Beach Volleyball Notes for April 29, 2010

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 29, 2010) – The AVP Nivea Tour for beach volleyball returns this weekend with the Progressive Insurance Santa Barbara Open Benefiting Komen For The Cure in California.

Qualifying began on Thursday with finals scheduled to be played on Sunday.

The women’s beach team of Jane Croson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.), which finished fifth at the FIVB Youth Beach World Championship last year, won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw.

First, Croson and Ross defeated Julie Knytych (LaGrange Park, Ill.) and Jean Mathews (Hermosa Beach, Calif.), 21-13, 21-14 in 41 minutes. Then they took a 2-1 (21-23, 21-16, 15-12) victory in 1 hour, 20 minutes against Christina Hinds (Beverly Hills, Calif.) and Jenelle Koester (Beason, Ill.). Finally, they beat Cayley Thurlby (Naperville, Ill.) and Olivia Waldowski (Irvine, Calif.), 21-17, 21-18 in 42 minutes.

But Croson and Ross’ work is far from done. They will open play on Friday against the tournament’s top-seeds, Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.)

May-Treanor and Branagh won the tour’s opening event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the weekend of April 16-18. Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are ranked second. Rachel (Wacholder) Scott (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.) are seeded third with the Brazilian team of Priscilla Lima  and Tatiana Minello seeded fourth.

On the men’s side, Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) hold the top seed. They tied for the victory in Fort Lauderdale with Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) when the men’s final could not be played due to rain. John Hyden (Pensacola, Fla.) and Sean Scott (Kailua, Hawaii) are seeded second. Fuerbringer and Lucena are third and Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) are ranked fourth.

To view the tournament home page, click here.

ESPN2 is carrying the men’s final live at 5:30 p.m. ET. Universal Sports will broadcast the women’s final tape-delayed at 10 p.m. ET.

Phil and Todd on SI.com

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers’ victory at the SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in Brazil made the lead in writer Brian Cazeneuve’s Inside Olympic Sports column this week on the Sports Illustrated web site. To read it, click here.

College Beach Volleyball Championship

The CBS College Sports Network, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the AVP are again teaming up to host the College Beach Volleyball Championship for women on May 1-2 in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Open. 

The College Beach Volleyball Championship is part of The Alt Games: College Action Sports Championships, an annual showcase of college action sports championship events, now in its fifth year.

The College Beach Volleyball Championship showcases top women’s collegiate volleyball programs.  Each of the participating schools will field one team of two players, who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Teams will first compete in a round-robin pool play that determines seeding for the double-elimination round that will ultimately crown the champion.

Play begins at 8:30 a.m. PT on May 1 in Santa Barbara, with the final scheduled for May 2 at 1:30 p.m. PT.

CBS College Sports Network will feature 10 weeks of sports specific Alt Games coverage. Beach volleyball semifinal coverage will air on Sunday, May 16 (8 p.m. ET) and Thursday, May 20 (8 p.m. ET), with finals coverage airing on Sunday, May 30 (8 p.m. ET). Action from Santa Barbara will also be included in a special one-hour Alt Games highlight show airing on CBS Sports on June 19 (5 p.m. ET).

Concordia University-Irvine’s Lindsey Campbell and Stephanie Scheele qualified for the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship by winning the Seniors Division of the USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Challenge on April 17 in Santa Monica, Calif.

2010 College Beach Volleyball Championship Team Rosters

1. University of California - Hana Cutura/Kristen Kathan
2. UC Santa Barbara - Becca Saraceno/Lauren McLaughlin
3. University of California-Irvine - Devon Sutherland/Kristin Kelley
4. Concordia University-Irvine - Lindsey Campbell/Stephanie Scheele
5. University of Delaware - Stephanie Barry/Colleen Walsh
6. Hawaii - Stephanie Brandt/Tara Hittle
7. Illinois - Lizzie Bazzetta/Kylie McCulley
8. Santa Clara - Crystal Matich/Lindsay Davigeadono
9. TCU - Calli Corley/Kourtney Edwards
10. UCLA - Kaitlin Sather/Ali Daley
11. Webber International - Noelle Bay/Trisha Belcher

Fiesta on Siesta Key

The Second Annual Fiesta on Siesta Key on April 17 in Florida lived up to its billing as one of the biggest women’s collegiate volleyball events ever contested.

More than 100 beach tandems, representing schools throughout the state of Florida and around the country, soaked up the sun on Siesta Beach, while competing in three different tournaments at the Fiesta. 

Six schools from the SEC contested their Third-Annual SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championship. In the end, LSU defeated Florida.

In individual SEC Coaches competition, the top division featured an all Florida Gator final, with Kelly Murphy and Kristy Jaeckel defeating Callie Rivers and Lauren Bledsoe, after fighting off multiple match points.

In another razor-close battle for a team title, the University of Central Florida took the top spot in the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge, just ahead of in-state rival, the University of South Florida.

In individual Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge action, the gold level title went to Aurora Newgard and Emily Strack, State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, who upset the Miami pair of Lane Carico and Lici McGee.

The Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge also featured a Consolation division, in which the title went to the Notre Dame pair of Megan Dunne and Hilary Eppink. The Fighting Irish duo won the final over Monique Russell and Kelli Carneal of Stetson.

Perhaps the most intriguing tournament at the Fiesta was the “Seniors Only” event. The Seniors Only competition featured players who had exhausted their college eligibility. On the line for the winners was a trip to the CBS College Sports ALT Games and a shot at the winners’ share of the $ 5,000.00 purse.  In a closely contested final match, Marcela Gurgel and Cynthia Danthon of USF overcame Zita Freidenfelde and Heather Friend of S.C.A.D.

For complete release and full results, click here.

Tags: April Ross, AVP, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, college volleyball, Collegiate Beach Challenge, Elaine Youngs, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Rachel Wacholder, Sean Rosenthal, Sean Scott, Todd Rogers