PUSAN, KOREA - Four teams from the Women's Professional Volleyball Association won eight of nine matches here Friday (August 15) in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship event.

Sixteen teams from seven countries remain in contention for the $25,000 first-place prize when play resumes Saturday morning with four matches in the championship bracket and four matches in the contender's bracket.

Second-seeded Lisa Arce (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), fourth-seeded Karolyn Kirby (Brookline, Mass.) and Nancy Reno (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), and seventh-seeded Krista Blomquist (Branford, Conn.) and Barbra Fontana (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) won two matches each Friday to advance to the championship quarter-finals.

Danalee Bragado (Honolulu, Hi.) and Marla O'Hara (Agoura Hills, Calif.) won two of three matches as the 14th-seeded team Friday to remain the in the 32-team double-elimination event.

Bragado and O'Hara, the 10th-ranked team on the Evian Women's Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, faces 11th-seeded Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont of Canada in an elimination match Saturday.

Kirby and Reno, who captured last weekend's (August 8-10) Evian National Championships in Hermosa Beach, Calif., face fifth-seeded Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia in one of four quarter-final matches Friday.

Arce and McPeak, the top-ranked team on the Evian Tour, face Blomquist and Fontana, who are playing in their first pro beach event together. Fontana finished second in the Evian Nationals with Linda Hanley while Blomquist and Christine Schaefer were third.

Top-seeded Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar of Brazil play 24th-seeded Angela Clarke and Tania Gooley of Australia and third-seeded Monica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel of Brazil play sixth-seeded Anna Richa and Adriana Rodrigues of Brazil in the other semi-final matches.

Arce and McPeak, who have won one FIVB event this season with two seconds and a third, defeated 31st-seeded Choi Eun Choi and Choi Bo-Sook of Korea 15-2 and 18th-seeded Annette Huygens-Tholen and Sarah Stratton of Australia 15-7 Friday.

Kirby and Reno, who are playing in their first FIVB this season after win three domestic titles this year, defeated Li and Dong Na of China 15-8 and 13th-seeded Etta Kaize and Timy Yudhani of Indonesia 15-6. Blomquist and Fontana downed 26th-seeded Bryce Barry and Lisa Cepeliauskas of Canada 15-7 and 10th-seeded Liane Fenwick and Pauline Manser of Australia 16-14.

Bragado and O'Hara, who are playing in their fifth pro beach event together with a fifth in France last month, opened with a 15-9 win over 19th-seeded Xiona and Chi of China before losing 15-8 to Rodrigues and Samuel, the silver medalists at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Bragado and O'Hara eliminated 20th-seeded Pernille Jorgensen and Louise Sommer of Denmark to advance to Saturday's play.