THREE TOP SEEDED TEAMS WIN AS EXPECTED IN LAS VEGAS SHOOTOUT;
LAMBERT & LEGRANDE POST UPSET WIN IN MEN'S PLAY
Courtesy Of Tim Simmons
LAS VEGAS, NEV. - Led by Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs, the winningest team in
pro beach volleyball this season, three of the four expected winners won here
Thursday (September 5) during the first of three days of competition in the
$150,000 Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

The AVP Tour is making its seventh and final stop on the 2002 schedule under
the lights in a single-elimination format competition.  The top eight ranked
men's and women's teams are competing in the Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out where
the winning teams taking home $30,000, the largest payday on the 2002 AVP Tour.

Thursday's winners included McPeak/Youngs and Lisa Arce/Linda Hanley in the
women's competition and Canyon Ceman/Mike Whitmarsh and Mike Lambert/Lee
LeGrande in the men's bracket.  The sixth-seeded Lambert (Honolulu, Hi.) and
LeGrande (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) posted the only upset Thursday by eliminating
third-seeded Eduardo Bacil (El Segundo, Calif.) and Frederico Souza (Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil) 21-16 and 21-11 in 36 minutes.  Bacil and Souza had won two of
the previous three matches from Lambert and LeGrande this season, including a
21-17 and 21-18 semifinal win in the last AVP event in Chicago last month.

The top-seeded McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango, Colo.)
scored a 21-11 and 21-7 win over eighth-seeded Stephanie Cox (Mission Viejo,
Calif.) and Jen Holdren (Santa Barbara, Calif.).  McPeak and Youngs, who have
won both matches with Cox and Holdren this season, will play Saturday against
fourth-seeded Lisa Arce (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Linda Hanley (Pacific
Palisades, Calif.) at 1:30 p.m. (PDT).  The winner of that match advances to
6:30 p.m. final Saturday.

Arce, who won last year's Queen of the Beach competition at the Hard Rock, and
Hanley eliminated fifth-seeded Nancy Mason (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Rachel
Wacholder (El Segundo, Calif.) 21-17 and 21-18.  It was the third-straight win
this season for Arce and Hanley over Mason and Wacholder this season.  Mason
and Wacholder's only win in the series between the two teams was in June's New
Jersey stop in Belmar while Arce and Hanley won last month in Manhattan Beach,
Calif., and Chicago.

In Thursday's other men's match, second-seeded Canyon Ceman (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.) and Mike Whitmarsh (San Diego, Calif.) ousted seventh-seeded Todd
Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Sean Scott (San Diego, Calif.) 21-17 and
21-18.  Ceman and Whitmarsh, who are now 2-0 against Rogers and Scott this
season, face Lambert and LeGrande at 5:15 p.m. Saturday with the winner
advancing to the 7:45 p.m. title match.

First-round action concludes Friday with four more single-elimination matches
featuring Eric Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Dax Holdren (Santa
Barbara, Calif.), the top ranked team and winners of the last two AVP men's
events in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and Chicago.  The pair also won the 2002 AVP
Tour opener in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Three-time Olympic Gold Medallists and beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly,
who is now just $2,492 shy of become the first player to reach the $3-million
mark in career earnings on the Beach, will also play Friday with partner Brent
Doble.  The pair will be seeking his second AVP Tour title this season as
Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.) and Doble (Capistrano Beach, Calif.) captured
June's Santa Barbara stop.

Other 2002 AVP Tour winners competing at the Hard Rock are Hermosa Beach
winners Albert Hannemann (Torrance, Calif.) and Jeff Nygaard (Los Angeles,
Calif.) and Belmar champions Ceman and Whitmarsh, the 1996 Altanta Olympic
Games Silver Medallists.  Whitmarsh won the 2000 King of the Beach title at the
Hard Rock.

In addition to McPeak and Youngs, who have won four AVP titles this season, the
Paul Mitchell Shoot Out also features Annett Davis (Tarzana, Calif.) and Jenny
Johnson Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.).  McPeak and Youngs won the first four women's
stops in Huntington, Hermosa, Santa Barbara and Belmar with Davis and Johnson
Jordan defeating McPeak and Youngs in the Manhattan and Chicago finals.

The Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out will also host a special "Battle of the Sexes"
match Friday evening when beach volleyball legends Jim Menges and Matt Gage
play McPeak and Youngs.  Menges won 46 "open" tournament titles and Gage
captured 26 open tournament crowns.  Menges and Gage last competed together in
1982 when they won three tournaments.
The men's final of the Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out will be televised on Fox
Sports Net September 19 at 3 p.m.  The women's finals will be broadcast on the
Oxygen Network September 14 at 5 p.m.  The listed prize money breakdown is
$30,000 for first, $15,000 for second, $7,500 for third and $3,750 for fifth
per gender.