Preview of this weekends event (FRIDAY- SUNDAY) from the AVP -

AVP Tempe Open Presented by Bud Light Preview
By Doug Strauss
May 2, 2006

The Tempe Open Presented by Bud Light is the second pro beach volleyball
tournament of the year, but in several ways it is the true season opener.
While the first event was in Florida a month ago, the four weekends off
since then nearly equals the combined number of weekends off until the
season ends in mid-September. And after all, since CROCS signed on in
mid-April to become the title sponsor of the tour, this will literally be
the first event of the 2006 AVP CROCS Tour.

If history repeats itself, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, along with
Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, will be the ones once again hoisting the
oversized checks at the end of the tournament on Sunday afternoon. Both of
those teams won in Florida, and they also have some Tempe history on their
sides. May-Treanor and Walsh have won each of the last three tournaments in
this college town, all three times being seeded first as they will be this
year. And on the men's side the last three winners have all been seeded
second, as will Gibb and Rosenthal for this event.

Both genders have had some shake-ups since the Florida event, but perhaps
the biggest effect will be seen on the women's side. Tyra Turner and Makare
Wilson, the fourth-ranked team last year, missed the season opener but will
be playing in Tempe. They will be looking to show exactly how far they've
come in a short period of time, as just two years ago they did not even make
it out of the qualifier in Tempe, their only domestic event not making it to
the main draw. Since then, though, Turner and Wilson have finished fifth or
higher 12 times.

Logan Tom will be making her pro beach volleyball debut. Tom, a four-time
first-team All-American, a two-time NCAA Player of the Year, and a two-time
Olympian, is hoping to translate all of her indoor achievements into success
on the sand. She will be playing someone one day younger than her, Brittany
Hochevar. Hochevar has experience in four main draws, with three different
partners. She too has experienced success indoors, having been a second-team
All-American for Long Beach State, an alternate on the 2004 Olympic team,
and a professional outside of the U.S.

With Tempe being a smaller event in terms of number of courts used and
therefore the number of teams that can participate, this added depth will
make for a challenging road for the eventual winner. In the Ft. Lauderdale
Open, three women's teams seeded 15th or lower pulled upsets and finished in
seventh place or better. One of those teams was Michelle More and Suzanne
Stonebarger, former college teammates who placed a career-best fifth place
after knocking off three teams in a row seeded above them.

Also registering three upsets was the tandem of Jennifer (Kessy) Boss and
Nancy Mason, who were playing together domestically for the first time. In
four international events together last year, the duo finished fifth three
times and fourth once. A second-round defeat in Ft. Lauderdale sent them to
the contender's bracket, where they battled all the way back to the
championship match. Boss and Mason won the first game, but were unable to
put away the eventual champions, May-Treanor and Walsh.

Another sign of how the women's field is strengthening is the fact that
Holly McPeak, the all-time wins leader with 72 victories and the
fifth-ranked individual last season, is seeded eighth this event with her
partner Nicole Branagh. That seed marks her lowest in a domestic event since
the 1995 season opener, in part due to their having to forfeit the
ninth-place match in Florida because of the heat. Each of the three years
the AVP has visited Tempe, McPeak has advanced to the semifinals, and this
season she will be looking to do so with her third different partner.

Despite all the partner changes that occurred on the men's side during the
off-season, the top seeds in Ft. Lauderdale performed pretty much as
expected; the top four teams all finished in fifth place or better despite
each team playing together for the first time. Gibb and Rosenthal swept
through all of their competition, including top-seeded Mike Lambert and
Stein Metzger in the finals. One of the biggest surprises was 13th-seeded
Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, the gold medalists from the 2000 Olympics,
advancing to the semifinals, though perhaps it should not have been.

Helped by their strong finish in Ft. Lauderdale, Blanton and Fonoimoana
worked their way up to a coveted spot for Tempe, a top eight seed. With a
24-team bracket being used for both the men's and women's fields, the top
eight seeds in both genders receive a bye in the first round. That could
play a big part in this event, as those teams would have to play just two
matches on Saturday (assuming they win both), helping to avoid all of the
heat-related problems that players encountered in Florida last month.

In addition to Blanton and Fonoimoana, the only other main draw team in
Tempe that has played together in more than 12 events is the team of Casey
Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer. They won two tournaments last year and will
be looking to, if not win the tournament, at least advance to the
semifinals, which they have yet to do in three previous outings in Tempe.
Tempe has not been a good place for repeat performances though. In the three
years the AVP has held an event there, no team has been able to participate
in more than one semifinal; there have been 12 different teams advancing to
the Final Four.

Due to a knee injury, the men's career victory leader, Karch Kiraly, will
not be playing. Kiraly, who has played in eight career finals in the state
of Arizona, will have to wait until a future tournament to build upon the
fifth-place finish he got in his first tournament with Larry Witt. Witt will
compete in Tempe with Chad Mowrey instead.

Mike Lambert won three events in 2005, and two of them came in events played
partially under the lights. In Cincinnati in July, Lambert and John Hyden
teamed together for the first time, and won in an event which, like Tempe
this year, featured some night matches. In Las Vegas, another tournament
held under the lights, Lambert claimed victory in the individual format
event that gave him his seventh career victory. The AVP Tempe Open Presented
by Bud Light will feature two matches under the lights on Saturday night and
live music by The Chadwicks. Nine of the 14 open events this season will
include play at night.

All the new partnerships also mean that a new winner is likely. Only four
men's teams entered in Tempe have won a title; Blanton and Fonoimoana have
won five, Fuerbringer and Jennings three, Gibb and Rosenthal one, and Jason
Ring and George Roumain one. Just three women's partnerships have yielded
tournament titles; May-Treanor and Walsh have a record-best 48 wins, Annett
Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan have eight, and Rachel Wacholder and Elaine
Youngs have won three times.

With the tournament in the same town as Arizona State, Tammy Leibl will feel
right at home. Leibl, formerly Tammy Liley, enjoyed an outstanding career at
ASU, getting elected into the ASU Hall of Fame. She is teaming with Dianne
DeNecochea, and as a top eight seed will have a first-round bye in the main
draw. At least four other former Sun Devils will be striving to reach the
main draw; as Shannon Sneed, Timothy Cornelissen, Tom Slauterbeck and Tom
Witt all are playing in the qualifier.

AVP ANNALS

For the fourth straight year, the AVP is including Tempe on the schedule.
The men have had 12 unique teams reach the semifinals, with Jake Gibb, Jeff
Nygaard, and Dax Holdren the only individuals to appear in two Final Fours.
The 2003 event marked Mike Whitmarsh's final career victory, while the next
season Sean Scott logged his first career win. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri
Walsh have won all three events, defeating three different teams. Twice the
women's championship match went three games, but May-Treanor and Walsh swept
all other opponents leading up to the finals.

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