Three U.S. Beach Teams to Play in Spain

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) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams will begin main draw play on Thursday at the US$190,000 Hyundai Open Barcelona, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the tournament’s third seeds, will open against Spain’s 30th-ranked Cristina Hopf and Alejandra Simon.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), seeded sixth in the tournament, will face France’s 27th-ranked Deborah Giaoui and Eva Hamzaoui.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Tex.), seeded 20th in the tournament, will go up against Greece’s 13th-ranked Vassiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani.

One U.S. women’s beach team – Jennifer Fopma (Bellflower, Calif.) and Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) – was eliminated from the competition during Wednesday’s qualifying round.

Fopma and Pavlik, ranked 16th among the qualifying teams, defeated Denmark’s 17th-seeded Sanne Olesen and Charlotte Dyhr, 21-9, 21-9 in 26 minutes in their opening match.

However, they fell in the second round to Brazil’s top-ranked qualifying team, Vivian Cunha and Angela Vieira, 18-21, 16-21 in 41 minutes.

More information and complete results and photos are available at www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/index.asp.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Tyra Turner