Branagh, May-Treanor Win First FIVB Medal as a Team

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 3, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Nicole Branagh and Misty May-Treanor won its first SWATCH FIVB World Tour medal as a team on Saturday as it took the bronze medal at the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam in Stavanger, Norway.

Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.), ranked seventh in the tournament, took a 21-12, 16-21, 15-8 win in 49 minutes over 20th-seeded Lenka Hajeckova and Hana Klapalova of the Czech Republic in the first international Beach Volleyball meeting between the two teams. The U.S. team earned $23,000 for the third-place finish.

Branagh and May-Treanor lost to Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca in Saturday’s semifinals, 21-19, 21-19 in 43 minutes.  Juliana and Larissa went on to win the gold medal, defeating compatriots Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, ranked third, 21-17, 21-17 in 43 minutes.

In the men’s bracket, the U.S. men’s team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) advanced to Sunday’s semifinals, where they will face Germany’s 11th-seeded David Klemperer and Eric Koreng.

The winner will face the winner of the semifinal between Norway’s ninth-seeded Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr and third-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain.

After dropping a pool play match Thursday to 17th-seeded Igor Kolodinsky and Yaroslav Koshkarev of Russia, Dalhausser and Rogers rebounded Saturday with victories over 24th-seeded Patrick Heuscher and Sascha Heyer of Switzerland (8-21, 21-14, 15-11 in 51 minutes), 26th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia (21-19, 21-18 in 41 minutes) and second-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil (21-15, 21-19 in 39 minutes).

The top-ranked team on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, Dalhausser and Rogers have captured four gold medals this season in Brazil, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic with a silver medal finish in Moscow and a fourth-place in Shanghai. Three of the gold medal wins were over Alison and Emanuel as Dalhausser and Rogers are now 4-1 against Alison and Emanuel.

Among the other U.S. men’s teams competing in Norway, Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), ranked 16th, advanced to the quarterfinals, where they fell to Gavira and Herrera, 2-1 (23-21, 23-25, 15-10) in 1 hour, 3 minutes.

Fuerbringer reached the third round by upsetting Brazil’s seventh-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt in the first round, 2-1 (22-20, 20-22, 15-12) in 1:04. Then they took out Latvia’s 25th-ranked Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins, 2-1 (16-21, 21-15, 15-11) in 58 minutes in the second round.

The other two U.S. men’s team lost in the first round on Saturday. Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.), seeded 12th, fell to Skarlund and Spinnangr, 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-11) in 58 minutes.

The No. 14-ranked team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) lost to China’s fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu.

More information is available on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour web site.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers