Top Beach Teams to Compete in Brazil

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 19, 2010) – There is no time to rest for several of the top U.S. beach volleyball teams that competed April 16-18 at the AVP Nivea Tour opener in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Their next stop is Brazil for the US$380,000 Brasília Open, the opening event for the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour event.

Making its international debut will be the new partnership of Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.), which did not lose a set in winning the women’s title at the AVP event in Fort Lauderdale.

May-Treanor has not played in an FIVB World Tour event since June of 2008 when she and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) won the Grand Slam event in Stavanger, Norway on their way to winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Branagh played in five events in 2009 with former partner Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.), with their best finish second in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) finished third in Fort Lauderdale after falling to Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) in the semifinals, 23-21, 21-8. Akers and Turner will not compete in Brazil due to injury.

Kessy and Ross had two first-place finishes on the 2009 FIVB World Tour, including the World Championship in Stavanger. They also finished second four times and third twice.

Also scheduled to compete in Brazil are Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) along with Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.), who will have to qualify for the main draw.

Hanson and Rutledge finished tied for seventh in Fort Lauderdale while Fendrick and Ivy finished tied for ninth. Fendrick and Ivy had their best FIVB finish ever in 2009 in Phuket, Thailand where they finished fourth.

On the men’s side, the U.S. teams of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) tied with the new pairing of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in Fort Lauderdale because the men’s final could not be played due to rain. Both teams had gone undefeated to advance to the final.

Dalhausser and Rogers played five FIVB World Tour events in 2009 and had two first-place finishes and one third. They go into Brasilia with the greatest number of FIVB entry points because the top Brazilian teams have changed partners.

Both teams will play in Brazil along with Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and the new team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.). Both teams tied for ninth in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2009, Fuerbringer paired with Jennings at six FIVB events. They made the podium once, a second place in Myslowice, Poland.
Keenan and Lucena played in five events together in 2009, with their best finish a ninth in Brasilia.

Gibb and Rosenthal played in five 2009 events and reached the podium once; a third place in Myslowice.

In Brasilia, the women’s and men’s qualification tournaments will be played Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The main draw rounds start Wednesday for women and Thursday for men as the beach volleyball teams seek the $30,000 first-place prizes. The medal matches will be Saturday for women and Sunday for men.

For more information about the AVP event in Fort Lauderdale, visit AVP.com.

For more information about the FIVB World Tour event in Brazil, visit the FIVB beach volleyball web site.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Ashley Ivy, AVP, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, Tyra Turner