Pro beach volleyball competition at three sites this weekend

The qualifying process for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games continues this week in Asia for women and Europe for men and the domestic tour in the United States resumes in Huntington Beach, California, for both men and women.

The SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, which determines the qualifiers for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in August, will see the women's competition return to China for the seventh-straight season with an event in Shanghai while the men compete in the Serbia and Montenegro Open at Buda. Both events will have $180,000 in prize money with qualifying rounds beginning Wednesday (May 23) followed by double-elimination Main Draw play Friday with the medals awarded after Sunday's finals.

The Nissan AVP Tour stages the first of three-straight weekends of pro beach volleyball action in Southern California with the $125,000 Huntington Beach Open. Qualifying for both men and women will be held Friday with the Main Draw rounds Saturday and Sunday. The domestic tour continues in Manhattan Beach (June 4-6) and San Diego (June 11-13).

Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the No. 1-ranked team in the world, are scheduled to compete in the Huntington Beach women's bracket after extending their winning streak to 80 matches in winning the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stop in Rhodes, Greece.

The title was the 14th-straight for May and Walsh, who have won two international and three domestic events this season. 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.

With May and Walsh being the top-ranked team on the United States Olympic qualifying list for the 2004 Games, the tandems of Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan and Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs are competing for the second American berth in the beach volleyball competition in Athens.

May and Walsh have compiled 3,900 points from their best eight finishes on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour since January 2003 to top the list. Despite finishing second to May and Walsh in Rhodes after defeating Davis and Johnson Jordan in the semi-finals, McPeak and Youngs dropped to third on the Olympic Qualifying list. Davis and Johnson Jordan now have 2,558 points followed by McPeak and Youngs at 2,554.

Davis and Johnson Jordan used their fourth-place placement in Rhodes to net 252 points to erase an 18-point finish from last season. McPeak and Youngs, who entered last week's event with a 26-point lead over Davis and Johnson Jordan, netted 324 points for their silver medal finish in Greece to erase a 120-point finish from last season.

All three teams are scheduled to miss a SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event Japan due to their participation in the Hermosa Beach AVP stop. The top American teams will return for the final three Olympic qualifying events in Switzerland, Germany and Norway.

Todd Rogers and Sean Scott led the effort for the men's teams from the United States on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour last week by placing fourth in Lianyungang, China. Rogers and Scott will be joined by the tandems of Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger and Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong in the Serbia and Montenegro Open Main Draw.

Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, the No. 1-ranked men's team on the United States Olympic qualifying list, will return to the AVP Nissan Tour this week after placing seventh last week in China to improve their Olympic qualifying total to 2,188 points.

Rogers and Scott are second on the United States Olympic qualifying list with 1,600 points for their best eight finishes since the start of the Olympic-qualifying process in January 2003. Holdren and Metzger, who placed 17th last weekend, rank third on the United States Olympic qualifying list with 1,404 points for five Olympic-qualifying events.

Fonoimoana, who won the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with Blanton, and Wong still have a chance for the second USA spot as the pair has compiled 746 Olympic qualifying points for five events after placing fifth in Lianyungang, who was hosting China's first-ever international men's event.

After the Serbia and Montenegro Open, the teams of Rogers/Scott and Holdren/Metzger will continue their Olympic bids by participating in Portugal while Fonoimoana and Wong are scheduled to return to the domestic tour in San Diego. Other men's Olympic qualifying events prior to July 11 will be held in Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Germany and Norway.

For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.

For more information on AVPbeach volleyball, go to the AVP web site.