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Quest for Olympics tightens with two weeks remaining
by John Tawa
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Holly McPeak (left) and Lisa Arce are two of a handful of South Bay beach volleyball stars who will do battle across the globe the next two weeks for spots on the U.S. Olympic team. Photo by Frank Goroczko. |
The Olympic dreams of Eric Fonoimoana (Hermosa Beach) and Dain Blanton moved closer to reality over the weekend. The duo recorded a fifth place finish at an international beach volleyball tournament in Espinho, Portugal to move ahead of Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson for the second and final spot on the U.S. team with two events remaining.
Rob Heidger (Redondo Beach) and Kevin Wong (Playa del Rey) lead the chase for the Olympics. They have compiled 1,898 points. With the 204 points earned in Portugal, Fonoimoana/Blanton now have 1,636 points, 50 more than Kiraly/Johnson. The pair of Carl Henkel (Redondo Beach) and Sinjin Smith, who won bronze medals at the Atlanta Olymipcs, is a distant fourth, with 1,422 points.
Teams score Olympic qualification points only by participation in international events run by the FIVB. Thus, Kiraly/Johnson's AVP win at Virginia Beach Sunday did not help in their Olympic quest.
All the contending teams will compete this week in Klagenfurt, Austria, and next week in Ostende, Belgium, to decide who will represent the U.S. in Sydney.
A similar battle is being waged on the women's side. On July 16, Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach) and Misty May moved into the second spot on the Olympic team with a victory at the FIVB Germany Open.
However, May's pulled abdominal muscle has prevented the team from competing the last two weeks, opening the door for third place team Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs. Sunday, Masakayan/Youngs upended Lisa Arce (Redondo Beach) and Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach) 15-9 to win the Portugal Open, earn 340 points and reclaim second place in the standings with two events remaining. The team of Annett Davis and Jennifer Johnson Jordan has all but clinched an Olympic berth.
The battle for the final Olympic spot comes down to this week's event in Osaka, Japan and next week's tournament in Dalian, China. Masakayan/Youngs, with 2,420 points, hold a slim 18-point lead over McPeak/May. Arce/Fontana, who have 1,906 points, have a distant shot to make the team. ER