AUSTIN, TEX.- Top-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak rebounded from their worst finish last week in Florida to capture their third Evian Women's Pro Beach Volleyball Tour of 1997 here Sunday (May 18) to share the $11,000 first-place prize for winning the $50,000 WPVA Austin Open at the Emerald Point Pro Beach Volleyball Club on Lake Travis.

Arce and McPeak, who finished fifth at the Cybergenics Open May 11 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., downed third-seeded Barbra Fontana and Linda Hanley 18-16, in an 84 side-out, 74-minute championship final of the seventh annual WPVA Austin Open.

The win was Arce and McPeak's sixth-straight of the weekend as the pair posted their eighth pro beach volleyball win together. The Women's Professional Volleyball Association's top-ranked team has now won six of the last eight Evian Tour events, including three of four this season.

Arce and McPeak, who now have a 23-3 match mark this season, advanced to the finals with a 15-7 win over fifth-seeded Karrie Poppinga and Angela Rock. Fontana and Hanley, who shared $8,100 for Sunday's second-place, earned a spot in the finals with a 15-13 win over fourth-seeded Elaine Roque and Dennie Shupryt-Knoop.

It was the fifth time that the two teams were matched against each other in a championship finale with Arce and McPeak winning four times in title meetings against Fontana and Hanley, the top finishing Evian Tour team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with a fourth-place.

The title was also McPeak's third-straight in Austin as she won the 1995 and 1996 championships with Nancy Reno, who finished fifth in this year's event with Karolyn Kirby. Overall, McPeak has now won 42 pro beach volleyball events and Arce eight.

Poppinga and Rock placed third for the second-straight week by downing Roque and Shupryt-Knoop 15-13. The winners split $5,700 for third-place while Roque and Shupryt-Knoop shared $4,100 for fourth. Echo Entertainment of Encino, Calif., taped the WPVA Austin Open for replay next week on the FOX Sports Network.