U.S. Men Advance to Main Draw

Erin Campbell
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6864
E-Mail: erin.campbell@usav.org

 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 9, 2010) – The U.S. men’s team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Fla.) and Nick Lucena (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) advance to the main draw of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam Presented by Seat in Moscow, Russia  after defeating both  Andrey Belov and Ruslan Dayanov of Russia and Michael Kadziola and Jakob Szalankiewicz of Poland on  Wednesday.

 Fuerbringer/Lucena defeated Belov/Dayanov in two close sets, 24-22, 24-22, in 46 minutes. The Polish pair took Fuerbringer/Lucena to a nail-biting third set, but the U.S. team pulled out with the win, 21-14, 15-21, 17-15, in 52 minutes.

 Fuerbringer/Lucena will enter Thursday’s main draw ranked 22^nd and will start off pool play contesting Brazil’s Marques Silva Harvey and Solberg Salgado Pedro, ranked-11^th, at 3:30 p.m. (local time).  

 Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the tournament’s top seeds, will open Thursday by facing compatriots Casey Jennings (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.), ranked 17^th, at 12:30 p.m. (local time).

 Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked 18^th, will play Martin Laciga and Jefferson Bellaguarda of Sweden, ranked 15^th, at 12:30 p.m. local time.

 The U.S. women swept the first day of the main draw. Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), ranked second, defeated Great Britain’s Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton, 21-18, 21-16, in 40 minutes Wednesday. The pair will face Netherland’s Sahne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, ranked 18^th, at 8:30 a.m. (local time), then Greece’s Maria Tsiartsiani and Vasiliki Arvaniti, ranked 15^th, at 5:30 p.m. (local time) Thursday to finish up pool play.

 Fourth-seeded Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) defeated China’s Ying Huang and Yue Yuan, ranked 29^th, 17-21, 21-14, 15-9, in 44 minutes. They will continue play Thursday when they face Belgium’s 20^th-ranked Liesbet Van Breedamn and Liesbeth Mouha at 9:30 (local time). Akers/Turner will finish the day facing 13^th-ranked Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr of Sweden at 5:30 (local time).

 Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Newport Beach, Calif.), seeded fifth, defeated 28^th-ranked Isabelle Forrer and Sarah Schmocker in two straight sets, 21-12, 21-15, in 34 minutes. They continue pool play against Mexico’s Bibiana Candelas and Mayra Garcia, ranked 21^st, Thursday at 10:30 a.m. (local time) and will finish off playing Angela Vieira and Vanilda dos Santos, ranked 12^th, of Brazil at 6:30 p.m. (local time).

 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 World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Boss, Jennifer Kessy, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers