USA's Pan Am Beach Volleyball teams arrive in Dominican Republic

The men's and women's beach volleyball players representing the United States in the XIV Pan American Games held their first training session here Wednesday (July 30) after arriving in the Dominican Republic capital the previous day.

Along with their team leaders Margie Mara and John Kessel from USA Volleyball and trainer Mark Casterline from the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League, the teams of David Fischer/Brad Torsone and Michelle Morse/Liz Pagano worked out Wednesday afternoon on a beach near the Athlete's Village in Boca Chica.

"This is such an amazing opportunity," said Pagano, who is in the midst of her 10th-season as a pro beach player. "I was lucky enough to be able to represent the United States in the 1999 Games, and to be able to be in Santo Domingo is truly unbelievable. I am really excited!"

With Pagano (San Diego, Calif.) and Torsone (Redondo Beach, Calif.) competing for the second-time in the beach volleyball competition at the Pan American Games, Fischer (Venice, Calif.) and Morse (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) will mark the Santo Domingo competition as their first appearance in an international event.

The USA beach volleyball team for the Pan American Games was determined by finishes at the first three events on the 2003 Association of Volleyball Professionals Tour. Fischer and Torsone competed last weekend in AVP event in Belmar, N.J. Due to family business for Pagano, Morse and her partner did not compete as a team on the Jersey shore.

Pagano teamed with Carrie Busch to finish fifth in the first edition of Pan Am beach volleyball in Winnipeg. Marsha Miller and Jen Pavley captured the Silver Medal at the 1999 Pan American games after losing the finals to Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil.

Both USA teams in the men's competition at the XIII Pan American Games tied for seventh in 1999 at Winnipeg. Torsone was paired with Peter Goers in 1999 while Scott Davenport played with Collin Smith.

Both Fischer and Torsone share the same excitement as Pagano and Morse in representing the United States in the Dominican Republic. "To win in Santo Domingo, we'll have to use our experience and steadiness. To win, we'll need to stay dynamic and relaxed at the same time," said Fischer, a Stanford graduate who has been competing the past six seasons on the AVP Tour.

After graduating with an engineering degree from Syracuse, Torsone moved west to play on the AVP Tour for the past six seasons. "I imagine it will take consistent play at a high level to win a medal," said Torsone, who has teamed with Fischer the past two seasons in eight events.

Morse, who has been competing full-time on the beach for eight years, feels her team will "rely on defensive skills to win matches. We both have great communication on-and-off the court and very rarely do we disagree on a game plan to beat the other team. We've also been playing together for a few years and a lot of things just come naturally now."

After graduating from Oregon State, Morse began playing beach volleyball after competing in track in college. Pagano has played volleyball since junior high school, including an All-Ivy League career at Cornell. While Morse works in the restaurant industry, Pagano splits time between practice and her job as human resources Vice President for Imperial Capital Bank in La Jolla, Calif.

NOTE: The schedule for the 2003 Pan American beach volleyball competition will be announced Friday after a morning technical meeting for the 16 men's and 12 women's teams. The competition begins Saturday with pool play, including four pools of four teams each for men and four pools of three teams each for women. The beach volleyball competition concludes August 9 with the four medal matches. A media session for both United States teams will be held Friday afternoon at the beach volleyball venue.

For more information, go to the USA Volleyball web site.