Kessy, Ross Make it to Third Round 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. 18, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross has advanced to the third round of the US$380,000 PAF Open, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, in Mariehamn, Åland, Finland.

Two other U.S. women’s beach teams are playing in the consolation bracket while the U.S. men’s beach team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii) qualified for the men’s main draw, which will begin on Thursday.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded fourth in the tournament’s main draw, opened Wednesday by winning their first round match against Germany’s 29th-seeded Jana Kohler and Julia Sude, 22-20, 21-15 in 42 minutes.

In the second round, the U.S. pair topped Mexico’s 13th-ranked Mayra Garcia and Bibiana Candelas, 21-15, 21-13 in 35 minutes. Kessy and Ross will face Georgia’s 12th-seeded Cristine "Saka" Santanna and Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins in Thursday’s third round.

Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.), seeded 19th in the main draw, won their first-round match over Russia’s 14th-seeded Anastasia Vasina and Ekaterina Khomyakova, 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-13) in 55 minutes.

However the U.S. team fell in the second round to China’s third-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 2-1 (21-23, 21-11, 15-12) in 49 minutes. Hanson and Fendrick are scheduled to play Kohler and Sude in the consolation bracket on Thursday.

The U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), seeded 16th in the main draw, also opened with a victory, defeating Spain’s 17th-ranked Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo, 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-8-) in 47 minutes.

However, in the second round Akers and Turner ran into Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, falling 21-14, 21-11 in 34 minutes. Akers and Turner are scheduled to play Canada’s 15th-seeded Annie Martin and Marie-Andree Lessard in the consolation bracket on Thursday.

In men’s qualifying on Wednesday, Jennings and Wong, the top seeds in the qualifier, opened with a 25-23, 21-16 victory in 46 minutes over 32nd-ranked Alexander Likholetov and Evgeniy Romashkin of Russia.

In the second qualifying round, Jennings and Wong topped Greece’s 16th-seeded Georgios Kotsilianos and Emmanouil Xenakis, 21-11, 21-16 in 40 minutes. Seeded 24th in the main draw, Jennings and Wong will play ninth-ranked Stefan Gunnarsson and Hannes Brinkborg in the first round on Thursday.

The team of Eyal Zimit (Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel) and Mike Morrison (Detroit, Mich.), ranked 37th in qualifying, won its first match against 28th-seeded Shinya Hata and Keisuke Imai of Japan, 21-10, 21-16 in 35 minutes. However, the team lost its second-round qualifying match to Kazakhstan’s fifth-ranked Alexey Sidorenko and Alexandre Dyachenko, 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-13) in 59 minutes.

The top-ranked U.S. men’s team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) are scheduled to face Sweden’s 32nd-seeded Kjell Jonsson and Lawrence Montas in Thursday’s first round.

The U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) withdrew from the tournament.

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

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