Jennings', Wong's Gold Leads U.S. Medal Haul

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 28, 2010) – The men’s beach volleyball team of Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong won the United States’ 10th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal of 2010, beating eighth-seeded Brazilians Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt on Sunday at the US$380,000 Milner Open in The Hague, Netherlands.

Competing together for only the second-time on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the 21st-seeded Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii) scored a 21-18, 18-21, 17-15 win in 60 minutes over Benjamin and Bruno to win the season’s final men’s event on the 2010 international calendar and claim the $30,000 first-place prize.

It was a three-medal day for the USA, as the top-ranked team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) won the men’s bronze medal and of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) took the women’s bronze medal.

The first nine American titles in 2010 were captured by SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), who set a record for international gold medal finishes by men’s and women’s teams in a season.

Despite losing their final qualifying Wednesday to face possible elimination from the Milner Open, Jennings and Wong earned a main draw berth via a “lucky loser” draw after the late withdrawals of teams from Latvia and New Zealand after the start of the men’s competition.

Prior to Jennings and Wong’s semifinal appearance Saturday, only two teams had advanced to an FIVB World Tour semifinal after earning “lucky loser” Main Draw berths. Murilo Toscano and Thomas Klepper accomplished the feat first at a 2001 event where the Brazilians placed fourth in Vitória, Brazil. Germans Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif took advantage of a 2008 “lucky loser” berth in Bahrain to place third in the Manama event.

In the men’s bronze medal match, Fuerbringer and Lucena defeated 10th-seeded Emiel Boersma and Daan Spijkers of The Netherlands, 21-19, 15-21, 15-8 in 56 minutes. Fuerbringer and Lucena shared $15,000 for claiming their second medal this season after placing second to Dalhausser and Rogers at the Austrian Grand Slam.

In the women’s bronze medal match, 13th-seeded Akers and Turner withstood a late rally by ninth-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel and defeated the Dutch pair 21-17, 23-21, 15-12 in 58 minutes. The win netted Akers and Turner their fourth SWATCH FIVB World Tour podium placement together after losing an international finale earlier this season to Juliana and Larissa in Korea.

Akers and Turner’s victory also avenged a bronze setback to Keizer and Van Iersel at the 2009 Japan Open in Osaka while ending a six-event medal drought for the American women on the FIVB tour.  For their efforts Sunday, Akers and Turner shared $15,000 for third-place.

With the Milner Open being the last of 14 men’s events on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the women’s 15-stop circuit will conclude at the end of October and the first of November with stops in China (Sanya, Oct. 26-31) and Thailand (Phuket, Nov. 2-7). The international Beach Volleyball tour will have visited 17 sites in 14 countries over an eight-month period in 2010 with $6.83-million in prize money.

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

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