Three U.S. Women's Beach Teams Advance in Gstaad

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 8, 2010) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball  teams have advanced to the second round of the US$600,000 1to1 energy Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

The U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), seeded fifth in the tournament, remained undefeated after winning its final pool play match on Thursday, taking a 21-11, 21-14 victory in 35 minutes against 12th-seeded Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger of Austria.

May-Treanor and Branagh advanced straight to Friday's second round where they will play Finland’s 20th-seeded Erika Nystrom and Emilia Nystrom.

The seventh-seeded U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) also won its third tournament match with its second injury forfeit victory of pool play, this time over Switzerland’s 10th-ranked Sarah Schmocker Meyer Suarez and Isabelle Forrer.

Akers and Turner will play Germany’s sixth-ranked Laura Ludwig and Sara Goller in Friday’s second round.

The second-ranked U.S. team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) was upset in its final pool play match, falling 2-1 (21-19, 14-21, 15-12) in 1 hour, 4 minutes to Netherlands’ 15th-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel.

Despite the loss, Kessy and Ross advanced to the first round of elimination, where they defeated Schwaiger and Schwaiger, 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 15-11) in 53 minutes. The U.S. team will face China’s fourth-seeded Chen Xue  and  Xi Zhang in Friday’s second round.

After losing its first two pool play matches on Wednesday, the 18th-ranked U.S. team of Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) advanced to Thursday’s first round by defeating Great Britain’s 31st-ranked Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns, 21-14, 21-14 in 37 minutes.

However, Fendrick and Ivy lost in the first round of elimination to Goller and Ludwig, 21-13, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

In the men’s bracket, the U.S. teams of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked 16th, and Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded 13th, remain undefeated after their first two pool play matches.

Gibb and Rosenthal began the day by upsetting their U.S. compatriots, top-ranked of Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.), 2-1 (11-21, 22-20, 15-7) in 51 minutes.

Gibb and Rosenthal went on to defeat 17th-ranked Premysl Kubala and Petr Benes of Czech Republic, 21-12, 21-14 in 37 minutes. On Friday, the U.S. team will play its final pool play match against Poland’s 32nd-seeded Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz.

Fuerbringer and Lucena, who had to qualify for the main draw, won their first pool play match over Russia’s 20th-ranked Serguei Prokopiev and Yury Bogatov, 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-13) in 56 minutes. They won their second match against and Switzerland’s 29th-ranked Martin Laciga and Jefferson Bellaguarda, 2-1 (21-18, 32-34, 15-12) in 1:09, the longest men’s match of the day.

Fuerbringer and Lucena will finish pool play on Friday against China’s Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu, ranked fourth.

After their loss to Gibb and Rosenthal, Dalhausser and Rogers came back to defeat Kadziola and Szalankiewicz, 21-17, 21-17 in 39 minutes. They will play Kubala and Benes in their final pool play match on Friday.

Finally, the 15th-seeded U.S. team of Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) went 1-1 on Thursday, falling to Austria’s 18th-seeded Florian Gosch and Alexander Horst, 21-14, 21-14 in 48 minutes, then coming back to defeat Italy’s 31st-seeded Gianluca Casadei and Paolo Nicolai, 21-12, 22-20 in 42 minutes.

Keenan and Jennings will face Brazil’s second-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in their final pool play match on Friday.

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

Medal rounds for both the men's and women's tournaments will be shown on www.universalsports.com live at the following times:

July 10
Women's Bronze Match: 8:30 a.m. ET
Women's Gold Match: 9:30 a.m. ET

July 11
Men's Bronze Match: 7:30 a.m. ET
Men's Gold Match: 9 a.m. ET

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, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, Tyra Turner