Pro beach volleyball circuit back after 6-year absence

Jose E. Garcia
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2003 12:00 AM

Welcome back to the Valley, professional beach volleyball players.

After a six-year hiatus, a revitalized Association of Volleyball
Professionals will reacquaint itself with the Valley today at the Tempe
Open, the second of 10 tournaments this season on the AVP Nissan Pro Beach
Volleyball Tour. With talks of bankruptcy and philosophical differences with
the game's international governing body (Federation of International
Volleyball) a thing of the past, the focus of the tour is back on the
players.

"It's been a full-fledged effort to get things back to where they were
before with the tour," said John Moran, a Brophy Prep and University of
Arizona graduate who will attempt to make the Tempe Open's main draw through
the qualifying round, which starts today. "It's amazing. Even the guys
around my level are more fired up. It's a great energy, and you see players
uniting around the tour now."

A lot of the credit for the AVP's renaissance is placed on the tour's
commissioner, Leonard Armato, a tour founder during the 1980s.

A former agent for Oscar de la Hoya and Shaquille O'Neil, Armato took over
the tour again in 2001 after it had failed to build on past momentum. Major
sponsors such as Bud Light and Gatorade, as well as a television contract
with NBC, now back the tour.

The Tempe Open will mark the homecoming of some Valley talent. For the
women, former Arizona State standout and Mesa Mountain View grad Leanne
Schuster McSorley will play in her first competitive match in the Valley
since graduating from ASU eight years ago.

"I'm really excited to come back," said McSorley, who along with partner
Carrie Busch of El Segundo, Calif., finished as the AVP's third-ranked team
last season.

McSorley, who married former professional hockey player Marty McSorley in
August, and Busch are coming off a fifth-place finish at the tour's first
stop this season in Fort Lauderdale three weeks ago.

For the men, the duo of Gary Barnes, who won a football state title with
Agua Fria High in 1989, and University of Arizona alum Tom Slauterback are
also local entrants. Barnes and Slauterback will play in today's qualifier.

The No. 1-ranked men's team is Eric Fonoimoana of Hermosa Beach, Calif., and
Dax Holdren of Santa Barbara, Calif., who have won 21 straight matches.

---

If you go

WHAT: AVP Nissan Series Pro Beach Volleyball Tour Tempe Open.

WHEN: Today-Sunday. The qualifying round is today from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Men's
and women's main draw is Saturday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Women's and men's
championship matches are Sunday at 2 p.m. and 3:30.p.m., respectively.

WHERE: Tempe Beach Park, 54 West Rio Salado.

QUICK FACT: 2,400 tons of sand were dumped at the park.

ADMISSION: Free to the public.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0425beachvb0425.html



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