U.S. Beach Teams All Still Playing in Austria

Maura Gladys
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6886
E-Mail: maura.gladys@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 30, 2009) - Both men's and women's U.S. beach teams had strong showings during pool play at the A1 Grand Slam 09 presented by Volksbank in Klagenfurt, Austria, which runs July 27-Aug. 1.

The women went undefeated on the day while the men collectively lost two matches.

On the women's side, second-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) defeated 15^th-ranked Nila Ann Hakedal and Ingrid Torlen of Norway, 2-0 (21-17, 21-19). Their 3-0 pool record was good enough to earn them a bye to the second round, where they will play 21^st-ranked Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins das Chagas of Georgia on Friday.

Fourth-seeded Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.) beat 13^th-seeded Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha of Belgium, 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) and automatically advanced to the second round where they will face 25^th-ranked Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau of Germany.

Fifth-seeded Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) saw similar success defeating 12^th-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler of Germany, 2-0 (21-13, 21-15). Their 3-0 record earned them a direct trip to the second round where they will take on 18^th-seeded Vasiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani of Greece.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Tex.) entered the day 0-2 in pool play, but bounced back with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win over 26^th-ranked Cornelia Rimser and Magdalena Jirak of Austria, and earned a trip to the first elimination round. There they defeated Hakedal and Torlen of Norway, 2-0 (21-13, 21-18). The win propelled Fendrick and Ivy into the second round where they will face eighth-ranked Ana Paula Connelly and Shelda Bede of Brazil.

On the men's side, Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) went 2-0 in pool play beating 30^th-ranked Anders Lund Hoyer and Bo Soderberg of Denmark, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) and 19^th-seeded Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, 2-0 (21-11, 21-13). Next they'll play 14^th-seeded Sascha Heyer and Patrick Heuscher of Switzerland.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Fla.) started off the day on a down note, losing to 17^th-seeded Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro of Gerogia, 0-2 (18-21, 17-21). They followed that up with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) victory over 32^nd-seeded Philip Gabathuler and Jan Schnider of Switzerland. Their final pool play match is against top-seeded Julius Brink and Jonas Reckerman of Germany.

Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.)  lost their first pool play match, 0-2 (19-21, 16-21) to 22^nd-seeded Jialu Li and Linyin Xu of China. They rallied in their second match against 27^th-ranked Mariusz Prudel and Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland, fending off seven match points in the second set to win, 2-1 (18-21, 31-29, 15-10). In their last pool play match, Jennings and Fuerbringer are slated to face sixth-seeded David Klemperer and Eric Koreng of Germany, whom they have defeated on three previous occasions.

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: Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour