Americans Fall out of PAF Open Winners' Bracket

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 20, 2009) – Both U.S. women’s beach pairs competing in the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour’s PAF Open dropped third-round matches to Brazilian teams, but bounced back to win loser bracket matches on Thursday at the event being contested at Marieham, Finland.

April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), seeded second in the event, lost to Brazil’s 10th-seeded Ana Paula Connelly and Shelda Bede 21-18, 21-19. Ross and Kessy rallied in a three-set marathon to defeat Germany’s 12th-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler 21-23, 21-16, 17-15 in the loser’s bracket.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), seeded sixth in the PAF Open, lost to Brazil’s third-seeded Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli 21-16, 21-15 in its third-round match. Akers and Turner rebounded with a 21-19, 21-18 victory over Belgium’s 17th-seed Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha in the loser’s bracket on Thursday evening.

The two American teams will now play against each other on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. The winning team advances to the final consolation bracket match against Germany’s Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, while the loser finishes seventh in the tournament.

The PAF Open continues through the weekend with the women’s medal matches on Saturday. The winning teams at the 12th SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop of 2009 will share the $30,000 first-place prize. The USA does not have any pairs in the men’s main draw.

Tags: Beach, FIVB, FIVB beach, U.S. Women's Beach Team