Women'Sports Wire

(March 18, 2001)

Nine BVA Tour Teams Enter
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Event

POWAY, CALIF. (March 18, 2001) Nine women’s teams from the 2001 BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour will get an "early" jump on their domestic rivals by competing April 4?8 in the opening FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in Macau, a city of 450,000 located in south-east China.

Macau, which is located on the western bank of the Pearl River Delta and 38 nautical miles from Hong Kong, will be hosting the first of 19 international and domestic events for BVA Tour players in 2001. The BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour starts its second season of operation with two events in Florida at Clearwater (April 20-22) and Miami Beach (May 4-6).

Four of the nine BVA teams earned a berth in the 32-team Main Draw, while five other teams will battle for a fifth United States berth in the ?money? rounds of the $180,000. A total of 48 teams from 19 countries have entered the Macau FIVB stop, including Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia.

BVA Tour teams already in the April 6-8 main draw are Misty May/Holly McPeak, Elaine Youngs/Barbra Fontana, Liz Masakayan/Cary Wendell and Lisa Arce/Carrie Busch. BVA Tour teams entered in the April 4-5 Qualification Tournament are Ali Wood/Danalee Bragado, Leanne Schuster/Nancy Mason, Liz Pagano/Kristen Schritter, Angie Kammer/Jennifer Kessy and Dianne DeNecochea/Wendy Stammer.

May and McPeak, who captured five Gold Medals last season with two BVA Tour wins, captured FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2000 titles in the United States, Germany and Brazil. May and McPeak also tied for fifth in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games after being eliminated by Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel of Brazil 16-15. The Americans defeated Pires and Samuel twice last November to win a FIVB Gold Medal in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Youngs, Masakayan, Fontana and Arce just missed qualifying for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games for the United States. Youngs and Masakayan won three FIVB titles last season enroute to $119,000 in international earnings. Arce and Fontana, the ninth-ranked team internationally, won two BVA Tour events in California last season. Fontana also won the BVA?s ?Queen of the Beach? competition last October in Las Vegas, Nev.

The BVA Tour team of Annett Davis/Jennifer Johnson Jordan will forgo competition this season as both players are expecting their first child. Davis, who is married to world-class swimmer Byron Davis, is due in June. Johnson Jordan, married to former UCLA wide-receiver Kevin Jordan and the daughter of Olympic Gold Medalist Rafer Johnson, is due in October.

Winners of three Gold Medals last season, including two BVA Tour titles and an international crown in France, Davis and Johnson finished fifth at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games where they were eliminated by Yukiko Takahashi and Teru Saiki of Japan 15-9.

Although Davis and Johnson Jordan will not compete on the BVA Tour during their pregnancies, both are continuing weight training and conditioning, and expect to be back on the both the BVA and FIVB circuits for the 2002 season. "We found out we were pregnant on Oct. 16, just a few weeks after coming home from the Olympic Games," said Davis. "We were definitely concentrating only on work until our final game, and then we let loose and had a lot of fun. What a surprise and an overwhelming feeling of joy it was to find out we were pregnant."

"Competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games was a dream come true for me and this past month, another dream came true when Kevin and I found out we are expecting our first child this fall," said Johnson Jordan. "Needless to say, I will be taking the year off from competition, but look forward to playing in the 2002 season."

BEACH VOLLEYBALL AMERICA - The BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is beginning it second season of competition with the United States’ newest professional league adding men’s play in 2001 after staging only women’s events during its inaugural campaign in 2000. The BVA Tour is a professional beach volleyball organization specializing in the production of a nationwide tour and professional sports events. The BVA Tour "will provide a marketing platform for companies to link their brand with some of the best role models in professional sports and the active, healthy lifestyle that defines beach volleyball. The BVA Tour will provide elite beach volleyball athletes with opportunities to compete in the United States and prepare for major international and Olympic competition."

BVA TOUR RECOGNIZED - The Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the international governing body of the sport of volleyball worldwide, has endorsed the BVA and the BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour as its official women’s and men’s U. S. National Tour for the sport of beach volleyball. The FIVB has over 218 member countries and oversees the administration and promotion of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, which offers close to $5 million in prize money distributed equally between female and male competitors. The FIVB World Tour serves as the official Olympic qualification tour for the sport of beach volleyball. In January 2001, the International Olympic Committee declared that the sport of beach volleyball, which only achieved provisional status in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, had been installed as a permanent discipline in the Olympic Program. Beach volleyball was among the most popular sports at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The Olympic venue at Bondi Beach attracted over 20,000 spectators daily as the top beach volleyball competitors in the world competed before sold-out Crowds.

2001 SCHEDULE (All dates and venues are subject to change) - After staging all of 2000 events in Southern California, the BVA Tour will branch out in 2001 with events in California, Florida and Hawaii.

Date, Site, City, State, April 20-22, Pier 60 South, Clearwater, Fla.
May 4-6, Lummus Park, South Beach, Miami Beach, Fla.
May 25-27, Pier Plaza, Oceanside, Calif.
June 7-10, Mervyn's California Beach Bash 2001 at The Pier (owned and operated by IMG Event Source), Hermosa Beach, Calif.
July 13-15, To be determined, San Francisco, Calif.
August 10-12, The Pier, Huntington Beach, Calif.
August 17-19, The BVA U. S. Open of Beach Volleyball at The Pier, Southern California
September 14-16, The BVA Tour Championship at Fort DeRussy Beach, Honolulu, Hi.

USA WOMEN ON THE FIVB TOUR - The United States women are the second winningest country on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour since the start of the international circuit in 1992. Holly McPeak has won 13 Gold Medals on the international tour, including seven with Nancy Reno, three with Lisa Arce and three in 2000 with Misty May. Karolyn Kirby and Reno won the inaugural event August 16, 1992 in Almeria, Spain when they defeated Linda Chisholm and Angela Rock in the All-USA final. A total of 21 women have earned medals for the United States on the international tour, including the November Bronze Medal finish by Nancy Mason and Leanne Schuster in Brazil. The United States has faced Brazil in 35 international finals with the November Gold Medal win by May and McPeak breaking a 17-17 tie. Overall, the United States has won 28 international Gold Medals, including seven in 2000.

2000 WOMEN’S FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD TOUR – Australia’s Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst captured the Gold Medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (medals only, non-money/points event) when they defeated Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil in the finals. Here are the 2000 women’s money leaders, including a FIVB Challenger event in Greece.

1, Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede, Brazil (4 open Golds), $189,000
2, Misty May/Holly McPeak, United States (3 open), $180,000
3, Liz Masakayan/Elaine Youngs, USA (3 open), $119,000
4, Jenny Johnson Jordan/Annett Davis, USA (1 open), $113,000
5, Monica Rodriques/Ana Paula Connelly, Bra (1 open), $94,000
6, Kerri Pottharst/Natalie Cook, Australia (1 Olympic), $86,000
7, Sandra Pires/Adriana Samuel, Brazil, $83,000
8, Yukiko Takahashi/Teru Saiki, Japan, $73,000
9, Lisa Arce/Barbra Fontana, United States, $70,000
10, Tania Gooley/Pauline Manser, Australia, $56,000
11, Zi Xiong/Rong Chi, China, $42,500
12, Maria Jose Almeida/Cristina Peieira, Portugal, $39,000
13, Ulrike Schmidt/Gudula Staub, Germany, $36,000
14, Lina Yanchulova/Petia Yanchulova, Bulgaria (1 chal), $31,000
15, Zhang Jingkun/Tian Jia, China, $30,000
15, Laura Bruschini/Annamaria Solazzi, Italy, $30,000
17, Ines Pianka/Stephanie Pohl, Germany, $29,000
18, Maike Friedrichsen/Danja Musch, Germany, $28,500
19, Anabelle Prawerman/Cecile Rigaux, France, $24,500
20, Dalixia Fernandez/Tamara Larrea Peraza, Cuba, $24,000
21, Yukiko Ishizaka/Rii Seike, Japan, $23,500
22, Debora Schoon/Rebekka Kadijk, Netherlands, $23,000
23, Vassiliki Karadassiou/Efrosyni Sfyri, Greece, $21,200
24, Hilda Gaxiola/Teresa Galindo, Mexico, $21,000
25, Ryoko Tokuno/Chiaki Kusuhara, Japan, $19,000
26, Annette Huygens Tholen/Sarah Straton, Australia, $18,500
26, Amanda Glover/Audrey Cooper, England, $18,500
28, Monica Oliver/Denise Austin, England, $18,000
29, Solvi Byberg/Heidi Larsen, Norway, $18,000
30, Linda Hanley/Nancy Reno, United States, $17,000

MM GOOD - Misty May became the winningest first-season player in USA domestic history in 2000 with five Gold Medal finishes, including two domestic titles. Elaine Young made her pro beach debut in 1997 by winning two domestic titles with Liz Masakayan. May finished the 2000 season with $127,700 for her rookie season. Youngs had the previous best rookie earnings mark of $24,266 for 10 events in 1997.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[Source: 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.]