Kessy, Ross Win Shanghai Championship

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 9, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) came from behind to defeat Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, 3-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-12) in a 56-minute championship match on Sunday at the $US380,000 Shanghai Open, the second stop on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

In the bronze medal match, the U.S. team of Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the tournament’s sixth-seeded team, fell to Brazil’s second-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, 21-19, 17-21, 15-11 in 51 minutes.

Kessy and Ross, seeded third, reached the gold medal match by defeating Branagh and May-Treanor, 21-18, 21-11 in 39 minutes in the semifinals earlier on Sunday.

Ross and Kessy, who were undefeated in the tournament with six straight wins, will share the $30,000 first-place prize while Juliana and Larissa, who finished with a 5-1 record in Shanghai, will split a $21,000 purse in addition to their silver medals.

“It’s a long season and I am sure we will play (Juliana and Larissa) many more times, but today was definitely our day,” Kessy told the FIVB. “We were disappointed with our fourth place in Brazil so we were determined to work even hard at this tournament and not let up in our concentration. “

Juliana and Larissa opened the gold-medal match by jumping ahead by six points at 15-9 and then five at 19-14 before finishing it 21-15.

Kessy and Ross doggedly fought back in the second set. After ties for the first five points for each team, the Americans moved ahead 11-7 and then held it to the end of the second set.

The final set included seven ties up to 10-10 when Kessy and Ross made some key serves and strong kills to pull ahead by two points as 12-10. After Juliana closed the score to 12-13 on a kill, the U.S. team got the final two points for the title on a pair Kessy blocks.

“Juliana and Larissa came out strong in the first set, but we kept our composure and didn’t really change anything other than just keep working hard and not be conservative,” Kessy said.

“We were playing a great team and we knew we had to just attack, attack and attack and it worked for us today.”

It was the seventh career FIVB gold medal for Kessy and Ross, the reigning FIVB world champions. In 35 FIVB international tournaments together, the Americans now have 16 podium finishes. For Juliana and Larissa, they have now earned 58 podium finishes in 75 tournaments. In FIVB gold medal matches between the two countries the USA’s victory in Shanghai widened the gap with the USA now holding a 45-34 edge.

With their semifinal win, Juliana and Larissa became the fourth team in SWATCH FIVB World Tour history to post 400 match wins. The only female team with more is the retired Brazilian pair Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar who has an FIVB high 578 career international victories.

After the Shanghai stop, the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar continues with a double-gender event in Rome (May 17-23) for the season’s first grand slam event.  Seoul (women) and Myslowice (men) host single-gender events May 25-30.  After a week break, Moscow hosts the second grand slam event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour June 7-14.

For more information about the FIVB World Tour event in Brazil, visit the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour web site.

Tags: April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Jennifer Kessy, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh, U.S. Beach Team, U.S. Women's Beach Team