U.S. Girls' Youth Team Wins World Championship

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 1, 2010) – The girls’ beach volleyball team of Jane Croson and Summer Ross continued to make history on Sunday, becoming the first U.S. team ever to win the FIVB Youth (U-19) World Championships, which were held in Porto, Portugal.

Croson (Lakewood, Calif.), 16, and Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.), 17, the tournament’s third seeds who were the first U.S. girls' team to reach the semifinals, overpowered Russia’s seventh-seeded Ekaterina Karapischenko and Maria Ushkova, 2-1 (21-10, 18-21, 15-7) in 39 minutes.

“Our goal was to come out strong against a very good Russian team and we did it and it may have caught them a little off-guard because we hadn’t come out this strong during the entire tournament,” said Croson, who had 13 aces in the match. “Summer is such a great partner, especially playing at the net and I needed to serve well to put the pressure on them and it worked today.”

"Coming in I kind of had feeling we could win gold,” Ross added. “Australia was our toughest competition (in the semifinals) so we were a bit low energy for the final, but we managed to win by giving it our all. We are going to sleep well tonight."

Croson and Ross, who finished fifth in this event last year in Alanya, Turkey, jumped off to a 6-1 lead in the first set, maintained it and then pulled further ahead on two consecutive aces and three total to lead 20-9 in the first set. After several ties in the second set, Croson and Ross tied the score at 12-12 before Karapischenko and Ushkova pulled away to finish with the 21-18 win in the set.

In the deciding third set, Croson lit up the Porto sand with six more aces, including three straight to take an insurmountable 11-2 lead that ended when a Ushkova kill went wide right and the U.S. team had earned the women’s gold medal. Croson and Ross finished with a 7-0 record for the tournament.

“Winning the SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championship is amazing,” Croson said. “It is an honor for both of us to represent our country like this... It’s just a dream come true. This gold medal is for my family, my country and kids my age. We have worked hard and long time to get here and I we will enjoy it. In the final nothing was easy, everything was hard and we had to keep our concentration up”

The United States has won two silver medals at the Beach Youth World Championships in the nine years it has been held, but both times it was boys’ teams. The first was won in 2005 by Joey Dykstra (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and partner Mark Van Zwieten (Pompano Beach, Fla.). In 2008, Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif.) brought home the second silver.

In the first women’s semifinal on Sunday, Croson and Ross defeated 13th-seeded Taliqua Clancy and Eliza Hynes, coming from behind to win 22-20, 21-12 in 34 minutes. In the other semi, Karapischenko and Ushkova beat Brazil’s Rebecca Cavalcanti and Juliana Simoes, 21-14, 21-13 in 30 minutes.

Russia’s Karapischenko and Ushkova, playing together this year after finishing second and third respectively last year in Turkey with different partners Karapischenko also finished third in 2008 at these championships in The Netherlands. Karapischenko’s three medals are more than any other young athlete has earned in this event. Russian women now have earned four medals total, four final four placements and combined with the men, Russia now has seven total medals and seven total final four finishes. They ended up 6-1 in the event.

In the bronze medal match, Clancy and Hynes claimed the medal in two sets by defeating Cavalcanti and Simoes, 21-13, 21-11 in 28-minute match.

For more information on the 2010 FIVB Beach Youth (U-19) World Championships, click here.

MORE QUOTES FROM THE FIVB BEACH YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• It has been a three gold-medal summer for Jane Croson, who was on winning teams at the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships and at the NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Championships: "My goal was three golds for 2010. I work really hard, so I knew it was possible."
• Croson, on the improvements she and Ross have made: "We've worked on our communication on the court, and that has helped us work our way out of tough situations better than last year."
• U.S. Beach Youth Team Coach Jon Aharoni: "At this level, you can't come in expecting to win gold, the competition is so tough. What I feel most is gratitude, to my wife for letting me come here with a newborn at home, to USAV for giving me this group of kids to work with and to the athletes and their families for their trust in and dedication to the program. It’s great that USAV has created a program to give American kids a chance to compete on the world level." Jon
• USA Volleyball director of international and high performance beach programs Ali Wood Lamberson, who served as team leader: "I am so proud of these two. We've spent the last three years preparing them for this moment. The coaches and staff, other beach national team athletes, and all of their families share in this victory."

Tags: Ali Wood Lamberson, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Championship, Jane Croson, Summer Ross, Youth World Championships