Women'Sports Wire

(April 8, 2001)

BVA's May/Mcpeak Earn FIVB Macau Beach Volleyball Medal

MACAU - Top-seeded Misty May and Holly McPeak avenged an earlier defeat to fourth-seeded Barbra Fontana and Elaine Youngs to net the Bronze Medal here Sunday (April 8) during the final rounds of this weekend's $180,000 women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.

The $14,000 third-place finish by May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) paced the effort for the six BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour teams competing in the opening pro beach volleyball event of the 2001 season. Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Encinitas, Calif.) shared $11,000 for placing fourth in the 32-team Main Draw.

In the Macau finale, second-seeded Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst Australia proved that their win over third-seeded Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil in the Gold Medal match at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was no "fluke". The Aussies scored a 28-26 and 21-13 win over the South Americans to win the $27,000 first-place prize.

The FIVB Macau event was the first international stop of the season as BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour opens the domestic season April 20-22 on the Pier 60 South courts in Clearwater Beach, Fla. The $150,000 Clearwater event for both women and men ($75,000 prize money for each gender) will feature qualifying matches April 20 followed by two 16-team Main Draws April 21-22.

May and McPeak, who had dropped a 68-minute match Saturday (21-18, 23-25 and 15-11) to Fontana and Youngs, scored a 26-24, 20-22 and 15-10 win over their BVA rivals in Sunday's Bronze Medal match in 62 minutes. May and McPeak have now posted seven podium placements together since the end of the 1999 international season with three Gold Medals. Fontana and Youngs were playing in their first-event pro beach event.

McPeak was playing in her 51st international event with 35 "final four" finishes, 13 titles and 31 podium finishes. Combined with her domestic earnings, McPeak is the all-time women's beach volleyball money leader ($722,178). She has 55 career beach titles to rank behind Karolyn Kirby's recorded 67 Gold Medals. May, who was the winningest first-season player in USA domestic history last season with five Gold Medal finishes and $127,700 in winnings, has now earned $139,450 in only 21 pro beach starts to rank 21st on the all-time winnings lists.

Fontana and Youngs dropped into the Bronze Medal match by losing 21-18 and 21-19 in 47 minutes to Cook and Pottharst in Sunday's opening semi-final match. In the longest match of the Macau event, Behar and Bede eliminated May and McPeak from title contention with a 21-16, 26-28 and 22-20 in 73 minutes. The Brazilians have now defeated May and McPeak five times in seven career meetings.

The Macau "final four" appearance was Fontana's 23rd in 59 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour starts. A 1996 USA beach Olympian, Fontana has earned 10 FIVB medals, including three Gold Medal finishes. Youngs, who competed for the USA indoor team at the 1996 Olympics, now has 10 "final four" appearances on international circuit. Youngs won all three of her FIVB Gold Medals with Liz Masakayan in 2000.

Cook and Pottharst, who claimed the Olympic Gold Medal by defeating Behar and Bede of Brazil 12-11 and 12-10 in the Bondi Beach finale September 25, avenged a 21-13 and 25-23 loss to the South Americans Saturday to claim their their third FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Gold Medal. The Bronze Medallists at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Cook and Pottharst were competing in their 17th FIVB "final four." Cook was voted as the Macau event's top player.

Behar and Bede, the winningest team in FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour history with 20 titles, shared $18,000 for their Silver Medal finish. Despite losing to Cook and Pottharst in the Macau final, Behar and Bede still hold a 15-5 edge in the series with the Aussies.

The BVA Tour also posted a seventh- and ninth-place finishes Saturday. Lisa Arce (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Carrie Busch (Milwaukee, Wis./Hermosa Beach, Calif.) shared $7,000 for seventh. Danalee Bragado (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Ali Wood (Long Beach, Calif.) placed ninth to share $5,500.

The BVA Tour teams of 15th-seeded Masakayan/Cary Wendell and 30th-seeded Dianne DeNecochea/Wendy Stammer were eliminated Friday. Wendell (San Clemente, Calif.) and DeNecochea (LaJolla, Calif.) were competing in their first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event while Stammer was playing in only her second international tournament. Masakayan (San Diego, Calif.) placed 17th and split $3,000. DeNecochea and Stammer, who had to win six of seven qualifying matches Wednesday and Thursday to earn a Main Draw berth, finished 25th to split $2,000.

Macau, a city of 450,000 located on the western bank of the Pearl River Delta and 38 nautical miles from Hong Kong in south-east China, is hosting the first of international event in 2001. A total of 44 teams from 18 countries competed in the Macau FIVB stop.

The Macau FIVB stop features the Rally Point System (RPS) with a match consisting of two sets of 21 points and an eventual third decisive set with 15 points. The playing courts for the Macau event has dimensions of 16 meters x 8 meters (instead of 18 meters x 9 meters) reducing it to 8 meters x 8 meters per side. These new rules are being tested for the 2001 season.

Following the FIVB women's opener and the BVA Tour's stop in Florida, the international circuit holds its first combined men's and women's event of the season May 16-20 in Rosarito, Mexico. The United States claimed two men's (Gold and Silver) and two women's (Silver and Bronze) in last June's Rosarito event. The 2001 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour also features the World Championships August 1-5 in Klagenfurt, Austria.

BVA ON THE WEB - Information on the BVA Tour and the sport of volleyball can be found at the following web sites:

· Beach Volleyball America (www.bvatour.com) - The site is maintained by the BVA Tour staff (info@bvatour.com) at the BVA offices in Poway, Calif.

· VolleyCentral (http://www.volleycentral.com) - The site is maintained by Rick Capone (rickc@volleycentral.com) at the VolleyCentral offices in Poway, Calif.

· FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (www.fivb.org) - The site is maintained by the FIVB's beach department (beach@mail.fivb.ch) at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The web site for the Macau event is maintained by the Macau Sport Development Board (sport@macau.ctm.net, www.sport.gov.mo/2001/en/WomenBeachVolleyball/index.phtml).

· USA Volleyball (www.usavolleyball.org) - The site is maintained by Brent Buzbee (brent.buzbee@usav.org) at the USA Volleyball Offices in Colorado Springs, Colo.

· Beach Volleyball Data Base (www.bvbdb.com) - The site is maintained by Dennis Wagner (doctorono@home.com) of Virginia Beach, VA. Dr. Ono has tracked 1,074 events and 1,904 players.

[MEDIA INFORMATION OPERATIONS - Tim Simmons (303/678-8484; e-mail tim@bvatour.com) is the Media Information Officer for the BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.]