TOP-SEEDED FONOIMOANA & HOLDREN LEAD FINAL SIX MEN'S TEAMS INTO SUNDAY'S FINAL ROUNDS; 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
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. - The top-seeded tandem of Eric Fonoimoana/Dax Holdren
join beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly and his partner Brent Doble in
gaining a spot here Saturday (August 8) for the men's semifinals of the AVP
2002 Michelob Light Manhattan Beach Open at The Pier.

With the 48-team men's Main Draw concluding Sunday, the women completed play
Saturday in the $175,000 event with second-seeded Annett Davis (Tarzana,
Calif.) and Jenny Johnson Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.) claiming the $20,000
first-place prize.  Davis and Johnson, who missed the 2001 season to give birth
to their first children, upset top-seeded Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (Durango, Colo.) 13-21, 23-21 and 15-9 in 59 minutes
for the title.

Playing only a domestic schedule this season, Davis and Johnson Jordan defeated
McPeak and Youngs for the first time in four matches this season.  It was also
Davis and Johnson's first pro beach title since 2000 when the pair won the
domestic stop in San Diego, Calif. (August 27) prior to their departure to
compete for the United States in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.  McPeak and
Youngs entered the title match with a four-event, 25-match winning streak on
the 2002 AVP Tour.

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.

Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Holdren (Santa Barbara, Calif.) will
play either fifth-seeded Eduardo Bacil (El Segundo, Calif.) and Fred Souzo (Rio
de Janerio, Brazil) or 11th-seeded Paul Baxter (Palm Springs, Calif.) and Alika
Williams (Hilo, Hi.) in Sunday's first semifinal.  The match between
Bacil/Souza and Baxter/Williams will be played at 9 a.m. (PDT) Sunday.

The second-seeded Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.) and Doble (Capistrano Beach,
Calif.) will play the winner of the other opening elimination match Sunday
between Canyon Ceman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Mike Whitmarsh (San Diego,
Calif.) and eighth-seeded Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Sean Scott,
San Diego, Calif.).

Fonoimoana, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists with Dain Blanton, and
Holdren won the domestic season opener in Huntington Beach, Calif. (May 26).
Kiraly and Doble captured the third 2002 AVP Tour stop in Santa Barbara, Calif.
(June 16) before Ceman and Whitmarsh won the last men's event in Belmar, N. J.
(June 30) as both teams defeated Fonoimoana and Holdren in the finals of each
event.

Kiraly (nine) and Whitmarsh (once with Mike Dodd) are former Manhattan Beach
men's winners.  Kiraly is pro beach volleyball's all-time leader in earnings
($2,996,008) and event titles (143).  Kiraly's last Manhattan Beach title was
in 1996 with Kent Steffes.  Whitmarsh, who won the Silver Medal at the 1996
Atlanta Olympic Games with Mike Dodd after losing to Kiraly and Steffes in the
All-United States final, won the 1999 Manhattan Beach title with David Swatik.

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 this
weekend.

Metzger and Wong had 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.

Davis and Johnson Jordan earned a trip to Saturday's 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.