Top U.S. Beach Teams in Rome for Grand Slam

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 17, 2010) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams will begin main draw play on Tuesday in Rome at the US$600,000 Foro Italico Beach Volley Grand Slam, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

The team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), who won the last FIVB World Tour stop in Shanghai, China, will be looking for another victory.

Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.), a new team for 2010, will be looking for their first international podium finish after placing fourth in Shanghai. Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) will look to improve on their fifth-place finish in Shanghai.

Both the women’s and men’s main draws will feature pool play leading to 24-team single-elimination bracket play for each gender as the winning pairs will share the $43,500 first-place prizes.

In women’s qualifying play on Monday, Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) defeated Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas), 21-15, 23-21 in 44 minutes in a country quota match.

Hanson and Rutledge advanced to the qualifier, where they lost to Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo, 2-1 (21-19, 13-21, 15-13) in 51 minutes.

Men’s qualifying begins Tuesday with only the U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) needing to qualify.

The U.S. men’s teams of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) along with Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) are scheduled to begin main draw play on Wednesday.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Ashley Ivy, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Tyra Turner, U.S. Beach Team, U.S. Men's Beach Team, U.S. Women's Beach Team