'Lucky Losers' Reach FIVB Semifinals in The Hague

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 27, 2010) – Once they were “lucky losers.” Now the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong has reached the semifinals of the US$380,000 Milner Open, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, in The Hague, Netherlands.

Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii), who lost in the qualification tournament but won a "lucky losers" drawing to advance to the main draw, opened Friday by winning their third-round match over face 13th-seeded Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr of Norway, 21-16, 21-18 in 39 minutes.

In the fourth round, Jennings and Wong won at battle over eighth-seeded Brazilians Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt, 2-1 (27-29, 21-18, 15-12) in 1 hour, 6 minutes.

They must await their semifinal opponent to emerge from the consolation bracket on Saturday. It could be U.S. compatriots Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). The top seeded Americans lost in the third round to Benjamin and Bruno, 21-12, 21-13 in 37 minutes, but came back in consolation to defeat sixth-ranked Martin Laciga and Jefferson Bellaguarda of Switzerland, 2-1 (21-18, 15-21, 15-8) in 43 minutes.

Fuerbringer and Lucena will face Norway’s 13th-seeded Martin Spinnangr and Tarjei Skarlund in a consolation match on Saturday. They winner will play Italy’s 22nd-ranked Matteo Martino and Matteo Ingrosso for the chance to play Jennings and Wong in the semifinals.

On the women’s side, the 14th-seeded U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) will play a consolation match on Saturday for a chance to get into the semifinals.

Akers and Turner opened Friday with a third-round victory over face Georgia’s 12th-seeded Cristine "Saka" Santanna and Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins, 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-7) in 46 minutes. However in the fourth round they lost to ninth-seeded Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the host Netherlands, 21-16, 21-14 in 33 minutes.

On Saturday, Akers and Turner will play the winner of the consolation match between Netherlands’ 10th-seeded Madelein Meppelink and Marloes Wesselink and Belgium’s 17th-seeded Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha.

The other two U.S. women’s beach teams were both eliminated from the tournament on Friday.

Seventh-ranked Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) finished 13th after losing to Greece’s 15th-ranked Maria Tsiartsiani and Vassiliki Arvaniti, 21-15, 21-13 in 31 minutes.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded fourth, finished 17th after losing to Poland’s 30th-seeded Katarzyna Urban and Joanna Wiatr 2-1 (22-24, 23-21, 16-14) in 57 minutes.

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

The men’s and women’s gold medal matches from The Hague will be available on-demand on Sunday at UniversalSports.com.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Tyra Turner