff Nygaad (Los Angeles, Calif.)
captured the second stop in Hermosa Beach, Calif. (June 9) by outlasting Stein
Metzger (Honolulu, Hi.) and Kevin Wong (Pearl City, Hi.) 18-21, 29-27 and 27-25
in 100 minutes.

The teams of Brent Doble (, Capistrano Beach, Calif.)/Karch Kiraly (San
Clemente, Calif.) and Ceman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)/Whitmarsh (San Diego,
Calif.) won the third and fourth stops on the 2002 AVP Tour by defeating
Fonoimoana and Holdren for the titles at Santa Barbara, Calif. (June 16) and
Belmar, N. J. (June 30), respectively.

While Fonoimoana and Holdren have been the most consistent team on the AVP
Tour, Metzger and Wong have been the top performing United States tandem on the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.  Metzger and Wong collected Bronze Medals for
finishes in Switzerland and Norway before winning the Portugal Open (July 28)
to snap a streak of 14-straight Gold Medal placements for teams from South
American.

Danalee Bragado (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Ali Wood (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)
are the United States' second tandem in the Osaka Main Draw that starts Friday.
Kerri Eich (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kristen Schritter (San Diego, Calif.)
will attempt to qualify for the United States when the Qualification Tournament
opens Wednesday.

May and Walsh have now won six pro beach titles together.  May has won 11 pro
beach crowns.  Each of Walsh's six Gold Medals has been with May, who had won
her first five titles with McPeak.  With seven-straight match wins in Austria
last week, May and Walsh are now 41-5 this season.

By defeating Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil in last Saturday's
Austrian Open Gold Medal match, May and Walsh now lead the head-to-head series
with the South Americans 5-4.  Walsh was also playing Behar and Bede for the
seventh-time in a FIVB title match as the second-season USA pro dropped a FIVB
Gold Medal match to the Brazilians last November in that South American country
with McPeak.

May and Walsh, who will be competing in their 18th pro beach event together in
Japan, have 10 podium placements and 11 "final four" finishes together.  May
and Walsh have now earned $130,700 in earnings in seven FIVB events this
season.  Overall, May and Walsh have posted a 82-20 match mark in two seasons
with a combined earnings of $242,450 (17th all-time for a women's team).  On
the FIVB Tour, May and Walsh were competing in their 15th international event
with a 76-18 match mark and $233,700 in combined earnings (10th all-time on the
FIVB list).

Bragado, who finished second in the 1996 Osaka event with Pat Keller after
losing the Gold Medal match to Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia,
and Wood will be playing in their second event this season in Osaka event after
starting 2002 campaign with different partners.  Bragado and Wood will be
competing in the 37th pro beach event together with $93,012 in earnings (45th
all-time).  Bragado and Wood won the Silver Medal at the 2001 Greece Challenger
with their best finish in an international "open" event being fifth at the 2001
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Austria.

Eich and Schritter will be playing in their sixth pro beach event together.
The pair placed 13th earlier this season in Hermosa Beach before failing to
qualify for the FIVB Main Draw in Canada last month.  Eich has never qualified
for an international Main Draw.  Schritter, who finished fourth at a FIVB
Challenger event in 1999 at Italy, has posted a 13th at international "open"
events in 2000 (Brazil with Liz Pagano).

While Osaka hosts its ninth FIVB women's event, Cadiz will stage its inaugural
stop for men.  Hyden and McCaw will be attempting to qualify for the 32-team
Main Draw.  Hyden and McCaw will be competing in their 11th pro beach event
together as they placed 25th last weekend at the 48-team FIVB Grand Slam event
in Austria.

Hyden and McCaw posted a pair of 17th-place finishes on the AVP Tour this
season at Huntington Beach and Belmar.  The pair has shared only $900
domestically this season with a 4-5 match mark.  Hyden and McCaw qualified for
the FIVB "money" rounds in Canada and Portugal after placing 41st, 57th and
33rd in their first three FIVB events this season.  Hyden and McCaw have an
18-16 match mark this season, including a 14-11 FIVB record.  The pair has
split $7,940.

The United States teams of Barbra Fontana/Lori Forsythe (1994) and McPeak/Nancy
Reno (1995) won the first two Osaka women's event.  The Japanese city has
hosted more FIVB women's events than any other international site.
Cook and Pottharst won the 1996 title in their first event following the
Aussie's Bronze Medal finish at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.  Cook and
Pottharst followed their Atlanta effort with a Gold Medal at the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games where they defeated Behar and Bede in the final.

Monica Rodriques and Adriana Samuel started a run of five-straight Osaka Gold
Medals for Brazil by winning the 1997 crown.  Behar and Bede, who have won a
record 26 FIVB "open" events, capture the next four Osaka Gold Medals for
Brazil.  Behar and Bede defeated May and Walsh for the 2001 crown.  May also
placed fourth in the 2000 Osaka event with McPeak.

Past Osaka Women Gold Medallists

1994 - Barbra Fontana/Lori Forsythe, United States
1995 - Holly McPeak/Nancy Reno, United States
1996 - Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst, Australia
1997 - Monica Rodrigues/Adriana Samuel, Brazil
1998 - Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede
1999 - Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede
2000 - Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede
2001 - Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede