MCPEAK & YOUNGS NOTCH 60TH PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL 2002 MATCH WIN; FINAL EIGHT WOMEN'S TEAMS SEEK $20,000 FIRST-PLACE PRIZE SATURDAY'S; BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR TOP-SEEDED TANDEMS IN 48-TEAM MEN'S MAIN DRAW
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. - Top-seeded Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs continued
their winning ways on the 2002 Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP)
Tour here Friday (August 9) by improving their season match mark to 60-3 during
the opening Main Draw rounds of the The AVP 2002 Michelob Light Manhattan Beach
Open, presented by Xbox.

While McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango, Colo.), the No.
2-ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with three Gold Medal
finishes this season, led the AVP Manhattan Beach "elite eight" into Saturday's
final rounds, the 48-team men's competition played two Main Draw rounds.

The $175,000 event will be televised by NBC Sunday from 4-6 p.m. (EDT).  It is
the first of two national broadcasts for the 2002 AVP Tour.  The men's final
Sunday will be aired "live" while the women's title match from Saturday will be
taped and aired following the men's championship match.  Saturday's winning
women's team will share the $20,000 first-place prize.

McPeak and Youngs are seeking their fifth AVP Tour title this season as the
domestic tour's top-ranked team has won 23-straight domestic matches this
season.  McPeak and Youngs have also captured FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
Gold Medals in Norway, France and Greece.

Misty May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.), the No.
1-ranked team on the 2002 FIVB Tour, are competing this weekend in Osaka,
Japan, where their won two matches earlier Friday.  May and Walsh have won the
other four international events for women this season in Spain, Switzerland,
Canada and last Saturday in Austria.

McPeak and Youngs face fifth-seeded Dianne DeNecochea (San Diego, Calif.) and
Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) in their first match Saturday morning
with the winner advancing to the semifinals.  The other battle of Manhattan
unbeatens have second-seeded Annett Davis (Tarzana, Calif.) and Jenny Johnson
Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.) playing sixth-seeded Nancy Mason (Hermosa Beach,
Calif.) and Rachel Wacholder (El Segundo, Calif.).

Four other women's teams remain in contention for the Manhattan Beach title
after losing only once Friday.  Fourth-seeded Lisa Arce (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.) and Linda Hanley (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) face 25th-seeded Franci
Rard (Naples, Fla.) and Paula Roca (Tierra Verde, Fla.) in an opening
elimination match while seventh-seeded Katy Eldridge (Los Gatos, Calif.) and
Jennifer Meredith (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) challenge third-seeded Carrie Busch
(Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Leanne Schuster (Manhattan Beach, Calif.).

Friday's men's competition saw five of the top eight-seeded teams' advance as
expected, including all four teams that have captured 2002 AVP Tour titles.
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).

Albert Hanneman (Torrance, Calif.) and Jeff Nygaard (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.  Seeded third this week, Metzger and Wong split and pair of
matches Friday as did the sixth-seeded Hannemman and Nygaard and eighth-seeded
Todd Rogers and Sean Scott.

The teams of Brent Doble (Capistrano Beach, Calif.)/Karch Kiraly (San Clemente,
Calif.) and Canyon Ceman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)/Mike 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.