(May 24, 2002)

12 Teams Qualify For 2002 AVP Tour Main Draw Season Opener

HUNTINGTON BEACH CA (May 24, 2002)- The first of seven events on the 2002 Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour opened here Friday (May 24) at The Pier with eight men's and four women's teams qualifying for Saturday's Main Draw in the $125,000 tournament.

A total of 89 men's and 54 women teams entered the 19th season opener for the largest combined field in the history of the AVP Tour, which started in 1984. For the second-time in Huntington Beach, a pro beach tournament features both men and women competition with the first being in 1999 for a USA
Volleyball-sanctioned stop.

The AVP Huntington Beach Open, presented by Michelob Light resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. (PDT) on 12 sand courts south of The Pier. Friday's Qualification Tournament determined the final eight berths in the 32-team men's Main Draw and the final four spots in the 24-team women's Main Draw.

A total of 96 Main Draw matches will be played Saturday. Sunday's competition starts at 8 a.m. The medal 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.

Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs headline the women's Main Draw field, as the pair will play in their first pro beach team event together. McPeak has earned more money than any other woman on the beach ($805,529) with 56 titles. A two-time beach Olympian, McPeak won three-straight women's events
at Huntington (1995-97).

A 1996 indoor Olympian, Youngs won more money than any United States player (men or women) on the sand in 2001 with $137,275. An Orange County native from El Toro, Youngs won the AVP's 2001 women's team finale with Barbra Fontana in Manhattan Beach. Youngs has 14 pro beach titles to her credit in five seasons of play.

Fontana, who placed fourth at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with Linda Hanley, teamed with Lisa Arce to win the 1999 USA Volleyball event at Huntington. Fontana will play with Dianne DeNecochea to start the 2002
season while Arce has been paired with Hanley. Arce has won her last four tournaments in Huntington, including the 1998 Queen of the Beach competition. Arce also won with McPeak in 1996 and 1997 at Huntington.

Hanley has won pro beach titles in the last four decades enroute to 46 pro career beach crowns. She ranks behind Karolyn Kirby (67), McPeak (56) and Liz Masakayan (47) on the all-time win list. Hanley teamed with Sarah Straton to win last year's AVP Muskegon stop.

The AVP Huntington Beach Open will also mark the return of Annett Davis and Jenny 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).

[Source: 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]