Two Youth Beach Teams Lose at Worlds

Bill Kauffman
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 19, 2009) – Two USA beach teams failed to advance out of the qualification rounds of the Eighth Annual Youth SWATCH-FIVB World Championships (U-19) on Wednesday at Alanya, Turkey. Two other USA beach teams open play on Thursday in the main draw of the event.

Natalie Hagglund (Encinitas, Calif.) and Dalas Dodd (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), the third seed in the qualification draw of 16 teams, gained a first-round victory over Australia’s Donovan-Hynes via forfeit. In the second round, Hagglund and Dodd won the opening set 21-19 over Poland’s Olga Samul and Izabela Soja . However, Poland’s duo stormed back for the victory with scores of 21-15 and 15-8 in the second and third sets to advance into the main draw.

After receiving a bye in the first round of men’s qualification, Jordan Dyer (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Jace Olsen (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) lost 21-15, 22-20 in the second round to Portugal’s team of Jose Pedro-Filipe. Dyer-Olson entered the qualification draw as the top seed, while the Portugal pair was seeded 17th in the 20-team qualification field.

The qualification rounds determined the final four positions in the 24-team main draw for both the men’s and women’s brackets. The 24-team main draw for each gender will include two days of pool play on Thursday and Friday, followed by two days of single-elimination bracket play next on Saturday and Sunday. The medal matches for both genders will be played on Aug. 23.

The Youth SWATCH-FIVB World Championships continues on Thursday with the start of the main draw. USA is represented with one team in both the men’s and women’s draw. On the women’s side, Jane Croson (Lakewood, Calif.) and Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) are seeded fourth in the tournament’s main draw. Croson and Ross competed together at the 2008 FIVB Junior World Championship as the youngest team ever to compete at the Junior Worlds. Parker Kalmbach (Coto De Caza, Calif.) and Kyle Stevenson (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) will represent the USA in the men’s main draw.

The 2009 Youth U-19 gold medal team will be awarded a “wild card” by the FIVB for a future SWATCH FIVB World Tour event during the final months of the 2009 or in 2010.

Tags: Beach, beach volleyball, FIVB, FIVB beach, FIVB World Championship, SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships, World Championships