Junior Beach Teams Headed to Blackpool for Worlds

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 9, 2009) – Four beach volleyball teams, two men’s and two women’s, will represent the United States at the FIVB Junior (U-21) World Championship on Sept. 16-20 in Blackpool, England.

The competition will begin with qualifying rounds for both genders on Sept. 16 while main draw competition will start on Sept. 17. The United States will have two teams in the qualifying round while two more will open in the main draw.

Leading the way on the men’s side will be Chase Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Steven “Stevo” VanderWerp (Grand Haven, Mich.).

Ross, the brother of Junior World team member Summer Ross, played in the 2008 Junior World Championship, where he and partner Grant Hilling (Newport Beach, Calif.), did not advance out of the qualifying round. Ross is a sophomore on the Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball Team this year. Ross and team member Will Montgomery (Santa Barbara, Calif.) qualified for the AVP Manhattan Beach Open in July.

VanderWerp has found success on the Midwest Professional Volleyball Association Tour and has also competed in AVP and Corona Wide Open events.

“Chase has shown a lot of improvement this year. The Pepperdine program really put a lot of muscle on him,” Lamberson said. “Stevo is the king of MPVA tour. We’re excited to get him to the big leagues now and see what he can do.”

The qualifying team will be Montgomery and Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif.), both of whom competed at the 2008 FIVB Youth World Championship. Montgomery and partner Maddison McKibbin (Honolulu, Hawai’i) placed fifth while Carlson and partner Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif.) took the silver medal.

Montgomery plays indoors for UC Irvine while Ciarelli is with USC.

“I think they are both main draw teams,” said Ali Wood Lamberson, USA Volleyball director of beach programs. “Will and Jeff are a smaller team, but they both play big. They’ve been working on a fast offense like Australia’s Andrew Schacht and Josh Slack.”

On the women’s side, the main draw team will be Jazmin Machado (Encinitas, Calif.) and Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.).

Machado, who played at UCLA, competed in the 2007 FIVB Youth World Championship with Tara Roenicke (Alta Loma, Calif.), but did not advance out of qualifying. She has played in seven AVP events this year.

Ross recently finished fifth with partner Jane Croson (Lakewood, Calif.) at the FIVB Youth (U-19) World Championship in Alanya, Turkey. She also competed with Croson at the 2008 FIVB Youth World Championship and won the gold medal with Roenicke at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

“Summer Ross has been playing at a very high level,” Lamberson said. “Her ball control is excellent. To take game to next level, she needs to continue gaining power and learning to be a leader.

“She and Jazmin have known each other for years. They’ve been playing tournaments together gaining a lot of game experience.”

The qualifying team for the women’s event will be Samantha “Sammie” Brown (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Mary Vaccaro (Orinda, Calif.).

“They won’t be a big team. They are both setters, so they are scrappy, ball-control players,” Lamberson said. “They are going to will themselves to some victories.”

Lamberson, who will go as the team leader, is expecting chilly temperatures. Eduardo “Anjinho” Bacil will serve as the team’s head coach.

A total of 74 two-person beach teams (39 men, 35 women) representing 30 nations are expected to compete in Blackpool. The event will be played on the St. Chads Headland on the South Promenade.

This year, the Netherlands’ Daniëlle Remmers, who won the 2008 women’s junior title with Marleen Van Iersel, will play with Michelle Stiekema who won the silver medal last year with Sophie van Gestel. Van Gestel, who is overcoming an injury, is playing this year with Madelein Meppelink.

Poland’s Monika Brzostek, who won the bronze medal last year with Karolina Sowala, is teamed this year with Kinga Kolosinka.    

Among the other top women players entered are one-half of both the 2008 and the 2009 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championship gold medal teams. Both from Germany, Chantal Labourer won last year in The Hague, Netherlands and Victoria Bieneck won this year in Alanya, Turkey. Bieneck will be paired with Marika Steinhauff in Blackpool while Labourer will be playing with Kira Walkenhorst.

Russia’s Irina Chaika, who was half of the silver medal-winning team in this year’s SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championship and bronze medal-winning team in the same event in 2008, will team with Anna Vozakova in Blackpool.

The top returning junior men’s team from last year’s world championship in Brighton is the silver medalist team of Alexander Brouwer and Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands.

The United States has never won a medal in the event.
 
More information and complete results and photos are available at www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/index.asp.

View a video interview with Summer Ross at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4396013.

View a video interview with Chase Ross at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4409352.

View a video interview with Stevo VanderWerp at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4404960.

Tags: beach volleyball, FIVB World Championship, Junior Beach