Light Drizzle Dampens Sand - Friday's Slate Not Hampered - Brazilians & Arce/McPeak Unbeaten Teams

NEW YORK, N. Y. - A light early morning drizzle should not hamper the 1998 Goodwill Games women's beach volleyball schedule here Friday (July 31) with the final four round-robin matches slated to begin at 12 p.m. (EDT) at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Brazilians Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar and the United States tandem of Lisa Arce/Holly McPeak are the only unbeaten teams in the 1998 Goodwill Games competition after winning Thursday afternoon matches.

Bede and Behar, the top ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, scored a 15-9 win over Australians Pauline Manser and Kerri Pottharst in a 39-minute Group A match.  The Brazilians broke a 3-3 tie to take a 12-3 lead enroute to their second win of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.

The second-seeded Arce and McPeak, who both reside in Manhattan Beach, Calif., scored a 15-9 win over Eva Celbova and Sona Dosoudilova of the Czech Republic in a 40-minute Group B match to end Thursday's afternoon session.

Arce and McPeak play Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of Germany at 6:45 p.m. in the final Group B contest.  The Germans were upset 15-10 by Laura Bruschini and Annamarie Solazzi of Italy Thursday to leave both teams with 1-1 records.  Friedrichsen and Musch have the point-differential edge (first tie-breaker) at plus-six points.  The Italians are minus-six after winning Thursday's 37-minute match with their European rivals.

Bruschini and Solazzi open Friday's play against the winless tandem of Celbova/Dosoudilova at 12 p.m. Karolyn Kirby (Brookline, Mass./San Diego) and Liz Masakayan (San Diego) of the United States, the defending Goodwill Games champions after winning the title in 1994 at St. Petersburg, Russia, play Bede and Behar at approximately 1:15 p.m. Friday.

Kirby and Masakayan scored a 15-5 win over Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont of Canada in a 34-minute Group A win Thursday.  Kirby and Masakayan are tied for second in Group A with Manser and Pottharst with 1-1 marks.  The United States tandem owns a plus- five point differential while the Aussies, who face the Canadians at 5:30 p.m. Friday, has a minus-one differential.

The medal and playoff rounds for the 1998 Goodwill Games start Saturday with matches scheduled for 12 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.  The competition ends Sunday with the Bronze and Gold medal matches starting at 12 p.m. in the $100,000 event.  Sunday's Gold medal team will share the $30,000 first-place prize.