TOP-SEEDED TEAMS CAPTURE AVP SHOOTOUT TITLES; FONOIMOANA & HOLDREN BECOME FOUR-TIME AVP WINNERS IN 2002; McPEAK & YOUNGS REGAIN WINNING FORM IN CAPTURING WOMEN'S CROWN; BEACH LEGEND KIRALY BECOMES $3-MILLION WINNER
Coiurtesy Of Tim Simmons
LAS VEGAS, NEV. - The top-seeded teams of Eric Fonoimoana/Dax Holdren and Holly
McPeak/Elaine Youngs proved their top rankings here Saturday (September 7) by
winning the titles in the $150,000 AVP Paul Mitchell Shootout under the lights
at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Dax Holdren (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
captured their fourth title this season by beating second-seeded Canyon Ceman
(Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Mike Whitmarsh (San Diego, Calif.) 26-24 and
21-18 in the 52-minute men's finale.  Fonoimoana and Holdren shared the $30,000
first-place prize while Ceman and Whitmarsh split $15,000.

In the women's finale, McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango,
Colo.) avenged defeats in the past two Association of Volleyball Professionals
(AVP) Tour events in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and Chicago, Ill., by defeating
second-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan Jordan 21-15 and 21-11 in
41 minutes.  McPeak and Youngs split the $30,000 winner's check while Davis and
Johnson Jordan shared $15,000.

"We validated our season at Manhattan Beach and Chicago and the Vegas event is
icing on the cake for Dax's birthday on Wednesday (Holdren turned 30)", said
Fonoimoana.  Saturday's men's final match was the fourth title match this
season between the two teams.

Fonoimoana and Holdren downed Ceman and Whitmarsh for Southern California
titles in Huntington Beach (May 26) and Manhattan Beach (August 11).  Ceman and
Whitmarsh defeated Fonoimoana and Holdren in the Belmar finale (June 30).  The
Belmar title match was the last domestic defeat for Fonoimoana/Holdren
partnership as the pair won their last 15 AVP Tour matches. 

Fonoimoana and Holdren, who won four of five matches with Ceman and Whitmarsh
this season, also became the first AVP Tour team to win four titles in a season
since 1999 when Adam Johnson and Karch Kiraly captured four crowns together.
Fonoimoana and Holdren also became the first team to win three-straight AVP
titles since Johnson and Kiraly accomplished the feat near the end of the 1998
season (August 2, 9 and 16). 

Saturday's title was also Holdren's 12th and Fonoimoana 11th pro beach crowns.
Ten of Holdren's titles have been on the AVP Tour while Fonoimoana, who
captured the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medal with Dain Blanton, was snaring his
10th domestic crown.

Winners of 35 of 39 AVP Tour matches this season with $115,600 in shared
earnings, Fonoimoana and Holdren advanced to the finals by eliminating
fourth-seeded Brent Doble (Capistrano Beach, Calif.) and Kiraly (San Clemente,
Calif.) 21-17 and 21-10.  Combined with six FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
events this season, Fonoimoana and Holdren have now shared $139,200 with a
53-11 match mark.

With a quarterfinal win Friday night over fifth-seeded Stein Metzger (Honolulu,
Hi.) and Kevin Wong (Pearl City, Hi.) 21-19 and 29-27 in 63 minutes, Kiraly
become the first $3-million winner on the beach as he and Doble were guaranteed
a $7,500 check for placing third.  Kiraly has now earned $3,001,258 and he
continued to pad his his record for career event titles by winning his 143rd
crown with Doble June 16 Santa Barbara, Calif.

Ceman and Whitmarsh, who finished the season with a 26-10 match mark and
$57,120 in shared earnings, advanced to the finals by eliminating sixth-seeded
Mike Lambert (Honolulu, Hi.) and Lee LeGrande (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) 21-16,
21-18 and 15-12 in 59 minutes.

The women's final marked the fourth-straight event that the 2002 AVP Tour's top
two teams played for the title as McPeak and Youngs defeated Davis and Johnson
Jordan for the Belmar crown after losing the championship matches in the
nationally-televised Manhattan Beach and Chicago events to Davis and Johnson
Jordan.

"We struggled the last five weeks, we were not as aggressive as we should have
been", said McPeak.  "Jenny and Annett are very talented and they covered the
court well.  They put pressure on us, but we decided that we be aggressive and
turn the tables on them/"

McPeak, and Youngs advanced to the title match by rallying past fourth-seeded
Lisa Arce (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Linda Hanley (Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
18-21, 21-17 and 15-13 in 57 minutes.  Davis and Johnson Jordan earned a spot
in their 19th pro beach final by eliminating third-seeded Dianne DeNecochea
(San Diego, Calif.) and Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) 22-20 and
21-16 in 39 minutes.  The semifinal losers shared $7,500 for placing third.

Saturday's crown was the 64th in McPeak's career as she ranks second on the
all-time title list behind Karolyn Kirby (67).   McPeak has now amassed
$1,061,477 in her pro beach career to rank first on the career list with titles
in nine of the last 10 decades.  A two-time beach Olympian for the United
States (1996 and 2000), McPeak has won 48 domestic titles with 16 championships
on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.  Youngs, a 1996 indoor Olympian for
the United States, has now won 22 pro beach titles, including 14 domestically.

The McPeak/Youngs partnership ended the 2002 AVP Tour season with 32-2 match
mark $126,600 in shared winnings.  Davis and Johnson Jordan, who posted thirds
in the first three domestic events this season when DeNecochea and Fontana
played McPeak and Youngs for AVP titles, finished the season with $80,790 in
earnings while posting a 28-7 match mark.

McPeak and Youngs, who will end their season later this month in Vitoria,
Brazil (September 17-22) for a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event, have now
won eight pro beach titles in their first season of competition together.  The
pair captured international titles in Norway, France and Greece.  While this
AVP Tour was completing its season in Las Vegas, the FIVB Tours were playing in
the next to last event in Mallorca, Spain this weekend.

Overall, McPeak and Youngs are the winningest pro beach volleyball team for
both men and women this season with $251,115 for 14 events.  McPeak and Youngs
have won 75 of 81 events this season with.  Three of their losses have been to
United States rivals Misty May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga,
Calif.) on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.  Natalie Cook and Kerri
Pottharst, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists, also defeated McPeak and
Youngs on the international circuit.

The second of three days of competition ended Friday when Matt Gage and Jim
Menges won the Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out "Battle of the Sexes" by defeating
McPeak and Youngs 17-21, 21-19 and 15-10 in the 60-minute exhibition on the
Hard Rock sand.  Menges, winner of 46 "open" tournament titles, and Gage, who
captured 26 open tournament crowns, last played competitively in 1982 when they
won three tournaments.

The AVP Tour was making its seventh and final stop on the 2002 schedule at the
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino under the lights in a single-elimination format
competition.  The top eight ranked men's and women's teams competed in the Paul
Mitchell AVP Shoot Out.  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.

On the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, May and Walsh dropped a 21-13, 17-21
and 16-14 Gold Medal match to Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil in the
women's final of the Mallorca stop.  May and Walsh had previously won FIVB five
titles this season in Madrid, Switzerland, Montreal, Austria and China enroute
to a 60-7 match mark this season with $180,140 for 10 events.

The Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland won their second FIVB
title this season by Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Benjamin Infran in the men's
final 21-17 and 27-25.  The Lacigas, who finished second in the European
championships last week, also won the last men's FIVB Tour stop Cadiz, Spain
(August 11).

The 2002 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour concludes with events in Brazil
(Vitoria, September 17-22 for women and October 1-6 in Fortaleza for men).  The
qualifying period for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games begins with the 2003 season
as a team's top eight finishes will be used to determine the participates.