DAVIS & JOHNSON JORDAN SCORE UPSET WIN TO SEVENTH PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL
TITLE; MCPEAK & YOUNGS' FOUR-EVENT, 25-MATCH DOMESTIC WINNING STREAK
SNAPPED BY 2000 OLYMPIANS; DEFENDING MEN'S MANHATTAN BEACH CHAMPIONS
ELIMINATED
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. - After a season off to give birth to
their first
children, Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan returned to the
winner's circle
here Saturday (August 10) by defeating top-seeded Holly McPeak
and Elaine
Youngs for the women's AVP 2002 Michelob Light Manhattan Beach
Open crown.
Playing only a domestic schedule this season, the second-seeded
Davis (Tarzana,
Calif.) and Johnson Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.) scored a 21-13, 21-23
and 15-9 win
in 59 minutes over McPeak and Youngs, who had their four event,
25-match
domestic winning streaks snapped.
By defeating McPeak and Youngs for the first time in four matches
this season,
Davis and Johnson split the $20,000 first-place prize in winning
their first
pro beach title since 2000. Davis and Johnson's last title
was at a domestic
stop in San Diego, Calif. (August 27) prior to their departure
to compete for
the United States in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
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, were sharing $14,000 for second-place, men's
competition
was down to six tandems in contention for the Manhattan Beach
crown.
Third-seeded Stein Metzger (Honolulu, Hi.) and Kevin Wong (Pearl
City, Hi.),
the defending Manhattan Beach men's champions, dropped an elimination
match to
20th-seeded Jake Elliott (Isle of Palms, S.C.) and Brian Soldano
(Isle of
Palms, S. C.) 21-19, 15-21 and 15-13 in 66 minutes to place
17th.
The $175,000 event will be televised by NBC Sunday from 4-6 p.m.
(EDT). It
will be 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
was taped and will be aired following the men's championship match.
Davis and Johnson Jordan earned a trip to the title match by defeating
sixth-seeded Nancy Mason (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Rachel Wacholder
(El
Segundo, Calif.) 16-21, 21-15 and 15-10 and third-seeded Carrie
Busch (Hermosa
Beach, Calif.) and Leanne Schuster (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) 21-18
and 21-9.
Davis and Johnson Jordan, who finished fifth at the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games,
had placed third in the first three AVP Tour events this season.
Winners of 21
of 27 matches this season with $48,390 in earnings, Davis and
Johnson Jordan
dropped an AVP Tour finale to McPeak and Youngs June 30 in Belmar,
N. J.
Competing in their 46th pro beach event together, Davis and Johnson
Jordan have
now posted a 211-67 match mark. The pair has shared $469,185
in earnings to
rank second domestically and fifth overall. In pro beach
title matches, Davis
and Johnson have posted a 7-10 mark.
With two wins in three matches Saturday, McPeak and Youngs have
now posted a
62-4 pro beach mark this season along with $184,415 in combined
earnings.
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 they will compete Sunday in the "final four."
May and Walsh, who
have a 2-1 mark against McPeak and Youngs, have won the other
four
international events for women this season in Spain, Switzerland,
Canada and
last Saturday in Austria.
The winningest pro beach player in history in terms of money,
McPeak has now
earned $957,087 in 202 pro beach starts. With FIVB bonus
money, she is the
only woman to win over $1,000,000 in her career ($1,035,126).
McPeak ranks
second on overall wins with 63 titles. Karolyn Kirby holds
the mark for women
at 67. McPeak now has a 63-30 record in title matches in
her career while
Youngs is 21-8.
McPeak and Youngs advanced to the finals by defeating fifth-seeded
Dianne
DeNecochea (San Diego, Calif.) and Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.)
21-19 and 21-11 and fourth-seeded Lisa Arce (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.) and Linda
Hanley (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), 21-13 and 21-17.
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 is staging an event this weekend
in Cadiz, Spain,
where Jody Holden and Conrad Leinmann of Canada will play the
Swiss brothers
Laciga (Martin and Paul) for the title Sunday. The men's
FIVB Beach Volleyball
World Tour concludes with stops in Spain (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.
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 Hannemann (Torrance, Calif.) and Jeff Nygaard (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
captured the second stop in Hermosa Beach, Calif. (June 9) by
outlasting
Metzger and Wong 18-21, 29-27 and 27-25 in 100 minutes.
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.