Arce, McPeak Recover to Take U.S. Open Title

It was Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley’s turn to try to stop the wrecking ball at Sunday’s Ocean Pacific U.S. Open women’s volleyball final near the Huntington Beach Pier.

Last weekend, Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno stopped top-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak in the finals at Atlantic City.

On Sunday, Arce and McPeak broke through for a 15-9 victory over third-seeded Fontana and Hanley.

It was the sixth tournament victory in eight Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. events this season for Arce and McPeak, who split $13,200 in prize money.

“Winning perpetuates winning, and my hat is off to Karolyn and Nancy for taking them last weekend,” said Hanley, who graduated from Laguna Beach High in 1978. “We needed to take them this weekend. That’s how you can start picking away at them.”

Fontana and Hanley took a quick 3-0 lead, with each scoring a point on blocks against the 6-foot Arce, but Arce and McPeak answered with three consecutive points to tie the score.

Arce and McPeak took their first two-point advantage (8-6) on a lift call against Fontana and an ace from Arce.

Fontana and Hanley managed to tie the score, 9-9, on a service winner by Hanley, but Arce and McPeak scored the last six points, the final coming on Arce’s tour-best 63rd ace of the season.

“We played great ball until about 8, then we let them score a couple easy ones on their serve,” Hanley said. “We didn’t capitalize on some digs that we had and you cannot do that with this team. They’re too strong.”

Arce and Mceak reached the finals after a grueling 15-13 victory over fourth-seeded Angela Rock and Karrie Poppinga and they followed that by defeating the surprising team of 12th-seeded Marla O’Hara and Ali Wood, 15-1, in the semifinals.

Fontana and Hanley got past Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno, 16-14, and then defeated Linda Chisolm and Deb Richardson in the semifinals, 15-7.

O’Hara and Wood, a graduate of UC Irvine where she set several school records in volleyball and was voted the school’s top scholar athlete in 1990, had their best finish together since finishing third in Pismo Beach two years ago.

O’Hara and Wood were knocked into the losers’ bracket during the quarterfinals Saturday, but climbed back among the final four teams with a victory over Liz Mazakayan and Elaine Youngs, followed by a 15-11 upset of second-seeded Reno and Kirby.

O’Hara and Wood, who also defeated fifth-seeded Elaine Roque and Dennie Shupryt-Knoop in the third round Saturday, missed a chance to equal their career-best finish when they lost, 15-10, to sixth-seeded Chisolm and Richardson in the third-place match.