By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
SEAL BEACH, Calif. ““ Four former UCLA women’s
volleyball players hit the sand for the semifinals of the Beach
Volleyball America tournament held this past weekend at Seal Beach,
Calif.
Backdropped by a stadium full of tan skin and wide-brimmed hats,
the No. 2-seeded team of former Bruin Holly McPeak (1990) and Misty
May (Long Beach State) defeated the No. 3 team of Lisa Arce and
Barbara Fontana 15-4.
Both teams had a “never say die” attitude as they
dove and stretched to keep every ball in play.
A Fontana ace put her team in the early 2-1 lead, but a lucky
point like that was something McPeak and May made a habit of
answering with some tough serves of their own, which put them ahead
6-4.
“We got them in trouble with our serve,” McPeak
said. “If we can get them in trouble we’re quick enough
to pass and get off good hits.”
Despite a strong wind that rose just in time for the final
match, McPeak and May were able to keep up their killer
serving.
“It was very challenging with the wind,” McPeak
said. “You must score points on the bad side to win and we
were able to do that.”
Add in some crucial hitting errors by Fontana, and her team
never had a chance. In the last play of the game Arce hit the ball
wide to the right to give May and McPeak their 15th point.
“They played great and were really hustling,” Arce
said. “When you see that, and you’re struggling it
makes it tough.”
To get to the gold medal game, McPeak and May blew away Nancy
Reno and Leanne Schuster in a 15-4 triumph in the semifinal.
Ahead by as many as 10 points throughout the match, McPeak and
May combined hustle and sheer power in a win that advanced them to
the final round.
“Our defense was awesome in the semifinal round, which is
what we needed to do,” May said.
The No. 1-seeded team of former Bruins Jenny Johnson Jordan
(1992-1995) and Annett Davis (1992-1994) battled Nancy Reno
(Stanford) and Leanne Schuster (Arizona State) for third place
after losing to Arce and Fontana in the semifinal.
Coming out with the early lead Jordan and Davis bulldozed their
opponents and finished 15-4 to win the bronze.
Against Arce and Fontana in the semifinal, Jordan and Davis got
the lead early but fell 10-15.
“We were up 5-2 and we were playing well,” Jordan
said. “I made a lot of hitting errors in the beginning and
brought them back into it.”
Bruin Linda Hanley (1978-1981) teamed up with Carrie Poppinga
(Hawaii), but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Arce and
Fontana 15-9.
“We did pretty well but we let some scoring opportunities
get away from us and our serve needs to be tougher,” Hanley
said.
Minus Hanley, the other three Bruins who competed this weekend
will be attempting to qualify for the Olympics throughout the
summer.
Though only international competitions count as Olympic
qualifying matches, this tournament was a good gauge of who will
end up on the sand in Sydney.
While Jordan and Davis are the top U.S. team, both McPeak and
May, and Arce and Fontana are strong contenders for the two
positions available.
“Every weekend someone else is winning,” Jordon
said. “But right now Holly and Misty are probably the most
consistent.”
With five more international tournaments left for the teams to
qualify, including stops in Germany, France, Portugal, Japan and
finally China, the players give it their best in spite of the
extensive travel schedule, which will wrap up on Aug. 13.
There are four top teams, but only the two with the eight best
finishes continue on to Sydney.
“We haven’t even thought about that (the Olympics)
yet,” said Jordan. “We have to focus on making it
first.”
This weekend’s matches will air on Fox Sports Net Aug. 12
at 12:30 pm.