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Men's Preview: AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
August 15, 2006

The AVP CROCS Tour is entering some unfamiliar ground as the schedule winds
down to the last three open events. Instead of having one dominant team or a
wide-open race, there are two teams battling for the Crocs Cup. Mike Lambert
and Stein Metzger have a slim 18-point lead over Phil Dalhausser and Todd
Rogers, with the rest of the field over 900 points behind.

Looking back at the domestic men's beach volleyball history, there have been
some periods with one dominant team, such as Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes
in the early 1990's, winning over 70% of the team events between 1992 and
1994. There have been periods of parity, especially in the last eight years.
But this season is shaping up to be different; the quest to be the top team
is turning into a two-horse race.

Lambert and Metzger have the lead, as well as the number one seeding,
because of their consistent play. They are the only team to play in all 11
Final Fours this year, and have won three titles. While they have finished
second three times this season, none have been closer or more frustrating
than last week's title match against Dalhausser and Rogers in Manhattan
Beach.

"That's probably the hardest loss I've ever taken," Metzger said. "I just
felt like Lambo and I were making our move. It was our tournament to win. To
lose in that fashion was heartbreaking."

Dalhausser and Rogers, winners of six events this year, trail ever so
slightly in both the race for the CROCS Cup as well as in their bid to gain
the number one seed. Ironically, they have something going for them heading
into the AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman and Wakefield -- their ninth
place finish in the season opener.

The CROCS Cup is determined by taking a team's 11 best finishes from the 14
open events. Therefore, to this point of the season, having just completed
the 11th tournament, all finishes have been figuring into the calculation.
So the ninth place finish that Dalhausser and Rogers had in their first
domestic event together has been holding them back. But after this week,
they are able to drop that result and replace it with a network event that
is worth almost one-and-a-half times as much as a cable event.

The four players on these top two teams have been claiming the most airtime
on the AVP Tour recently. In the last 30 AVP events, including all specialty
tournaments, at least one of those four players has been in the championship
match 28 times.

From the start of 1999 to the end of 2005, there was just one tournament
with 24 or 32 teams in which the finals pitted the top two seeds, and that
was back in 2000. But this year, four of the championship matches have been
between the tournament's top two teams, including the last two events.

The wide gap between the top two teams and the rest of the field is causing
changes among partnerships which cannot catch either team for the CROCS Cup.
Dax Holdren and Sean Scott, the fourth-seeded team the past three events,
had a productive recent stretch with two seconds, two thirds and a
fifth-place finish, but have split entering Brooklyn.

Scott will try a first-time partnership with George Roumain. The new duo be
one of the tallest in Brooklyn as Scott measures 6 foot, 5 inches and
Roumain is 6 foot, 7 inches. Scott and Roumain should be a force at siding
out as Roumain ranks fourth in kill percentage, while Scott ranks 11th.

Meanwhile, Holdren will reunite with Eric Fonoimoana in hopes of enjoying
the same success these two had on the AVP Tour in 2002 and 2003. During that
time this duo won five times, and advanced to the semifinals in nine of the
13 events they played together.

Two other main draw teams are pairing up for the first time. Dain Blanton
will team up with Scott Lane, Albert Hannemann will partner with Matt
Prosser, and Jason Ring and Austin Rester will take to the sand for the
first time. One of the top teams in the qualifier, Jake Elliot and Matt
Heath, form another first-time tandem.

The AVP CROCS Tour stop in Coney Island marks the first time the men have
played an event in the state of New York since before beach volleyball was a
part of the Olympics. In 1996, the AVP had an indoor event in New York City,
and it has taken 10 years for the state to bring back pro beach volleyball.
That does not diminish all that's at stake, and with the live telecast on
NBC on Saturday, August 19 at 4:30 pm (ET), the spotlight will be shining
brightly.

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