U.S. Beach Teams Qualify in Korea, Poland

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 26, 2010) – Two U.S. beach volleyball teams qualified for the main draw in SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in very different parts of the world on Tuesday.

The U.S. men’s team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) had to play in a 64-team qualifying event just to make it to the main draw of the US$190,000 Myslowice Open in Poland.

The U.S. women’s team of Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) only had 30 other teams in its qualifying bracket at the US$190,000 Crown Seoul Open in Korea.

In the first round, Hanson and Rutledge, seeded ninth in the qualifying tournament, got past 24th-ranked Miller Elwin and Henriette Iatika of Vanuatu, 21-17, 21-9 in 30 minutes. In the second round, Hanson and Rutledge defeated eighth-seeded Shinako Tanaka and Sayaka Mizoe of Japan, 21-13, 21-13 in 30 minutes.

Hanson and Rutledge will begin main draw play on Thursday with a No. 5 seeding. They will face 28th-ranked Daniela Gioria and Giulia Momoli of Italy in the first round.

Three other U.S. women’s teams are already in the main draw. The U.S. team of Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) withdrew from the tournament.

No. 2 seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), who have won the last two SWATCH FIVB World Tour events, will play Erika and Simona Fabjan of Slovenia, ranked 31st.

Fourth-seeded Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) will play Poland’s 29th-ranked Katarzyna Urban and Joanna Wiatr. Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas), seeded 16th, will go up against Austria’s 17th-ranked Sara Montagnolli and Barbara Hansel.

Fuerbringer and Lucena, ranked fourth in the men’s qualifying tournament, opened play on Tuesday by defeating Poland’s 61st-ranked Pawel Pelka and Maciej Kosiak, 21-12, 21-13 in 33 minutes. In the second round, they beat Russia’s 29th-seeded Alexey Pastukhov and Konstantin Semenov, 2-1 (17-21, 22-20, 15-13) in 58 minutes.

Finally, in the third round of qualifying, Fuerbringer and Lucena topped 45th-ranked Andrei Zharykau and Aliaksandr Dziadkou of Belarus, 21-15, 21-19 in 40 minutes.

Ranked 20th in the tournament’s main draw, Fuerbringer and Lucena will play Austria’s 13th-seeded Florian Gosch and Alexander Horst on Thursday.

Three other U.S. men’s teams will begin play in the main draw on Thursday.

Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), who won the men’s title in last week’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in Rome, will play Poland’s 32nd-ranked Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded 14th, will face China’s 19th-ranked Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu. Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.), ranked 17th, will go up against Russia’s 16th-seeded Igor Kolodinsky and Dmitri Barsouk.

Both the men’s tournament in Poland and the women’s tournament in Korea will end with the medal matches 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, Ashley Ivy, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, 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