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(March 24, 2001) Beach
Volleyball Tour (BVA) Sets $150,000 Clearwater Event April 20-22 POWAY, CALIF. The opening domestic event on the 2001 BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is set for April 20-22 on the Pier 60 South courts in Clearwater Beach, Fla. The $150,000 BVA Clearwater Beach Open will have a 16-team Main Draw for both women and men April 21-22. A Qualification Tournament will be held April 20 to determine the final four Main Draw berths in both divisions. Clearwater Beach will host its first domestic pro beach event since 1999 when the tandems of Blanton/Fonoimoana and Liz Masakayan/Elaine Youngs won the Gold Medals. After successfully launching a women's tour in 2000, the BVA Tour has added men's competition for 2001. Prior to the domestic opener, the first of two events in Florida to start the 2001 season, nine women's teams from the BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour will compete April 4-8 in the opening FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in south-east China at Macau. Four of the nine BVA Tour 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 FIVB women's main draw are Misty May/Holly McPeak, Youngs/Barbra Fontana, Masakayan/Cary Wendell and Lisa Arce/Carrie Busch. BVA Tour teams entered in the April 4-5 FIVB 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 then came back to defeat 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 Jordan 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 Tour and FIVB circuits for 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 seven 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." [For More Information: contact Tim Simmons (303/678-8484; e-mail tim@bvatour.com) is the Media Information Officer for the BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.] |
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