ALBERT HANNEMANN & JEFF NYGAARD CAPTURE TITLE AT AVP HERMOSA BEACH OPEN AVP 6/9/2002

Forum
Hermosa Beach, Calif. 
June 9, 2002

The sixth seeded men's team of Albert Hannemann and Jeff Nygaard upset the top seeded duo of Stein Metzger and Kevin Wong in an intense 100 minute final to pick up their first AVP tour victory. On the women's side, the top seeded team of Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs earned their second consecutive victory over rivals Barbra Fontana and Dianne DeNecochea today at the $150,000 AVP Hermosa Beach OpenPresented by Michelob Light.

Hannemann and Nygaard, in a hotly contested match, bested Metzger and Wong 18-21, 29-27, 27-25, with 17 lead changes in the final game. After Hannemann and Nygaard got their first lead at 10-9 neither team ever had more than a one-point advantage. Hannemann and Nygaard had their first match point at 14-13, and then had to stave off three match points by their opponents before getting another opportunity at 18 - 17. Failing to convert, Metzger and Wong had six chances to win the match, but couldn't convert. Battling back, Hannemann and Nygaard finally closed out the championship point on their fourth opportunity at 26-25.

Hannemann's previous best AVP finish was a second place in 1998 and 2001. Nygaard, in just his second season on the Tour after a stand-out indoor career including two appearances at the Olympics, captured his best career finish to date. The duo had a seventh place finish in the season opener at Huntington Beach.

Metzger and Wong, who won the last two events of the 2001 season, have placed in the top four in their last four AVP tournaments and finished third at Huntington Beach in the AVP 2002 season opener.

Long-time tour veterans Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis had their best finish of the new year picking up third. The duo was forced to default the match after a pulled muscle injury to Lewis in their game against Hannemann and Nygaard. Picking up the other third place spot was the team of Eduardo Bacil and Frederico Souza, who improved from a ninth place finish in Huntington Beach.

Olympic gold medalist Karch Kiraly and his partner Brent Doble finished fifth in the event.