(July 28, 2002)

USA's Mcpeak & Youngs Earn Third 
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Crown

RHODES, GREECE (July 28, 2002) Second-seeded Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs extended the United States' streak of six-straight Gold Medal finishes this season by defeating Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst for the $22,500 first-place prize in the inaugural Greek Open here Sunday (July 28).

McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango, Colo.), who claimed their third FIVB women's Gold Medals for the United States this season, scored a 21-17 and 21-16 win over the fourth-seeded Cook and Pottharst. Sunday's title was also the seventh of the season for the Americans who claimed four crowns on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour.

"It was a great match," said McPeak. "Our strategy to serve strong and use Elaine's block as our main weapon worked out great." Youngs noted that the team's success is based on "heart. We simply don't like it lose. I would love to play in the final every week." The Australians were visibly disappointed after the match. "Our serve was simply to soft today," said Pottharst.

With Sunday's semifinals featuring four teams from four different countries for only the fifth time in the 10-plus season history of the women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, McPeak and Youngs increased their current winning streak to 15 by capturing their second-straight international title. The pair won last week's stop in France where they defeated two-time FIVB Beach Volleyball World Champions Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil for the Gold Medal.

While Youngs was winning her 21st pro beach title, McPeak was edging closer to the all-time women's record for career event titles. Sunday's crown was McPeak's 63rd of her pro beach career, including 16 on the FIVB Tour. Karolyn Kirby is the all-time leader with 67 as McPeak, who now has a record $935,137 in career earnings, has at least five events left on her 2002 schedule (two domestically and three internationally in Austria, Spain and Brazil).

In the Bronze Medal match, Greece captured its first-ever medal in an "open" FIVB event as 11th-seeded Vassiliki Karadassiou and Efrosyni Sfyri defeated 18th-seeded Rebekka Kadijk and Marritt Leenstra of the Netherlands 21-17 and 25-23 in 57 minutes. The Greek pair shared $11,940 for third while Kadijk and Leenstra split $9,300 for fourth.

McPeak and Youngs advanced to the final by Karadassiou and Sfyri 17-21, 21-10 and 16-14 in the longest match (68 minutes) of the inaugural Greek Open. With Greece hosting its first "open" FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event along with preparing for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the advancement by Karadassiou and Sfyri was a "delight" to the host country crowd.

The "final four" appearance by Karadassiou and Sfyri is the first ever international "final four" appearance for men's and women's team from Greece. Karadassiou and Sfyri scored the "biggest" upset in Greek beach volleyball history by ousting third-seeded Behar and Bede of Brazil (16-21, 21-16 and 15-11). Behar and Bede, who placed fifth this week, list, are the winningest team ever on the FIVB Tour with 26 Gold Medals.

Cook and Pottharst advanced to the Gold Medal match with a 21-14 and 21-14 win in 44 minutes over Kadijk and Leenstra in Sunday's first semifinal. Kadijk and Leenstra, who lost to McPeak and Youngs in pool play Friday morning, advanced to their second FIVB semifinals by eliminating top-ranked teams from the United States and Brazil. Kadijk and Leenstra, who are competing in their second FIVB semifinal after placing fourth in the 2001 FIVB season finale in Brazil, scored a 21-17 and 21-18 win over top-seeded Misty May and Kerri Walsh of the United States in their first elimination match Saturday.

May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.), who lost to Kadijk and Leenstra for the first time in three matches this season between the two teams, posted their lowest pro beach finish in their last nine starts. The Americans failed to advance to the "final four" for the first-time since last August's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Austria. Saturday's defeat was only the fifth in 39 matches this season for May and Walsh, who will continue to lead the FIVB rankings with $100,700 in earnings and 1,590 points. May and Walsh won the Spain, Switzerland and Canada stops this season and placed second last week to McPeak and Youngs in France. May and Walsh also posted a fourth in Norway earlier this month.

Winners of 51 pro beach volleyball matches in 53 outings on the sand this with 154,515 in shared earnings, McPeak and Youngs have a 4-1 record against Cook and Pottharst this season. The Aussies dropped a Gold Medal match in Norway to McPeak and Youngs along with a Bronze Medal meeting in Canada. Cook and Pottharst snapped McPeak and Youngs' 19-match winning streak last month in Switzerland for the Americans first defeat of the season. The United States is now 5-1 in FIVB Gold Medal matches against Australia as Pottharst has competed in all five finales.

It was not Brazil's day Saturday on the Greek sand as the country failed to advance a team to a women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour "final four" for only the fifth-time in 88 international events. While Behar and Bede were losing to the Greek tandem, fourth-seeded Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst were defeating sixth-seeded Leila Barros of Sandra Pires of Brazil (21-18 and 21-19) to earn a "final four" berth. The last time a women's team from Brazil failed to advance to a semifinal was in August 2000 at Dalian, China.

The United States claimed $36,975 of the $150,000 purse this weekend as Dianne DeNecochea (San Diego, Calif.) and Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) shared $6,675 for finishing fifth. Carrie Busch (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Schuster (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) split $3,900 for placing ninth. McPeak and Youngs Saturday eliminated both teams.

The top American women remain in Europe next week for the second FIVB Grand Slam event of the season in Klagenfurt, Austria (July 31- August 3). While May and Walsh remain on the international tour for events in Asia (Japan, August 7-11) and China, August 14-18), the other USA teams return to the United States for an AVP event in Manhattan Beach, Calif. (August 8-11). The 2002 women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour concludes in September with events in Spain (Mallorca, 3-7) and Brazil (Vitoria, 17-22). The two-year qualifying process for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games starts at the beginning of the 2003 season.

[Source: Tim Simmons, www.bvbinfo.com,303/678-8484; 303/678-7474 (FAX)]