ESPINHO, PORTUGAL - Sixth-seeded Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs from the Women's Professional Volleyball Association won three of four matches here Saturday (August 2) to advance to the final four of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.

Several WPVA teams, including top-ranked Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak, are missing this weekend's FIVB stop due to their participation Saturday in the eighth annual Evian Invitational at East Quogue, N. Y.

Arce and McPeak are the winningest team on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour after four events this season with combined earnings of $68,000 and 23 match wins. Arce and McPeak won the Pescara, Italy event, finished second in Brazil and France, and third in Australia.

Other teams with FIVB rankings playing in this weekend's Evian Invitational are the WPVA tandems of Karolyn Kirby/Nancy Reno, Barbra Fontana/Linda Hanley, Karrie Poppinga/Angela Rock and Kristi Blomquist/Christine Schaefer.

Masakayan and Youngs, who teamed to win the last WPVA event in Chicago, Ill. July 13, dropped a 15-6 decision in their first match Saturday to third-seeded Monica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel of Brazil, the silver medalists from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

In the contender's bracket, Masakayan and Youngs won three-straight matches Saturday with wins over 18th-seeded Eva Celbova and Sona Dosoudilova of the Czech Republic 15-3, 23rd-seeded Danielle Gattelli and Lucilla Perrotta of Italy 16-14 and fifth-seeded Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of Germany 15-3.

Masakayan and Youngs face Rodrigues and Samuel in the second of two semi-final matches Sunday with the winners playing top-seeded Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil or second-seeded Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva of Brazil in the title match.

Bede and Behar advanced to the finals with a 15-3 win over Friedrichsen and Musch. Pires and Silva, who dropped a 15-11 decision earlier Saturday to Rodrigues and Samuel in a rematch of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games gold medal match, scored a 15-13 win over 20th-seeded Mika Saiki and Yukiko Takahashi of Japan to advance to the final four.

Masakayan and Youngs are playing in their second FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event after finishing ninth last weekend in Marseille, France. Masakayan, who fractured her right kneecap two years ago in Espinho, has won three international titles with Kirby.

Jennifer Meredith and Leanne Schuster, who won five-straight qualifying matches earlier this week to advance to their first international main draw event together, were eliminated earlier Saturday after dropping a 15-3 decision to fourth-seeded Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia, who won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Meredith and Schuster finished 13th in the competition to share $2,200.