Aussies Earn Beach Medal Round Berth - Brazilians Earn 3-0 Record

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner of Australia earned a spot in the 1998 Goodwill Games men's beach volleyball medal round here Friday (July 24) while the Brazilian tandem of Guilherme Marques and Para Ferreira finished their round-robin pool play with a perfect 3-0 in the first two of four matches at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Prosser and Zahner downed previously unbeaten Martin Conde and Esteban Martinez of Argentina 15-7 in the day's first match before the Brazilians rallied to defeat John Child and Mark Heese of Canada 15-11.

Both the Aussies and the Conde/Martinez tandem finished with 2-1 round-robin match marks in Group B play, but Prosser and Zahner hold the tie-breaker with a plus-8 point differential (points scored minus points allowed) with Conde and Martinez at plus-3.  Point differentials are used as the first tie-breaker in case of two or more teams tying with the same record.

Conde and Martinez still have a chance to advance to Saturday's medal round semi-finals, but must hope that  Jan Kvalheim and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway, the defending Goodwill Games beach volleyball champions, don't win their 5:30 p.m. (EDT) match today with the Martin and Paul Laciga of Switzerland by more than three points.  A win of 15-11 or better for the Norweigians provide Kvalheim and Maaseide with a point differential of plus-4 or better.  

Guilherme and Para, the top-rated team on the 1998 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, were down 6-0 to the Canadians before rallying to take a 10-9 lead.  The two teams were tied at 11-11 before the Brazilians scored the last four points of the Group A match.

A pair of United States tandems conclude the group's schedule as Adam Johnson/Karch Kiraly play fellow Americans Ricci Luyties and Sinjin Smith at approximately 6:45 p.m. Johnson and Kiraly must win the match to advance to Saturday's semi-final medal round.  A Luyties/Smith win would propel Child and Heese into the medal round as Group A's second-place finish.   Child and Heese finished with a minus-1 point differential while Johnson and Kiraly are currently minus-5 and Luyties and Smith minus-23.