May-Treanor, Branagh Advance to Medal Matches

Candice Kasischke
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: candice.kasischke@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 2, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh advanced to the semifinals and medal matches on Saturday with a perfect record within the SWATCH FIVB World Tour ConocoPhillips Grand Slam in Stavanger, Norway.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked seventh in the tournament, received a bye in Round 2 of the single-elimination rounds on Friday due to their undefeated performance in pool play. The U.S. team claimed its first victory of the day, 21-14, 22-20, over the 13th-seeded team of Maria Tsiartsiani and Vasiliki Arvaniti from Greece in 37 minutes. May-Treanor and Branagh swept their third-round match versus No. 14 Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel from the Netherlands, 21-19, 21-17 in 39 minutes. The U.S. team will challenge the No. 1 team of Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca from Brazil in the semi-finals on Saturday. The winners will play the winners of the other semifinal match between Brazil’s Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes, ranked third, and No. 20 Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova from the Czech Republic for the gold medal.

In Round 1, No. 2 Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) beat 21st-seeded Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins das Chagas from Georgia, 21-17, 21-11 in 37 minutes. After advancing to the second round, the U.S. pair was eliminated by Silva and Franca, 19-21, 21-15, 15-9 in 52 minutes.

Ashley Ivy (Arlington Texas) and Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.), ranked 16th, fell in a close first-round match to Brazil’s third-ranked team of Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes, 15-21, 21-17, 15-12 in 56 minutes to end their tournament play.

On the men’s side, the second day of pool play was highlighted by a victory from No. 1 Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) over the 32nd-seeded team of Andreas Horem and Oivind Hordvik from Norway, 21-12, 21-18 in 41 minutes. The No. 1 U.S. team finished in second place in Pool J and will advance to the single-elimination first round on Saturday to battle 24th-ranked Sascha Heyer and Patrick Heuscher of Switzerland. If the U.S. team wins, it will face 26th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia in an afternoon match.

Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), No. 16, fell to Russia’s 17th-ranked team of Yaroslav Koshkarev and Igor Kolodinsky, 15-21, 20-22, in 44 minutes giving the U.S. team a third place finish in Pool J. Fuerbringer and Lucena enter Saturday’s first round to face seventh-ranked Insfran Benjamin and Oscar Schmidt Bruno of Brazil. If Fuerbringer and Lucena are victorious, they will play an afternoon second-round match against 25th-seeded Alexsandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins of Latvia.

The No. 14 – ranked team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) lost to third-seeded Pablo Allepuz Herrera and Adrian Collado Gavira from Spain, 18-21, 17-21, in 37 minutes. The U.S. team finished third in Pool L and will play China’s No. 4 team of Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu on Saturday. If Gibb and Rosenthal win, the pair will face Germany’s David “Hase” Klemperer and Eric Koreng, ranked 11th, in the second round Saturday.

Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.), seeded 12th, lost to Brazil’s No. 5 team of Pedro Henrique Cunha and Santos Barbosa Thiago, 17-21, 20-22 in 48 minutes to complete pool play on Friday. Keenan and Jennings hold third place in Pool N and will face ninth-seeded Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr from Norway on Saturday. If the U.S. team wins, it will battle an afternoon match against Marcus Popp and Mischa Urbatzka from Germany, ranked 31st.

Tags: April Ross, Ashley Ivy, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, U.S. Beach Team, U.S. Men's Beach Team, U.S. Women's Beach Team