Top-seeded Fontana & Youngs net women's
Clearwater Beach volleyball<br> gold medal; <br> Holdren &
Rogers capture second Florida title in VolleyHut
Clearwater<br> Beach <br> Invitational men's final.<br><br>
CLEARWATER BEACH, FLA. - Top-seeded Barbra Fontana and
Elaine<br> Youngs overcame <br> a first game loss in the
best of three women's Gold Medal match to<br> capture
the $15,000 <br> first-place prize by defeating
third-seeded Holly McPeak and Rachel<br> Wacholder in the <br>
$150,000 Volleyhut Clearwater Beach Invitational here
Sunday (April<br> 22).<br> In the men's Gold Medal
match, third-seeded Dax Holdren and Todd<br> Rogers
captured their <br> second pro beach event in Florida in
the past year by defeating<br> fourth-seeded Stein
Metzger <br> and Kevin Wong 21-15 and 21-16 in 35 minutes
to share the $15,000<br> first-place prize.<br>
After losing 21-18 in Sunday's first Gold Medal game,
Fontana and<br> Youngs rallied to win <br> the next two
games 21-10 and 15-7 to conclude the 55-minute
title<br> match against McPeak <br> and Wacholder. Fontana
and Youngs concluded the weekend with a 5-0<br> match
mark to net <br> their first pro beach volleyball
title in only their second event together.<br> Fontana
(Manhattan <br> Beach, Calif.), who captured her 17th pro
beach title, and Youngs<br> (Encinitas, Calif.) <br>
advance to the finals with a 21-18 and 2-20 win in 40
minutes over<br> 14th-seeded Linda<br> Hanley (Pacific
Palisades, Calif.) and Sarah Straton (Hermosa Beach,<br>
Calif. Sunday's title <br> was the 11th for Youngs.
McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and<br> Wacholder
(Hermosa <br> Beach,Calif.), who were playing in their
first pro beach event together,<br> shared $9,500 for
the <br> Volleyhut Clearwater Beach Silver Medal.
McPeak, who was playing in<br> her 81st title match <br>
with 55 Gold Medals, and Wacholder advanced to the
finals with a 22-20<br> and 21-16 win in <br> 40 minutes
over fourth-seeded Nancy Mason (Belleville, Ill) and
Leanne<br> Schuster (Mesa, <br> Ariz.) on the Pier 60 South
center court. In the Bronze Medal match,<br> Mason and
Schuster <br> scored a 21-17 and 21-17 win in 39 minutes
over Hanley and Straton.<br> Mason and Schuster <br>
shared $7,500 for the third-place finish. Hanley and
Straton, beach<br> Olympians, split $$5,250 <br> for their
fourth-place finish in their first pro beach event together.
Hanley<br> finished fourth<br> with Fontana for the United
States in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games<br> while
Straton <br> competed in the Sydney 2000 Games for
Australia.<br> Sunday's action concluded with the men's medal
matches. Holdren(San<br> Diego, Calif.) and <br> Rogers
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) captured their seventh pro beach
Gold<br> Medal and fifth in the <br> past year after
starting the streak with a win last April in Deerfield
Beach,<br> Fla.<br> Metzger (Honolulu, Hi.) and Wong (Pearl
City, Hi.) scored Sunday's<br> biggest upset by <br>
eliminating Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallists and
top-seeded Dain<br> Blanton (Laguna <br> Beach, Calif.) and
Eric Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) 19-21,<br>
21-15 and 19-17 in a<br> 65-minute semi-final match.
Holdren and Rogers advanced to the men's<br> title match
with a <br> 21-18 and 23-21 semi-final win in 45
minutes over fifth-seeded Rob<br> Heidger (Redondo <br>
Beach, Calif.) and Chip McCaw (Tulsa, Okla.).In the
men's Bronze<br> Medal match, Blanton <br> and
Fonoimoana notched a 21-16 and 21-18 win in 40 minutes
over<br> Heidger and McCaw.<br> It was the first-time in
five matches this weekend that the Sydney Gold<br>
Medallists did not <br> have to play a match with three
games. Blanton and Fonoimoana entered<br> the weekend as
a<br> defending Clearwater Beach champions after
winning the 1999 event.The<br> opening domestic <br>
event on the 2001 BVA Pro Beach Volleyball Tour,
Volleyhut<br> Clearwater Beach <br> Invitational was taped for
television replay on ESPN2 this summer.<br><br> MORE RESULTS
here<br> <a href=http://www.