Three Women's Beach Teams Qualify in Finland

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 17, 2010) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams have qualified for main draw of the US$380,000 PAF Open, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, in Mariehamn, Åland, Finland.

The three teams were in the qualifying round of the tournament due to their late entry following the suspension of the 2010 AVP beach volleyball tour.

In their second qualifying match Tuesday, Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the top seeds in the 45-team qualifier, recovered from a first-set defeat to win the final two sets against 17th-ranked Australian Olympians Natalie Cook and Tamsin Barnett Hinchley, 2-1 (22-24, 21-14, 15-8) in 58 minutes.

After getting a bye in the first round, Kessy and Ross opened the second round of qualifying with a 21-8, 21-15 victory over Finland’s Merja Korhonen and Kirsi Hyttinen, ranked 32nd in qualifying. Kessy and Ross are ranked fourth in the main draw and will open Wednesday against Germany’s 29th-seeded Jana Kohler and Julia Sude.

The U.S. team of Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.), which was ranked fifth in qualifying, received a bye in the first round, then defeated Spain’s 28th-seeded Olaya Pazo and Alejandra Simon, 21-14, 21-13 in 37 minutes in the second.

In the third round, Hanson and Fendrick defeated Poland’s 12th-ranked Katarzyna Urban and Joanna Wiatr, 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) in 54 minutes. Hanson and Fendrick are ranked 19th in the main draw and will play Russia’s 14th-seeded Anastasia Vasina and Ekaterina Khomyakova in Wednesday’s first round.

The U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), ranked second in qualifying, lost their second qualifying match, but won a “lucky loser” draw into the main draw.

Akers and Turner received a bye into the second round of qualifying where they defeated 34th-ranked Nora Tawhid and Rivia Oliveira of Sweden. However, in the third round, Akers and Turner fell to Germany’s 18th-seeded Stefanie Huttermann and Anni Schumacher, 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-13) in 52 minutes.

However, with late withdrawals by teams from the Czech Republic and Italy, Akers and
Turner won the “lucky loser” draw over Inguna Minusa and Inese Jursone of Latvia. Akers and Turner are ranked 16th in the main draw and will play Spain’s 17th-ranked Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo on Wednesday.

The United States will have two teams trying to qualify for the men’s main draw on Wednesday.

The new team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii) are top ranked in qualifying and will start in the second round where they will play the winner of the qualifying match between 32nd-ranked Alexander Likholetov and Evgeniy Romashkin of Russia and 33rd-seeded Bjorn Berg and Daniel Andersson of Sweden.

The team of Eyal Zimit (Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel) and Mike Morrison (Detroit, Mich.), is ranked 37th in qualifying and will play 28th-seeded Shinya Hata and Keisuke Imai of Japan in the first round.

The men’s main draw will begin on Thursday. Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) will be the top seeds after winning their eighth 2010 FIVB gold medal on Sunday (Aug. 15). Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) are also schedule to compete.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Tyra Turner