Race Tightens for Olympic Beach Volleyball Hopefuls

The U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team selection process became a lot more interesting after the Chicago Grand Slam FIVB tournament.

The men finished their tournament Sundaywith disappointing ninth-place finishes for San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson and Eric Fonoimoana and Dain Blanton, formerly of Laguna Beach High. But both teams continued to close in on the top-ranked U.S. team of Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong.

Heidger and Wong have 1,864 points, Kiraly and Johnson are second with 1,586 points and Blanton and Fonoimoana are third with 1,568 points.

On the women’s side, Misty May, formerly of Newport Harbor High and Long Beach State, and partner Holly McPeak won the final in Chicago Tuesday, posting their first FIVB victory to move up to third on the U.S. list with 2,062 points.

Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan are top-ranked at 2,574 points and Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs, formerly of El Toro High, are second at 2,284.

Only the top two teams in the U.S. Olympic Qualification Rankings will qualify for Sydney.

STILL IN LIMBO

Blanton and Fonoimoana were suspended indefinitely by the AVP last week, and their status remained unchanged, Fonoimoana said Wednesday.

“Hopefully this gets resolved,” Fonoimoana said. “By the same token, if it doesn’t get resolved, it means Dain and I have to come up with our own solution, and that means playing on the FIVB as much as we can.”

“We’d like to support the AVP, but we don’t know if and when we can.”

Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this story.

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