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GREELEY, Colo. – The USA men’s national volleyball team began the 2003 season with a 3-2 loss to Korea at Butler-Hancock Hall on the University of Northern Colorado campus Sunday afternoon.

Sun-Ho Shin scored a team-high 18 points and Jin-Wook Suk added 17 in the 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 23-25, 17-15 win.

The match was the first of a five-match domestic tour in Colorado and Nebraska between the two teams....more

Blanton-Nygaard Win Two in a Row

Seven days and six thousand miles apart, Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard won back-to-back pro beach tournaments: an FIVB tournament in Greece on June 8 and an AVP event in San Diego on June 15.

Blanton, who won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Eric Fonoimoana, is paired for the first time this season with Nygaard, a two-time indoor Olympian (1996 and 2000) who switched to the beach in 2001.

“This is the best week of my whole life,” Nygaard told the crowd at Mariner’s Point in San Diego after he and Blanton edged sixth-seeded Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer 21-16, 13-21, 15-12. Later, he said: “If Dain and I take care of the things we need to do, we’re going to be successful. I’m not saying we’re going to win everything, but we’re going to be a team to beat.”

Blanton said: “I felt good about this partnership from the start. When I was training in the winter with Jeff, I liked the way he carried himself. He’s fiery but not flamboyant. He keeps to himself, does his thing and works hard.”

The win was the eighth of Blanton’s career and his first since 2001, when he won a title in Oceanside, California, with Fonoimoana. Nygaard now has three career beach victories, including a title at Hermosa last year with Albert Hannemann.

Fuerbringer and Jennings, who are also playing together this season for the first time, have finished second in three of the four AVP tournaments this season, all three losses coming in three games.

McPeak Closes In on Record

Holly McPeak moved one step closer to tying Karolyn Kirby’s career victory record June 15th by teaming with partner Elaine Youngs to defeat fourth-seeded Dianne DeNecochea and Nancy Mason 21-17, 21-14 at the AVP’s San Diego Open, the fourth event of the 2003 Nissan Series. It was McPeak’s 66th win, which leaves her one away from the record of 67 set by Kirby, who retired in 2000.

“I’m relieved to get 66 out of the way,” McPeak said. “Every time I get announced, I hear: ‘She’s chasing the record…’ So it’s a little bit of pressure. But at the same time, I know Elaine and I are a great team, so I know we’ll be able to break the record.”

It didn’t hurt that McPeak and Youngs didn’t have to worry about Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the world’s top-ranked team. May and Walsh missed the San Diego event to play at an FIVB tournament in Greece, where they took third after losing to Brazil’s Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires Tavares. May and Walsh won the first three AVP tournaments this season, defeating McPeak and Youngs in the finals at Fort Lauderdale, Florida (April 6) and Hermosa (June 8) and beating Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis in Tempe, Arizona (April 27).

Youngs, who teamed with McPeak for nine tournament victories last season, now has 24 career beach wins.

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