U.S. Women's Teams to Meet in Rome Semifinal

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 21, 2010) – The U.S. women are guaranteed at least one medal at the Foro Italico Beach Volley Grand Slam in Rome as the second-ranked team of Jen Kessy and April Ross will play their sixth-seeded compatriots Nicole Branagh and Misty May-Treanor in Saturday’s semifinal.

The winning team will play the winner of the other semifinal match between seventh-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany and Brazil’s third-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil for the gold medal at the US$600,000 SWATCH FIVB World Tour event. The losing teams will play for bronze.

On the men’s side, the top-ranked team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), is the only U.S. representative to make it to Saturday’s second round, where they will play Germany’s 29th-seeded Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) had a relatively easy path to the semifinals as they defeated ninth-ranked Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti of Italy, 21-17, 21-14 in 36 minutes in Friday’s second round. In the third round, they topped Austria’s eighth-ranked Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger, 21-16, 21-13 in 35 minutes.

Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) needed 47 minutes to defeat Netherlands’ 18th-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, 30-28, 23-21 in the second round. They beat China’s 14th-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 21-19, 21-14 in 34 minutes in the fourth round.

The U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.), were eliminated in the second round on Friday by Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, 21-18, 21-15 in 35 minutes.

The men completed pool play on Friday with all three U.S. teams advancing.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded 16th, defeated 32nd-ranked Gianluca Casadei and Alberto Cisolla of Italy, 21-14, 21-17 in 39 minutes to advance to the first round. But they fell to Norway’s 15th-seeded Martin Spinnangr and Tarjei Skarlund, 21-13, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

Despite losing their first two pool play matches, Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.), ranked 21st, advanced to the first round after defeating Japan’s 28th-seeded Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori in their third pool play match, 2-1 (21-17, 20-22, 15-9) in 48 minutes. There, they lost to Italy’s ninth-ranked Paolo Ingrosso and Matteo Ingrosso, 21-19, 21-19 in 49 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers won their final pool play match on Friday, defeating Brazil’s 17th-seeded Pedro Cunha and Thiago Santos Barbosa, 27-25, 21-14 in 49 minutes.

The men’s medal matches will be played on Sunday.

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, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, Tyra Turner