Two U.S. Beach Teams Make Semifinals

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
BJ.Evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 24, 2009) – The USA Volleyball beach teams of Jen Kessy and April Ross and Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have advanced to the semifinals SWATCH FIVB Grand Slam tournament in Marseille, France.

The US$600,000 World Series 13 Grand Chelem, the third of four straight Grand Slam tournaments, is the first “pure” single-elimination international beach volleyball event in nearly eight years.

In the women’s bracket, third-seeded Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will face Brazil’s second-ranked Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli in Saturday’s semifinal. The medal matches will be played on Sunday.

Kessy and Ross advanced by winning two matches on Friday. First they beat 46th-seeded Hiromi Suzuki and Shinako Tanaka of Japan, 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) in 44 minutes. In the fourth round, Kessy and Ross beat compatriots 11th-seeded Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Tuner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) in 42 minutes.

Akers and Turner advanced to the fourth round by defeating 27th-seeded Claudia Lehmann and Julia Sude of Germany, 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) in 34 minutes.

The U.S. women’s team of fourth-ranked Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.) fell in the third round to 20th-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani of Greece, 0-2 (17-21, 16-21) in 47 minutes.

In the men’s bracket, Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), ranked fourth, will face Germany’s top-ranked Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in Saturday’s semifinal. The medal matches will be played Sunday.

Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to the semifinals by defeating Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins of Latvia, ranked 29th, in the second round on Friday, 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) in 44 minutes. Next they beat Switzerland’s Sascha Heyer and Patrick Heuscher, ranked 13th, 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) in 40 minutes.

Among other U.S. men’s beach teams, eighth-seeded Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) defeated New Zealand’s Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead, ranked 25th, 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) in 47 minutes in the second round. In the third round, Jennings and Fuerbringer lost to Renato "Geor" Gomes and Jorge "Gia" Terceiro of Georgia, 1-2 (21-10, 16-21, 16-18) in 60 minutes.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked 16th, beat China’s Jialu Li and Linyin Xu, ranked 17th, in the second round, 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) in 45 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal fell to Brink and Reckermann in the third round, 0-2 (21-23, 13-21) in 46 minutes.

More information and a complete list of entries are available on the FIVB beach volleyball web site at www.fivb.org/en/BeachVolleyball/index.asp.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, beach volleyball, Elaine Youngs, FIVB, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers