HERMOSA BEACH, CALIF. - Second-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno won their second Evian National Championships title here Sunday (August 10) by downing third-seeded Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley 15-13 in the tournament finale.
The win was the 10th of Kirby and Reno's pro beach volleyball career together as the pair finished the event with a perfect 6-0 mark to share the $13,200 first-place prize.
Kirby and Reno, who captured the 1992 Evian National Championships, advanced to the title match with a 15-9 win over fifth-seeded Krista Blomquist and Christine Schaefer.
Fontana and Hanley, who dropped a 15-8 decision to Kirby and Reno earlier Sunday, advanced to the finals with 15-13 win over ninth- seeded Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs.
Blomquist and Schaefer split $6,840 for third-place after scoring a 15-13 win over Masakayan and Youngs, who split $4,920 for fourth. Youngs, the only rookie to win a pro beach volleyball title when she and Masakayan won at Chicago last month, set a record for season earnings for a first-year player as she has now to compiled $12,741.25 this season as compared to Fontana's $12,660 total in 1991.
Fontana and Hanley, who shared $9,720 for second-place, scored Sunday's biggest upset by eliminating top-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak, 15-5. Arce and McPeak, who were seeking their sixth- straight "major" title on the Evian Women's Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, finished fifth as did the Jennifer Meredith/Leanne Schuster tandem.
The win was Kirby's 67th in her 11-year pro beach career, including a record 61 titles on the Evian Tour. Reno, who has teamed to win three Evian Tour titles this season, posted her 35th pro beach title. On the Evian Tour, Reno has won 20 domestic championships.
The 11th Annual $60,000 Evian Nationals was also the final scoring event of the season as the WPVA will be sending its top eight ranked teams to the World Championships of Beach Volleyball September 10-13 at UCLA's Tennis Center. The top three Evian Tour teams on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will qualify for the September event with the next five spots being determined by WPVA seeding points. In addition, this weekend's results will also help determine the lineup for the final two Evian Tour events in Aspen, Colo. (August 30-31, 16 teams) and Kaua'i (September 26-28, 12 teams).
TOURNAMENT SUMMARY
RANK TEAM (overall seed; q=qualifying seed) W-L POINTS MONEY
1st Karolyn Kirby\Nancy Reno (2) 6-0 80 $13,200
2nd Barbra Fontana\Linda Hanley (3) 5-2 72 $9,720
3rd Krista Blomquist\Christine Schaefer (5) 5-2 64 $6,840
4th Liz Masakayan\Elaine Youngs (9) 4-2 56 $4,920
5th Lisa Arce\Holly McPeak (1) 4-2 48 $3,600
Jennifer Meredith\Leanne Schuster (10) 4-2 48 $3,600
1997 Evian Tour Schedule
April 4-6 at Miami Beach, Fla. (Arce/McPeak winners)
April 18-20 at Deerfield Beach, Fla. (Arce/McPeak)
May 8-11 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Kirby/Reno)
May 16-18 at Austin, Tex. (Arce/McPeak)
May 30-June 1 at San Diego, Calif. (Arce/McPeak)
June 13-15 at Irving, Tex. (Arce/McPeak)
June 20-22 at Atlantic City (Kirby/Reno)
June 27-29 at Huntington Beach, Calif. (Arce/McPeak)
July 11-13 at Chicago, Ill. (Masakayan/Youngs)
Aug. 2-3 at East Quogue, N. Y. (Arce/McPeak)
Aug. 8-10 at Hermosa Beach, Calif. (Kirby/Reno)
1997 Evian Money Leaders
Here are the money leaders after 11 of 13 Evian Tour events (1997
event titles):
T 1 Lisa Arce (7) $53,050.00
T 1 Holly McPeak (7) 53,050.00
3 Karolyn Kirby (3) 40,085.00
4 Nancy Reno (3) 38,585.00
T 5 Barbra Fontana 33,055.00
T 5 Linda Hanley 33,055.00
T 7 Karrie Poppinga 19,127.50
T 7 Angela Rock 19,127.50
9 Christine Schaefer 18,697.50
10 Krista Blomquist 17,980.00
T 11 Linda Chisholm 16,237.50
T 11 Deb Richardson 16,237.50
13 Liz Masakayan (1) 15,535.00
T 14 Elaine Roque 15,315.00
T 14 Dennie Shupryt-Knoop 15,315.00
T 16 Gail Castro 13,447.50
T 16 Gayle Stammer 13,447.00
18 Elaine Youngs (1) 12,741.25
Top-ranked Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak will be seeking to continue their dominance in "major" championship at the $60,000 Evian National Championships, the 11th of 13 stops on the 1997 Evian Tour stop. Depending on the number of entries, a qualifying session will be held August 8 for the 11th annual Evian National Championships to determine the final four spots in the 32-team main draw.
Played on five sand volleyball courts at The Pier in Hermosa Beach, championship competition starts at 9 a.m. (PDT) August 9 with six rounds of main draw competition. Twelve (12) teams advance to Sunday's final 14 matches starting at 8 a.m. Four (4) teams advance to the Evian National Championships semi- finals at approximately 11:30 a.m. with the tournament finals set for 3 p.m. at The Pier.
By hosting the Evian National Championships, Hermosa Beach will become the No. 1 site for Women's Professional Volleyball Association events breaking a tie with Manhattan Beach, which was the site of 10 women's events from 1987 through 1994.
The Evian National Championships will be the second "grand slam" event to be staged in Hermosa Beach, which hosted the 1995 Ocean Pacific U. S. Open when Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan upset top- seeded McPeak and Nancy Reno 15-10 in the finals.
Prior to the Evian National Championships, the WPVA will stage its second "grand slam" event of the season August 2-3 at The Hamptons in front of the Neptune Beach Club on Dune Road (70 Dune Road, East Quoque, N. Y.; 516/653-8700 or 653-8737 - David Block).
Arce and McPeak, who have won six of the nine Evian Tour events this season, will be defending their Evian Invitational championship as the pair defeated Olympians Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley to win the 1996 Evian Invitational last August at New York's Central Park.
The third-seeded team internationally, Arce and McPeak won the last three grand slam titles of 1996 and the first 1997 "major" event June 29 at the Ocean Pacific U. S. Open in Huntington Beach, Calif.
The Arce/McPeak tandem has defeated three different teams for Evian Tour titles this season, including title wins over second-ranked Kirby and Reno at Miami Beach, Fla. (15-12, April 6) and Irving, Tex. (15-13, June 15). Arce and McPeak lead the series between the two top Evian Tour teams 4-3 as Kirby and Reno scored a 15-11 win over Arce and McPeak to win the Evian Open at Atlantic City, N. J.
Fontana and Hanley, who placed fourth at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, finished second to Arce and McPeak this season in Austin, Tex. (18-16, May 18), San Diego, Calif. (15-4, June 1) and Huntington Beach (15-9, June 29).
Arce and McPeak, who have teamed to win nine of the last 13 Evian Tour events, scored a 15-9 win over Gail Castro and Gayle Stammer to capture the Deerfield Beach stop (April 20).
The WPVA's most valuable player and top defender the past two seasons, McPeak earned $150,625 in 23 domestic and international events in 1996. McPeak's $88,025 in WPVA 1996 earnings set a single-season mark. A winner of 22 Evian Tour events since the start of the 1995 season, McPeak has earned $371,375 in her past 58 professional events, including $191,025 domestically.
Kirby, the WPVA's winningest player ever ($447,234.13 in earnings, 60 event titles and 602 match wins), and Reno have competed to win 11 pro beach titles together. The pair downed Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson 15-11 to capture the Cybergenics Open May 11 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Fontana and Hanley, the last team to win a "major" title (1996 Ocean Pacific U. S. Open at Ocean City, Md.) before the current Arce/McPeak streak, has faced the Evian Tour's top team seven championship finals since the 1996 Evian Invitational. Winners of four Evian Tour titles in 1996, Fontana and Hanley downed Arce and McPeak 15-12 to win an event in Portland, Ore., last September.