MAY & WALSH CONTINUE TO ROLL

Kerri Walsh Photo: Ken Delgado Misty May-Treanor Photo: Ken Delgado Dax Holdren Photo: Ken Delgado Stein Metzger Photo: Ken Delgado TEMPE, ARIZ. – The winning streak remains intact for Misty May and Kerri Walsh as the world’s top-ranked women’s beach volleyball team won a pair of matches here Saturday (April 24) during the first of two days of championship play in the Association of Volleyball Professionals’ $125,000 Tempe Open. While May and Walsh are the United States’ main hope a medal at the 2004 Olympic Games, the men’s team of Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger showed why they are a strong contender for a berth in Athens by winning three matches Saturday. Two of their wins were over tandems they are competing against for the second American men’s berth. The two wins extended May and Walsh’s overall victory string to 66 matches, including 46-straight on the domestic tour. Winners of 11-straight event titles, the top-seeded May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) defeated the teams of 16th-seeded Alicia Potzin/Ali Wood (21-14 and 21-13) and ninth-seeded Ashley Bowles/Rachel Wacholder (21-15 and 21-14) to advance to the finals of the winner’s bracket where they will play fifth-seeded Lisa Arce and Leanne McSorley Sunday at 9 a.m. “We don’t feel any pressure about the winning streak since we are only focused on improving our game,” said Walsh after the match. “The only pressure we have is not to make the same mistake twice. This is the first of two-straight events so we continue to work on conditioning. Arce and McSorley upset fourth-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan 17-21, 21-18 and 15-13 to advance to their Sunday morning match with May and Walsh. Davis (Tarzana, Calif.) and Johnson Jordan (Tarzana, Calif.), the fifth-place finishers at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, are competing with Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs for the United States’ second spot in the women’s beach volleyball competition at the Athens 2004 Games. Winners of two matches Saturday, McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Youngs (Durango, Colo.) currently lead Davis and Johnson Jordan for the second USA Olympic berth by 26 points entering the next month’s SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event in Greece. McPeak, who is seeking to become the first American to play in all three Olympic beach volleyball competitions, and Youngs, a 1996 U.S. Indoor Olympian, play third-seeded Carrie Busch and Nancy Mason in the other match in the final round of the winner’s bracket Sunday morning. Earlier this month in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., May and Walsh scored a 21-11 and 21-11 win over McPeak and Youngs to capture the $14,500 first-place prize. May and Walsh are the defending Tempe champions after defeating Davis and Johnson Jordan 21-16, 18-21 and 15-13 in the 2003 title match. All three of Holdren and Metzger’s wins Saturday were in three sets. After defeating 23rd-seeded Scott Davenport and Chad Turner 21-14, 18-21 and 15-9, the 10th-seeded Holdren and Metzger rallied to defeat the teams of seventh-seeded Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong (23-25, 21-19 and 21-19) and second-seeded Todd Rogers/Sean Scott (13-21, 21-19 and 15-12). Holdren (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Metzger (Honolulu, Hi.) play 14th-seeded Jake Gibb and Adam Jewell in the second of two matches in the finals of the winner’s bracket. Chad Mowrey and Ed Ratledge, who scored three upset wins Saturday as the 17th-seeded team, challenge fifth-seeded Jason Ring and George Roumain in the other match of undefeated teams in Tempe. The teams of Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard and Rogers/Scott lead Holdren and Metzger on the United States Olympic ranking list. Eric Fonoimoana and Kevin Wong are in fourth place ahead of Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings. Blanton and Fonoimoana won the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and split their partnership during the 2001 season. The eighth-seeded Blanton (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Nygaard (Madison, Wis.) were upset in their second match Saturday by Mowrey and Ratledge and were eliminated after losing a 21-13, 20-22 and 23-21 decision to sixth-seeded Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert. That matched featured the gold medalists from the Atlanta (Kiraly) and Sydney (Blanton) Olympic games while Lambert and Nygaard were indoor Olympians. Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Wong (Pearl City, Hi.) defeated Fuerbringer (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Jennings (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) 21-19, 18-21 and 15-8 for a spot in Sunday’s opening elimination match where they play Kiraly and Lambert in another confrontation featuring former Olympians. Fonoimoana won the Sydney gold with Blanton while Wong finished fifth on the beach with Rob Heidger. After losing to Holdren and Metzger, Fonoimoana and Wong rebounded with two elimination wins. After an opening win Saturday, Fuerbringer and Jennings dropped into the elimination rounds by losing 15-21, 21-17 and 15-13 to Ring and Roumain. Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Scott (Kaliua, Hi.) won two of three matches Saturday to advance to Sunday’s final rounds by defeating Jim Nichols and Matt Olson 21-14 and 21-15. Rogers and Scott, who tied for third in the AVP opener in Fort :Lauderdale, will play 11th-seeded John Hyden and Andy Witt. Sean Rosenthal and Larry Witt, who were seeded first this weekend after winning the AVP’s season opening event in Fort Lauderdale, were upset by Mowrey and Ratledge (21-19, 22-24 and 15-3) in their first match Saturday before being eliminated 18th-seeded Matt Heath and Adam Roberts. Rosenthal and Witt defeated Fuerbringer and Jennings 21-17 and 21-14 to win the Florida title. SWATCH-FIVB WORLD TOUR – The qualifying process for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games resumes May 19-23 with international pro beach volleyball events in Rhodes, Greece and Lianyungang, China. Six women’s teams from the United States will have entered the Rhodes event while four American men’s teams will be in Lianyungang. Misty May and Kerri Walsh will lead the United States contingent into Rhodes Greece event along with the tandems of Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs, Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan, Carrie Busch/Nancy Mason, Barbra Fontana/Jennifer Kessy and Paula Roca/Garcia Santana. United States men’s entries for China include Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard, Todd Rogers/Sean Scott, Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger and Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong. The Asian event will be the third this season for the men as Rogers/Scott and Metzger/Holdren posted the best American finishes in Brazil and South Africa, respectively, in March. Combined with a gold medal finish in Brazil in the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour season opener for women in Fortaleza last month, May and Walsh have now won their last 64 matches together while capturing their 11th-straight title. The last time May and Walsh dropped a match was last season on July 5 when Ana Paula Connolly and Sandra Pires of Brazil scored a 21-19 and 21-15 win over the Americans in the finals of the Norwegian Open in Stavanger. ~ Tim Simmons

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