U.S. Women's Beach Teams to Play in Norway

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 11, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams of Jen Kessy and April Ross along with Angie Akers and Tyra Turner will face each other Thursday in the third round of the main draw of the US$380,000 Otera Open in Kristiansand, Norway, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

The 13th-seeded Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) advanced to the third round by upsetting fourth-seeded Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima of Brazil 21-19, 21-23, 15-11 in 54 minutes in the second round on Wednesday. Akers and Turner won their first-round match over France’s 20th-seeded Eva Hamzaoui and Mathilde Giordano, 21-19, 21-5 in 31 minutes.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded fifth, defeated Kjersti Hansen and Mari Berget of Norway in the first round, 21-11. 21-12 in 33 minutes on Wednesday. In the second round they beat 21st-ranked Ying Huang and Yuan Yue of China, 21-19, 21-18 in 41 minutes.

Kessy and Ross, the reigning FIVB world champions after capturing the 2009 title in Stavanger, Norway, have won all seven previous World Tour matches with Akers and Turner, with Thursday’s meeting being the first in 2010 between the two teams on the international tour. Akers and Turner defeated their compatriots earlier this season at the AVP Nivea Tour event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for their only win against Kessy and Ross.

The U.S. women’s beach team of Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.), ranked 16th, lost its first-round match to Italy’s 17th-seeded Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari, 21-17, 21-15 in 38 minutes.

Hanson and Fendrick came back in the consolation bracket to beat Germany’s 32nd-ranked Christine Aulenbrock and Victoria Bieneck, 21-13, 21-17 in 31 minutes. Hanson and Fendrick will continue in the consolation bracket on Thursday with a match against Brazil’s second-ranked Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes.

The men’s main draw will begin on Thursday as well and the top-ranked U.S. men’s team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) will open its quest for its eighth FIVB gold medal of the season against Ukraine’s 32nd-seeded Sergiy Popov and Valeriy Samoday in the first round.

The fourth-seeded U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), which won the silver medal at the Tour A1 Grand Slam 10 in Klagenfurt, Austria, but had to withdraw from the Mazurey Orlen Grand Slam in Poland last week due to injury, is back in the main draw and scheduled to play 29th-ranked Matteo Martino and Paolo Nicolai of Italy on Thursday.

For more information on this and other SWATCH FIVB World Tour events, click here.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Tyra Turner