Women's Beach Action Opens - Germans & Aussies Score Opening Wins - Defending Champions Defeated

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of Germany and Pauline Manser and Kerri Pottharst of Australia posted the opening women's beach volleyball wins of the 1998 Goodwill Games here Wednesday (July 29) at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

The Germans scored a 15-4 win over Eva Celbova and Sona Dosoudilova of the Czech Republic in a 22-minute Group B match before Manser and Pottharst earned a 15-10 win in 40-minutes over Karolyn Kirby (Brookline, Mass./San Diego) and Liz Masakayan (San Diego) of the United States.

Kirby and Masakayan, the 1994 Goodwill Games champions, trailed 6-0 and 10-2 in the match before scoring six-straight points to cut the deficit to 10-8.  The Americans trailed 12-10 before three Manser kills netted the Group A win.

The top two-seeded teams in the field play Wednesday evening. Top-seeded Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil are challenged by Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont of Canada at 5:30 p.m. Second-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak of the United States play Laura Bruschini and Annamarie Solazzi of Italy at approximately 6:45 p.m.

A pair of life-long residents of Manhattan Beach, Calif., Arce and McPeak are the top-rated USA team with 14 career pro beach titles together.  Arce, who played high school (Manhattan Beach's Mira Costa) and college (Cal-Berkeley) volleyball with McPeak, is the reigning Best of the Beach champion after winning the individual title July 19 in Huntington Beach, Calif., to claim the $30,000 first-place price.

Arce posted a two-day point differential of plus-27 to win the title as the "best" women's beach volleyball player in the United States.  Arce posted a 5-1 match mark, including a 3-0 record on the final day with three different partners.  McPeak, who has been selected as the WPVA's most valuable player the past three seasons, tied for third in the Best of the Beach competition that featured 14 of the United States' top women players.

Brazil will be seeking another Gold Medal in the women's competition as Bede and Behar enter the 1998 Goodwill Games as the No. 1-ranked team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.  In the men's beach play, Guilherme and Para netted Brazil's first Gold medal of the 1998 Goodwill Games.  Bede and Behar, who have won two of the four FIVB women's events on the 1998 schedule, have been the dominate team on the international tour the past two seasons.  The Brazilians have shared $110,000 in earnings this season and finished the 1997 season by sharing $139,000 for nine events with two titles.  Bede and Behar also won two FIVB events in 1996.