BEACH VOLLEYBALL: NEW ALLIES FONOIMOANA, WONG WIN MEN'S TITLE.Byline: Don Patterson Special to the Daily News MANHATTAN BEACH Manhattan Beach, city (1990 pop. 32,063), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1912. It is a residential and beach community with an oil refinery and nearby factories that produce transportation and electrical equipment, computers, and pottery. - In the beach volleyball For the ball used in this sport, see . Beach volleyball is an Olympic team sport played on sand. Two teams, positioned on either side of a net which divides a rectangular court, hit a volleyball, usually using the hands or arms. world, it was a blockbuster breakup. Eric Fonoimoana Eric Fonoimoana (born June 7, 1969) is an American volleyball player who currently resides in Hermosa Beach, California. He was born in Manhattan Beach, California, and attended UCSB. He is most notable for winning the gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games. , an Olympic gold-medal winner at Sydney in 2000, dominated last year's AVP AVP arginine vasopressin. Tour with Dax Holdren Dax Holdren (born September 4, 1972 in Santa Barbara, California) is an American professional beach volleyball player. Holdren is currently on the AVP tour playing with Jeff Nygaard. , winning four of seven events. But Holdren has been slowed by injuries this season, and the pair hadn't won since the season opener in early April at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Early last week, Fonoimoana made a call to Kevin Wong, who was similarly frustrated. Wong came into this season in what he called the ``best shape of his life,'' and he and longtime partner Stein Metzger Stein Metzger (born November 17, 1972 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a top beach volleyball player from the United States, playing in the AVP. In 2006 he played with his high school teammate, Mike Lambert, and they advanced to the Final Four in fourteen of the fifteen team events, winning had high hopes that they would recapture their form of two seasons ago, when they won three tournaments together. Through last week, though, they were winless. When Fonoimoana and Wong talked, they agreed a change would be good for both of them, and they signed up as partners for the Manhattan Beach Open. ``It was about how we could figure out a way to win,'' Fonoimoana said. ``Finishing poorly really drives you nuts.'' Judging by their performance over the weekend, it worked out just fine. In their first time playing together, Fonoimoana and Wong defeated Jose Loiola and Eduardo Bacil 23-25, 21-18, 15-13 on Sunday to win the Manhattan Beach Open, a tournament often referred to as the Wimbledon of beach volleyball. Fonoimoana and Wong lost Saturday to second-seeded Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh but climbed back through the losers' bracket in the double-elimination event to defeat Ceman and Whitmarsh, who tied for third with Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer. After dropping the first game in the championship match against Brazilians Loiola and Bacil, who were playing together in an AVP tournament for the first time since 1995, Fonoimoana and Wong overcame deficits in each of the next two games and finished off the victory with a thundering Fonoimoana spike. The champions of the Manhattan Beach tournament, which first was played in 1960, have their names engraved en·grave tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. on plaques on the Manhattan Pier. Fonoimoana, who has 13 career victory, got his first plaque last year, winning with Holdren, and Wong got one in 2001 with Metzger. |
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