TOP SEEDS ADVANCE IN AVP TOUR MAIN DRAW SEASON OPENER
Revised May 25, 2002
Courtesy Of  Tim Simmons, BFishInc
Association of Volleyball Professionals
Suite 330, Building 7, 1600 Rosecrans Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266,
310/426-8000; FAX 310/426-8010 - www.avp.com
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. - The top-seeded teams of Stein Metzger/Kevin Wong and
Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs advanced as expected in their respective Main Draws
here Saturday (May 25) in the $125,000 Association of Volleyball Professionals
(AVP) Tour event at The Pier.
Metzger (Honolulu, Hi.) and Wong (Pearl City, Hi.), who have won the last two
AVP men's team events to end the 2001 season, won three matches Saturday as the
men's No. 1-seeded team.  Metzger and Wong, who also captured the 2001 AVP's
King of the Beach competition, advanced to Sunday's final rounds with a 21-13
and 21-12 win over eighth-seeded Brent Doble and Karch Kiraly.
Metzger and Wong will also be seeking Sunday to become the first AVP team since
August 1998 to win three straight titles when Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson won
events in Milwaukee, Atlanta and Hermosa Beach, Calif.  Metzger and Wong ended
the 2001 AVP season with wins at California events at Santa Barbara and
Manhattan Beach before Wong won the King of the Beach title in Las Vegas, Nev.
McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango, Colo.), who are playing
in their first women's pro beach event together, won both of their matches as
the top-seeded women's tandem Saturday.  The pair scored a 21-12 and 21-12 win
over eighth-seeded Danalee Bragado and Rachel Wacholder to advance to Sunday's action.
The top-seeded teams face a pair of fourth-seeded tandems in Sunday's opening
winner's bracket matches.  Metzger and Wong face Canyon Ceman and Mike
Whitmarsh in their opening match Sunday while McPeak and Youngs meet Nancy
Mason and Wendy Stammer.
The AVP Huntington Beach Open, presented by Michelob Light, concludes Sunday at
9 a.m. (PDT) on eight sand courts south of The Pier.  The championship matches
will begin approximately at 1 p.m. Sunday.  Echo Entertainment of Studio City,
Calif., will be taping the AVP Huntington Beach Open action for air on both FOX
Sports Net (90-minute show) and Oxygen (60-minute program).  Chris Marlowe and
Heather Cox will provide commentary on the show produced by Phil Smith.
Sunday's opening men's winner's bracket match has third-seeded Eric Fonoimoana,
the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists with Dain Blanton, and Dax Holdren
challenging second-seeded Todd Rogers and Sean Scott.  Holdren and Rogers are
playing with different partners on the AVP Tour for the first-time since 1999.
In Sunday's other opening women's winning bracket match, second-seeded Diane
DeNecochea and Barbra Fontana face sixth-seeded Carrie Busch and Leanne
Schuster, which upset third-seeded Lisa Arce and Linda Hanley 23-21 and 22-20.
DeNecochea and Fontana are playing in their first pro beach event together
after ending last season with Liz Masakayan and Youngs, respectively.
Despite having one loss, four other men's teams are still in contention for the
$14,500 first-place prize and will play elimination matches Sunday.
Fifth-seeded Albert Hannemann and Jeff Nygaard face Doble and LeGrande while
10th-seeded Mike Lambert and Lee LeGrande play 22nd-seeded Scott Ayakatubby and
Brian Lewis.
Kiraly played in only two of seven AVP Tour team events in 2001 while Doble was
a two-time winner last season with LeGrande.  Kiraly won the USA Volleyball
event at Huntington in 1999 with Adam Johnson.  Lewis sat out the 2001 season
after winning over $960,000 and seven titles on the AVP in 12 pro beach
seasons.  Lewis won the 2000 AVP Huntington Beach Open with Ceman by defeating
Johnson and Kiraly in the final.  Ayakatubby teamed with Eduardo Bacil to win
the 2001 Huntington stop by defeating Ceman and Whitmarsh in the finale 21-14,
16-21 and 17-15.
Four other women's teams will face elimination matches starting Sunday after
each dropping a match Saturday.  Eighthh-seeded Danalee Bragado and Rachel
Wacholder face 12th-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan with
seventh-seeded Jen Pavley and Masakayan challenging Arce and Hanley.
The AVP Huntington Beach Open also marks the return of Davis and Johnson
Jordan.  Competing in their first event since placing fifth in the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games, Davis and Johnson Jordan won six pro beach titles together in
1999 and 2000.  Both women gave birth to their first child in 2001.  Davis had
her son in June and Johnson Jordan her daughter in October.
Following the Huntington Beach event, the AVP Tour will take a weekend off
before staging California events in Hermosa Beach (June 7-9) and Santa Barbara
(June 14-16).  June's schedule concludes with a stop in Belmar, N. J. (June
28-30).