PESCARA, ITALY - Five teams from the Women's Professional Volleyball Association combined for 10 wins here Friday (July 4) during the opening championship rounds of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.

Led by third-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak, three WPVA teams advanced to Saturday's quarter-finals of the championship bracket as each tandem posted two wins Friday in 1997's third international event.

Arce and McPeak, the top-ranked team on the Evian Women's Pro Beach Volleyball Tour by winning six of eight domestic events this season, defeated Martina Hudcova and Tereza Tobiasova of the Czech Republic 15-7 and WPVA rivals Krista Blomquist and Ali Wood 15-8 in action Friday.

Seventh-seeded Barbra Fontana and Nancy Reno, former Stanford teammates who are playing together for the first-time in their pro beach careers, scored Friday wins over Jennifer Harkness and Christy Goodfellow of Canada 15-8 and Sona Dosoudilova and Eva Celbova of the Czech Republic 15-5.

Danalee Bragado and Christine Schaefer, who are seeded 11th and playing together for the first-time in a month, advanced to the quarter-finals with a 15-12 upset win over WPVA rivals Karrie Poppinga and Angela Rock. The Bragado/Schaefer tandem downed Maria Almeida and Ana Pereira of Portugal 15-5 in their first match Friday.

Arce and McPeak face Bragado and Schaefer in Saturday's championship bracket quarter-finals while Fontana and Reno face Brazilians Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva, who won the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The winners of those matches play later Saturday for a spot in the event's final four Sunday.

In the other quarter-final match ups, Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil face Laura Bruschini and Annamaria Solazzi of Italy while the Australian teams of Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst and Liane Fenwick/Pauline Manser face each other.

Pires and Silva won the last FIVB beach event this past March in Australia by defeating Bede and Behar (12-9 and 12-5) in the finals. Monica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel, who were upset 15-12 Friday by Fenwick and Manser, won the 1997 FIVB opener in Brazil over Arce and McPeak (12-5, 4-12 and 12-7).

Blomquist and Wood, who qualified for the main draw after eliminating Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson 15-5 and 15-5 in a playoff Thursday, opened Friday with a 15-4 win over the Barbara Egger-Bossi and Cornella Gerson of Switzerland. Poppinga and Rock defeated Margot Schlaefli and Eveline Schneiter of Switzerland 15-4 in their first match Friday.

Poppinga and Rock eliminated Switzerland's Denise Koelliker and Katia Neeser 15-7 while Blomquist and Wood ousted Bryce Barry and Lisa Cepeliauskas of Canada 15-10. The two WPVA teams face each other in Saturday's opening elimination match.

In qualifying Wednesday, the Blomquist/Wood tandem posted wins over Chie Seike and Ryoko Tokuno of Japan 15-2 and WPVA rivals Krystal Attwood and Desiree Leipham of the United States 15-6. Davis and Johnson downed Hudcova and Tobiasova (15-2), Cepeliauskas and Barry 15-9 and Yukiko Hashimoto and Mika Saiki of Japan 15-8.

Attwood and Leipham defeated Arcadia Berjonneaux and Brigitte Gross of France 15-8 in a qualifying match Wednesday before losing to Blomquist and Wood, who are playing in their third pro event together after posting a 7-4 match mark in two Evian Tour earlier this season at Austin, Tex. (seventh) and San Diego, Calif. (ninth).

Davis and Johnson were playing in their fourth pro event together after competing in the first three Evian Tour events this season at Miami Beach, Fla. (25th), Deerfield Beach, Fla. (seventh) and Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (second).

At the stop at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Davis and Johnson dropped a 15-11 decision to Karolyn Kirby and Reno in the championship match after posting a record seven- straight upset wins. Attwood and Leipham were playing in their third pro event together after competing earlier this season at Austin (25th) and Huntington Beach, Calif. (33rd).

Arce and McPeak are playing in their 21st pro event together as the pair has now posted a 110-17 match mark with 11 titles. The pair has posted a second and third in the first two FIVB beach events this season at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Feb. 13-16) and Melbourne, Australia (March 13-16), respectively.

Poppinga and Rock, who finished fifth in Brazil and fourth in Melbourne, are playing in their 11th pro event together with a 38- 20 match mark. The tandem has three third-place finishes on the Evian Tour this season.

Bragado and Schaefer are competing for the eighth-time together with a 25-14 match mark as the duo finished ninth in Brazil and seventh in Australia. The pair was also third in the WPVA Deerfield Open in April.