AVP Riviera Beach, Florida - April 5-6, 1997

RESULTS

STEFFES/LOIOLA WIN AVP RIVIERA BEACH OPEN

NUMBER ONE SEEDED TEAM FINISHES UNDEFEATED

RIVIERA BEACH, FL (APRIL 6, 1997) -- Kent Steffes and Jose Loiola, the number one seeded team on the Miller Lite/AVP Tour, defeated Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis 15-11 to win the AVP Riviera Beach Open. Steffes and Loiola, playing in only their second AVP tournament together, finished the weekend undefeated. They have yet to lose a match during their partnership.

"It was great to win this week," said Steffes. "Jose and I really compliment each other and seem to really fire each other up. This tournament has always been a great stop on our tour the past three years and its great to win here. We have made a real statement the first two weeks and hope to continue our ride down victory lane next week in Clearwater.

It was a rematch of last week's contest as the two teams battled it out on the beach at Riviera Beach, Florida. Steffes has won all three events held at Riviera Beach, the first two with former partner Karch Kiraly and the 1997 title with Jose Loiola.

The AVP Riviera Beach Open begins a four week "Tour Florida" for the AVP as we continue on to the Miller Lite Open at Clearwater (April 11-13), the Miller Lite Open at Ft. Myers (April 18-20) before finishing at the Coppertone Championships of Florida in Miami (April 25-27). Tickets are available for all events through Tele-charge (800) 432-7470.

$100,000 total prize money
32 Teams

1st - Kent Steffes/Jose Loiola (1)           $20,000

2nd - Scott Ayakatubby/Brian Lewis (3)       $11,400

3rd - Randy Stoklos/David Swatik (8)         $ 9,030

4th - Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh (2)           $ 7,130

5th - Bill Boullianne/Eric Fonoimoana (4)*   $ 5,700
5th - Nick Hannemann/Henry Russell (10)      $ 5,700

7th - Dain Blanton/Canyon Ceman (5)          $ 4,280
7th - Dax Holdren/Todd Rodgers (27)          $ 4,280

9th - Mark Kerins/Andrew Smith (9)           $ 3,090
9th - Lee Legrand/Matt Unger (14)            $ 3,090
9th - Mark Paaluhi/Wayne Seligson (19)*      $ 3,090
9th - Dan Castillo/Jason Pursley (26)        $ 3,090

13th- Kevin Martin/Eric Wurts (11)*          $ 2,130
13th- Daniel Cardenas/Jim Nichols (15)*      $ 2,130
13th- Aaron Boss/Raul Papaleo (17)           $ 2,130
13th- Andre Gomez/Dan Vrebalovich (22)       $ 2,130

17th- Ian Clark/Troy Tanner (7)              $   950
17th- Scott Friederichsen/Leif Hanson (13)   $   950
17th- Albert Hannemann/Chris Young (18)*     $   950
17th- Todd Ahmadi/Brent Doble (20)*          $   950
17th- James Fellows/Burke Stefko (21)        $   950
17th- Kurt Dumm/Greg Ryan (25)*              $   950
17th- Greg Shankle/Kevin Wong (28)           $   950
17th- Jody Petty/Doug Smith                  $   950

25th- Eduardo Bacil/Ricci Luyties (6)        $   500
25th- John Brajevic/Jeff Rodgers (12)        $   500
25th- Lance Lyons/Justin Perlstrom (16)      $   500
25th- Mike Garcia/Jason Stimpfig (23)        $   500
25th- Curtis Griffin/Erik Moore (24)*        $   500
25th- Leeland Quinn/Matt Winterburn (29)     $   500
25th- Eduardo Garrido/Carlos Loss (30)       $   500
25th- Aaron Smith/David Smith                $   500

NOTES: Number in brackets "(#)" reflects the teams seeding
        * = New Team (from previous week)

Karch Kiraly  out for 5-6 weeks (recovering from surgery).
Rob Heidger   out for   3 weeks (recovering from surgery).
Brent Frohoff out for   ? weeks (recovering from surgery).
Adam Johnson  out for   ? weeks (injured).

PLAYERS

SEEDINGS

Kent Steffes/Jose Loiola (1)
Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh (2)
Scott Ayakatubby/Brian Lewis (3)
Bill Boullianne/Eric Fonoimoana (4)*
Dain Blanton/Canyon Ceman (5)
Eduardo Bacil/Ricci Luyties (6)
Ian Clark/Troy Tanner (7)
Randy Stoklos/David Swatik (8)
Mark Kerins/Andrew Smith (9)
Nick Hannemann/Henry Russell (10)
Kevin Martin/Eric Wurts (11)*
John Brajevic/Jeff Rodgers (12)
Scott Friederichsen/Leif Hanson (13)
Lee Legrand/Matt Unger (14)
Daniel Cardenas/Jim Nichols (15)*
Lance Lyons/Justin Perlstrom (16)
Aaron Boss/Raul Papaleo (17)
Albert Hannemann/Chris Young (18)*
Mark Paaluhi/Wayne Seligson (19)*
Todd Ahmadi/Brent Doble (20)*
James Fellows/Burke Stefko (21)
Andre Gomez/Dan Vrebalovich (22)
Mike Garcia/Jason Stimpfig (23) 
Curtis Griffin/Erik Moore (24)*
Kurt Dumm/Greg Ryan (25)*
Dan Castillo/Jason Pursley (26)
Dax Holdren/Todd Rodgers (27)
Greg Shankle/Kevin Wong (28)
Leeland Quinn/Matt Winterburn (29)
Eduardo Garrido/Carlos Loss (30)
1 Qualifier/2 Qualifier (31)*
3 Qualifier/4 Qualifier (32)*

 * = New Team (from previous week)

DATE

April 5-6, 1997
April 4 Qualifier

LOCATION

   Ocean Mall
   Singer Island
   Riviera Beach, Florida

PRIZE MONEY

$100,000

TELEVISION

Fox Sports Net

TICKETS

   Telecharge  800-432-7470

NUMBER OF TEAMS, FORMAT

32 Teams
Double Elimination

PAST CHAMPIONS

1996 TOP 4 TEAMS
     Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes
     Adam Johnson/Jose Loiola
     Scott Ayakatubby/Brian Lewis
     Eric Fonoimoana/Rob Heidger

Riviera Beach, Fla. - (March 24, 1996) Belying their status as the number four seeded team, Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won their second straight Miller Lite Open at Riviera Beach today beating Adam Johnson and Jose Loiola, the tournament's number two seeded team, and the Miller Lite/AVP Tour's hottest team, 7-3, in a double final. The teams had split matches to force the extra play. Kiraly, the Miller Lite/AVP Tour's top ranked player, and Steffes, playing together for the 99th time, had beaten Johnson and Loiola in the morning in the tournament's winner's bracket final, 15-11. But Johnson and Loiola came through the consolation bracket to beat Kiraly and Steffes, 15-12, setting up the first double final of the season.
The win revenged a loss by Kiraly and Steffes to Johnson and Loiola in the final's of last week's Miller Lite Phoenix Open, and was worth $20,000.

1995  Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes
      Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh
      Adam Johnson/Randy Stoklos
      Eduardo Bacil/Jose Loiola

YEAR EVENT BEGAN: 1995