USA Women's "Lucky" Numbers - 1, 2, 3 & 15

No.'s 1, 2, 3 and 15 are the lucky numbers for the United States women, as four American tandems begin Beach Volleyball play on Thursday in the Main Draw of the $360,000 ConocoPhillips Open at the pier courts at Vaagen Harbour in Stavanger, Norway.

While the "money" rounds begin in the seventh SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event for women this season, the men conclude two days of qualifying with the United States' Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger seeking a spot in the Main Draw.

The United States' Holly McPeak and Elaine Young will be the top-seeded team in the third women's event to be held in this southwestern Norwegian port city. In their last six domestic and international events together, McPeak and Youngs have posted three wins, a second and two thirds.

The American teams of Kerri Walsh/Rachel Wacholder and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan are the second- and third-seeded teams, respectively. Carrie Busch and Nancy Mason won qualification matches Tuesday and Wednesday against teams from Sweden and France to become the fourth American entry as the 12th-seeded team in the double-elimination Main Draw.

Busch and Mason, who have now advanced from the qualifier in four of five international events this season, are seeking to better their three-straight 17th-place finishes in SWATCH-FIVB World Tour main draws. The pair came close to breaking the string last Wednesday in Germany when Busch and Mason dropped a three-setter (16-21, 21-18 18-16) to eventual Berlin winner Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil.

Wacholder is only the third partner Walsh has played with since joining the Beach Volleyball tours in 2001. Wacholder replaces Misty May, who will be missing her second event this season due to abdominal strain. Walsh did not play in a domestic event in San Diego earlier this month when May was initially sidelined with her injury.

Prior to San Diego, May and Walsh saw their 15-event, 90-match winning streak ended in a domestic semi-final to Davis and Johnson Jordan June 6 in Manhattan Beach, Calif. The top-ranked team in the world on the Olympic qualifying list with 3,960 points for their best eight finishes since January 2003, May and Walsh returned to action to win a FIVB event in Switzerland two weeks ago.

Last week in the Berlin Grand Slam in Germany, May and Walsh won their first-round match before forfeiting the next two due to injury. The forfeitures ended the American's string of 47-straight match wins on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.

Holdren and Metzger, the top-seeded team in the 46-team men's qualifier, scored a win over American rivals Canyon Ceman and Matt Fuerbringer 21-15 and 21-15 in the country quota round before ousting a team from Norway. The Americans play 19th-seeded Andreas Gilbertsson and Robert Svensson of Sweden Thursday afternoon with the winner advancing automatically to the Main Draw.

Already earning Main Draw berths for the United States in the Main Draw due to their technical seeding points were Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard, Todd Rogers/Sean Scott and Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong.

Holdren and Metzger (1,824 points) are currently ranked 11th on the Olympic qualifying list and are 200 points ahead of Rogers and Scott (1,624) for the second American berth in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Blanton, who won the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medal with Fonoimoana, and Nygaard top the USA qualifying list with 2,296 for their best eight finishes together.

The men's Main Draw starts Friday. The women's final is set for Saturday afternoon while the men's gold match will be played Sunday. Both the women's and men's championship teams will share the $27,000 first-place prizes for each gender.

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