Misty May-Treanor Photo: Ed Chan

Kerri Walsh Jennings Photo: Brian White

Seeded second based on their performances in their previous four of five FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events, May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) drew 18th-seeded Ana Paula Connelly and Tatiana Minello of Brazil for their first pool play match Friday. Minello teamed with Sandra Pires to win the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia while Connelly sat out the 2001 season after attempting for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games with Monica Rodriques.

The Americans conclude their Friday schedule against 15th-seeded Chiaki Kusuhara and Ryoko Tokuno of Japan in the 32-team Main Draw at the Casa de Campo, a lakeside setting smack in the middle of this Spanish metropolis. May and Walsh conclude pool play Saturday morning against 31st-seeded Efthalia Koutroumanidou and Katerina Nikolaidou of Greece, who qualified here Thursday for the Main Draw.

May and Walsh competed in eight FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events last season where they posted four "final four" finishes. The pair won last July's Portugal stop before placing second in August's Asian stops in Japan and Hong Kong. The pair also won a domestic exhibition event in Oceanside in only their second pro beach event together.

The top two teams from each of eight pools advance to the 16-team single-elimination bracket Saturday afternoon as the FIVB has adopted a new Main Draw format for the 2002 season. The top two teams from May and Walsh's pool could face top-seeded Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil in the first elimination matches Saturday.

Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia, who defeated Behar and Bede for the Gold Medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold, are seeded third in the Main Draw will also face a tough opening match Friday against 19th-seeded Sandra Pires and Leila Barros of Brazil.

Pires is a two-time Olympic beach volleyball medallist while Barros has been a member of two Olympic bronze medal teams for the South American country. Pires captured the Gold Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with Jackie Silver and the Silver Medal in Sydney with Adriana Samuel.

The 2002 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour season opener for women started Wednesday with the team of April Chapple Zanella (Beverly Hills, Calif.) and Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) being eliminated in the first round Qualification Tournament by 30th-seeded Eta Kaize and Timy Yudhani Rahayu of Indonesia.

The Indonesian team defeated the 35th-seeded Chappel Zanella and Scott, a member of the United States' 2000 Olympic indoor team, 21-16 and 21-16 in 36 minutes. Playing in their first international event, Chapple Zanella and Scott were placed 57th overall in the 79-team event (55-team qualifier). The Indonesians dropped their only match Thursday to third-seeded Krisztina Nagy and Katalin Schlegl of Hungary, who qualified for the Main Draw as the 32nd-seeded team.

While May and Walsh compete in their first beach volleyball event this season, the United States' other top teams will be competing in the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour stop in Hermosa Beach, Calif. This weekend tournament (June 7-9) at The Pier is the second of seven stops on the 2002 domestic tour for men and women.

Missing from the Madrid event for the United States are the teams of Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs and Dianne DeNecochea/Barbra Fontana. The two teams battled for the AVP season opening title in Huntington Beach, Calif., where McPeak and Youngs scored a 21-18, 20-22 and 15-9 in the 69 minutes over DeNecochea and Fontana.

The Huntington Beach women finalists were playing in their first pro beach event together as McPeak ended the 2001 season with Lisa Arce, Youngs played with Fontana and DeNecochea was teamed with Liz Masakayan. Both Arce and Masakayan have retired from international play and are playing on the 2002 AVP with Linda Hanley and Ashley Bowles, respectively, for this weekend's Hermosa stop.

Eric Fonoimoana and Dax Holdren headline the men's Hermosa Beach event after the pair won the Huntington Beach event by defeating Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh 21-18 and 21-14 in the 49-minute title match. Fonoimoana and Holdren are playing together for the first-time this season as Holdren has split from his long-time partner Todd Rogers.

The teams of Stein Metzger/Kevin Wong and Brent Doble/Karch Kiraly tied for third in the Huntington men's competition while Arce/Hanley and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan gathered third-places in the women's play. Davis and Johnson Jordan, who teamed to place fifth at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, missed the 2001 as gave birth to their first child. Davis had her son in June and Johnson Jordan her daughter in October.

Here is the current Main Draw lineup for the FIVB women's opener (Qualification Tournament seed).

1. Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede, Brazil
2. Misty May/Kerri Walsh, United States
3. Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst, Australia
4. Vassiliki Karadassiou/Efrosyni Sfyri, Greece
5. Daniela Gattelli/Lucilla Perrotta, Italy
6. Eva Celbova/Sona Dosoudilova, Czech Republic
7. Laura Bruschini/Annamaria Solazzi, Italy
8. Rebekka Kadijk/Marritt Leenstra, Netherlands
9. Patricia Barrio/Veronica Zamora, Spain
10. Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau, Germany
11. Tamara Fernandez Grasset/Yoselin Roque Palacios, Cuba
12. Mari Luz Carballo/Mirian Carrillo, Spain
13. Lina Yanchulova/Petia Yanchulova, Bulgaria
14. Susanne Glesnes/Kathrine Maaseide, Norway
15. Chiaki Kusuhara/Ryoko Tokuno, Japan
16. Tian Jia/Wang Fei, China
17. Inguna Minusa/Inga Pulina, Latvia (2)
18. Ana Paula Connnelly/'Tatiana Minello, Brazil, Brazil
19. Leila Barros/Sandra Pires, Brazil
20. Mayra Garcia/Hilda Gaxiola, Mexico
21. Marika Teknedzjanova/Tereza Tobiasova, Czech Republic (1)
22. Valle Crespo/Dalixia Larrea Peraza, Cuba
23. Nancy Gougeon/Marie-Andrée Lessard, Canada
24. Rattanaporn Arlaisuk/Manatsanan Pangka, Thailand
25. Annette-Huygens Tholen/Nicole Sanderson, Australia
26. Esther Alcon/Catalina Pol, Spain
27. Nicole Benoît/Simone Kuhn, Switzerland (7)
28. Benigna Fernandez/Amparo Hopf, Spain (21)
29. Alexandra Fonseca/Mônica Rodrigues, Brazil (36)
30. Berjonneau/Taytiana Riera, France (11)
31. Efthalia Koutroumanidou/Katerina Nikolaidou, Greece (8)
32. Krisztina Nagy/Katalin Schlegl, Hungary (3)

Here is the current Main Draw lineup for the AVP men's and women's event at Hermosa Beach.

Association of Volleyball Professionals Hermosa Beach Main Draw Entries (Revised 06/06/2002 6:18 PM)

Women
o Holly McPeak, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Elaine Youngs, Durango, Colo.
o Dianne DeNecochea, San Diego, Calif./Barbra Fontana, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
o Annett Davis, Tarzana, Calif./Jennifer Johnson Jordan, Tarzana, Calif.
o Lisa Arce, Redondo Beach, Calif./Linda Hanley, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
o Carrie Busch, Hermosa Beach, Calif./Leanne Schuster, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
o Danalee Bragado, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Rachel Wacholder, El Segundo, Calif.
o Katy Eldridge, Los Gatos, Calif./Jennifer Meredith, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
o Stephanie Cox, Mission Viejo, Calif./Jen Holdren, Santa Barbara, Calif.
o Cary Wendell, San Clemente, Calif./Ali Wood, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Jen Kessy, San Diego, Calif./Heather Lowe, Redondo Beach, Calif.
o Gracie Santana-Baeni, Basel, Switzerland/Lia Young, Honolulu, Hi.
o Kimberly Coleman, Corona del Mar, Calif./Nancy Mason, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Rhonda Kottke, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Marsha Miller, Santa Monica, Calif.
o Katie Lindquist, Fountain Valley, Calif./Tracy Lindquist, Fountain Valley, Calif.
o Pat Keller, Lake Forest, Calif./Marla O'Hara, Agoura Hills, Calif.
o Ashley Bowles, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Liz Masakayan, San Diego, Calif.
o Daven Casad-Allison, Santa Barbara, Calif./Kim Zuffelato, Santa Barbara, Calif.
o Michelle Morse, Redondo Beach, Calif./Liz Pagano, San Diego, Calif.
o Erin Galli, San Diego, Calif./Barbara Nyland, San Diego, Calif.
o Kerri Eich, Santa Monica, Calif./Kristen Schritter, San Diego, Calif.
1. Qualifier
2. Qualifier
3. Qualifier
4. Qualifier

Men
o Stein Metzger, Honolulu, Hi.Kevin Wong, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Eric Fonoimoana, Hermosa Beach, Calif./Dax Holdren, Santa Barbara, Calif.
o Canyon Ceman, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mike Whitmarsh, San Diego, Calif.
o Todd Rogers, Santa Barbara, Calif./Sean Scott, San Diego,Calif.
o Scott Ayakatubby, Hermosa Beach, Calif./Brian Lewis, Corona del Mar, Calif.
o Albert Hannemann, Torrance, Calif./Jeff Nygaard, Los Angeles, Calif.
o Brent Doble, Capistrano Beach, Calif./Karch Kiraly, San Clemente, Calif.
o Mike Lambert, Honolulu, Hi./Lee LeGrande, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Eduardo Bacil, El Segundo, Calif./Frederico Souza, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
o Dain Blanton, Santa Monica, Calif./Carl Henkel, Redondo Beach, Calif.
o Adam Jewell, San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Collin Smith, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Sean Rosenthal, Redondo Beach, Calif./Mark Williams, Santa Monica, Calif.
o Ian Clark, Pacific Palisades, Calif./ David Swatik, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
o Brandon Taliaferro, San Clemente, Calif./Andy Witt, Santa Ynez, Calif.
o Daniel Cardenas, Los Angeles, Calif./Jim Nichols, Encinitas, Calif.
o Aaron Boss, Hermosa Beach, Calif./Scott Lane, Huntington Beach, Calif.
o Jake Elliott, Isle of Palms, S. C./Brian Soldano, Isle of Palms, S. C.
o Casey Jennings, Huntington Beach, Calif./Brad Torsone, Redondo Beach, Calif.
o Scott Davenport, Manhattan Beach, Calif./ Eli Fairfield, San Diego, Calif
o Chris Makos, Claymont, Del./Pepe Delahoz, San Diego, Calif.
o David Fischer, Santa Barbara, Calif./Jerry Graham, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
o Leeland Quinn, Huntington Beach, Calif./David Smith, Santa Monica, Calif.
o Paul Baxter, Palm Springs, Calif./ Alika Williams, Hilo, Hi.
o Nick Hannemann, Hermosa Beach, Calif./ Brian MacDonald, Newport Beach, Calif./Dancer
1. Qualifier
2. Qualifier
3. Qualifier
4. Qualifier
5. Qualifier
6. Qualifier
7. Qualifier
8. Qualifier

~ Tim Simmons