3 Goodwill Games Entrants Advance at Women's FIVB Event in France

3 Goodwill Games Entrants Advance at Women's FIVB Event in France

MARSEILLE, FRANCE - While the men continue playing beach volleyball in the 1998 Goodwill Games at New York's Central Park, three Goodwill Games women's teams are still competing here Friday (July 24) in an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour single-elimination event.

Seven of the Goodwill Games women's beach volleyball tandems started competition here Thursday. Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont, who will be the Canadian team in the Goodwill Games, were eliminated after losing first-round matches with different partners.

GWG tandems of Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar of Brazil, Lisa Arce/Holly McPeak of the United States and Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of Germany have advanced to quarter-final matches Friday with the three other teams being eliminated following second-round defeats.

Bede and Behar, the top-ranked women's team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, plays 24th-seeded Yukiko Takahashi and Teru Saki of Japan in one quarter-final match followed by fourth-seeded Arce and McPeak playing USA rivals and fifth-seeded Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley.

The sixth-seeded Friedrichsen and Musch challenge third-seeded Monica Rodrigues and Jackie Silva of Brazil. The fourth quarter-final match has second-seeded Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel of Brazil playing the 10th-seeded Australian tandem of Tania Gooley/Sandy Sanderson.

GWG tandems losing second-round matches were eighth-seeded Pauline Manser/Kerri Pottharst of Australia, 18th-seeded Laura Bruschini/Annamaria Solazzi of Italy and seventh-seeded Karolyn Kirby (Brookline, Mass./San Diego)/Liz Masakayan (San Diego) of the United States. Kirby and Masakayan are the defending Goodwill Games champions after winning the inaugural GWG women's beach competition in 1994 at St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Czech Republic team of Eva Celbova and Sona Dosoudilova, seeded 17th in the Marseille FIVB Tour stop, dropped a first-round match in the 32-team main single-elimination event. The international event started here Tuesday with a 50-team qualifying event to determine the final eight spots in the main draw.

Friday's quarter-final winners advance to Saturday's morning semi-finals. The Bronze and Gold Medal ($32,000 to the winning team) matches are scheduled for Saturday afternoon. This weekend's event Marseille stop is also being held in conjunction with a men's FIVB event.