Arce, McPeak Vie for National Title

Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak have known each other for a long time.

They grew up in Manhattan Beach, were teammates on the Mira Costa High School volleyball team and then at California before McPeak transferred to UCLA.

Arce, 5 feet 11, was the powerful outside hitter and McPeak, 5-7, the setter with incredible defensive skills.

Late last season, the childhood friends joined forces on the women’s pro beach volleyball tour, and now they’re ranked No. 1.

McPeak and Arce have won seven of 10 events on the 1997 Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour and 11 of the 17 tournaments they’ve entered together.

And today, Arce and McPeak will head the 32-team field in the $60,000 Evian National Championships at Hermosa Beach, just down the strand from where they grew up.

The event, which concludes Sunday, is the last opportunity for WPVA players to qualify for an international tournament in September at UCLA. The tour’s top eight teams will make the cut, and McPeak-Arce have been assured a spot.

“We’re doing so well because we worked really hard in the winter and really stressed being in great shape,” Arce said. “We’re also really consistent now and we have a lot of weapons.”

Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno, who was McPeak’s partner in the Atlanta Olympics, are seeded second at Hermosa Beach.

The Kirby-Reno team has won two events this year and has played the McPeak-Arce team four times in finals.

Tenth-seeded Liz Masakayan-Elaine Youngs is the only other team to have won a tournament this season. Masakayan, still recovering from major knee surgery, and Youngs defeated Arce and McPeak, 16-14, in the final at Chicago last month.

“The competition has been up and down for us,” Arce said. “Some weekends it’s real tough and others we just cruise.”