(September 5, 2002)                                                                                          Hot News Main Page

USA Women Post 4-2 Pool Play Mark Thursday 
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Event

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN (Sept. 5, 2002) Three women's teams from the United States compiled a 4-2 Main Draw match mark here Thursday (September 5) during the third of six days of competition in the $300,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event on Playa de Palma.

Top-seeded Misty May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) won both of their women's pool play matches Thursday while the teams of 11th-seeded Carrie Busch (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)/Leanne Schuster (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and 22nd-seeded Danalee Bragado (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)/Ali Wood (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) each split a pair of matches.

Several of top American teams on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour are missing this week's international stop to compete in the final 2002 Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour stop at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The domestic stop starts Thursday evening with eight women's and eight men's teams competing

Winners of five FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Gold Medals this season, May and Walsh defeated teams from Australia and Germany Thursday to improve their season record to 56-6 on the international circuit. The pair is the top-ranked team on the FIVB Tour with $165,140 in combined earnings at the previous nine events this season.

May and Walsh have now posted a 97-21 in one-plus seasons of pro beach competition together. Competing in their 20th event together, May and Walsh have shared $276,890 in earnings with seven Gold Medals, 12 podium placements and 13 "final four" finishes.

Bragado and Wood opened play Thursday by upsetting Busch and Schuster 21-14 and 21-14 in Pool F play. Busch and Schuster rebounded with a 24-22 and 21-19 upset win over sixth-seeded Leila Barros and Sandra Pires of Brazil. Andrea Ahmann and Jana Vollmer of Germany also posted Pool F upset wins by defeating Barros and Pires 21-15 and 21-15, and Bragado and Wood 22-24, 21-18 and 20-18.

While May and Walsh are headed to Friday afternoon's 16-team elimination bracket, both the teams of Busch/Schuster and Bragado/Wood must win their final pool play matches Friday morning to have a chance to advance to single-elimination rounds. Set and point ratios will be used to break any teams with the same match marks.

Ahmann and Vollmer (2-0 match mark) have a 4.0 set and 1.167 point ratio. Bragado and Wood are currently second in the pool with a 1.5 set and 1.121 point ratio. Busch and Schuster have a 1.0 set and 0.88 point ratios while Barros and Pires, a two-time Olympic beach medallist, sporting a 0.0 set and 0.816 point ratio.

Bragado and Wood are competing in their 40th pro beach event together. Including a 7-8 record in four-plus events this season. Bragado and Wood have now posted a 109-77 match mark with over $104,000 in combined earnings. Busch and Schuster have won 76 of 118 pro beach matches with over $111,000 in shared earnings as they are competing in their 22nd event together. Busch and Schuster have a pair of fifth-place finishes together on the FIVB Tour this season with a 48-24 match mark this season.

In opening Qualification Tournament play Wednesday, the United States had two teams eliminated, including 22nd-seeded Matthew Heath (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and Brad Torsone (Redondo Beach, Calif.) in the men's qualifier and 26th-seeded Jen Kessy (San Diego, Calif.) and Cary Wendell (San Clemente, Calif.) in the women's 40-team Qualification Tournament. Heath and Torsone dropped a 20-22, 21-13 and 15-7 decision to 43rd-seeded Emiel Boersma and Bram Ronnes of the Netherlands in their only Qualification Tournament match
Wednesday.

Kessy and Wendell won their opening match Thursday by defeating seventh-seeded Krisztina Nagy/Katalin Schlegl, Hungary 21-19 and 21-12 before Wendell dislocated her right shoulder in a Main Draw qualifying match against 10th-seeded Andrea Luge and Tatiana Riera of France.

Wendell's dislocation came on the final point of the first set as the French team won 24-22. Kessy and Wendell finished the qualifier with a 2-1 match mark after defeating 39th-seeded Cristina Callejon and Susana Gomez of Spain 21-7 and 21-13 Wednesday afternoon.

Mallorca is hosting the women's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for the first time while the men visit the 'Playa de Palma' for the second-straight year. Emanuel and Tande scored a 14-21, 21-18 and 20-18 win in 78 minutes over Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde of Argentina in the 2001 'Playa de Palma' finale.

The women's 32-team women's Main Draw started Thursday with a Saturday afternoon Gold Medal match. The men's qualifier will be played Wednesday and Thursday with the 32-team Main Draw starting Friday and ending Sunday with the title match. The winning teams in each gender's competition will share the $22,500 first-place prizes.

The AVP Tour makes its seventh and final stop on the 2002 schedule starting Thursday when the top eight ranked men's and women's teams compete $150,000 Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event will take place under the lights in a single-elimination format competition.

The women's AVP Shoot Out will feature the top-ranked women's teams of Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)/Elaine Youngs (Durango, Colo.) and Annett Davis (Tarzana, Calif.)/Jenny Johnson Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.). McPeak and Youngs won the first four women's stops in Huntington, Hermosa, Santa Barbara and Belmar with Davis and Johnson Jordan defeating McPeak and Youngs in the Manhattan and Chicago finals.

Other women's teams in Las Vegas are Dianne DeNecochea (San Diego, Calif.)/Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Lisa Arce (Redondo Beach, Calif.)/Linda Hanley (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Nancy Mason (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)/Rachel Wacholder (El Segundo, Calif.), Katy Eldridge (Los Gatos, Calif.)/Jennifer Meredith (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Annie Akers (Long Beach, Calif.)/Jen Pavley (Agoura Hills, Calif.) and Stephanie Cox (Mission Viejo, Calif.)/Jen Holdren (Santa Barbara, Calif.).

The Paul Mitchell AVP Shoot Out will also host a special "Battle of the Sexes" match Friday evening when beach volleyball legends Jim Menges and Matt Gage play McPeak and Youngs. Menges won 46 "open" tournament titles and Gage captured 26 open tournament crowns. Menges and Gage last competed together in 1982 when they won three tournaments.

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