U.S. Beach Teams Undefeated at Junior Worlds

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 16, 2010) – U.S. beach volleyball teams got through the first day of main draw pool play on Thursday without a loss at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Junior (Under-21) World Championships in Alanya, Turkey.

The USA-2 men’s team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.), which had to qualify for the main draw and received the tournament’s lowest seed at 24, topped Turkey’s No. 1-seeded Candan Ali and Tayga Baltacioglu, 21-9, 21-11 in 29 minutes.

The 10th-ranked USA-1 men’s team of Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Evan Barry (San Diego, Calif.) won its pool play match over France’s 15th-seeded Marc Vautier and Damien Vergnes, 23-21, 21-16 in 43 minutes.

Carlson and Ciarelli teamed to win the silver medal in the 2008 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands. The two are also teammates on USC’s indoor men’s team and have played in various beach tournaments together.

“It’s kind of different not play here with Tony, but Connor and I are playing well together and look forward to some more challenging matches and hopefully make it to the medal matches on Sunday,” Carlson said.

“This is a great tournament and all of Team USA is honored to represent our country and improve our beach volleyball skills in the process. There are great players here that we don’t see much because we play mostly in the U.S. We look forward to competing someday on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.”

On the women’s side, the USA-1 team of Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Tara Roenicke (Alta Loma, Calif.), seeded fourth, won its first two main draw pool play matches on Thursday.

The U.S. pair opened with a 21-12, 21-18 victory in 33 minutes over 21st-ranked Martina Bonnerova and Barbora Hermannova of Czech Republic. It followed with a 21-17, 26-24 win in 37 minutes against 16th-seeded Maria Corral and Paula Soria of Spain.

On Friday, Ross and Roenicke will play Poland’s ninth-seeded Beata Galek and Kinga Kolosinka for the Pool D victory. Both teams are undefeated at 2-0.

Pool play for both genders will conclude on Friday. Single-elimination bracket play will take place on Saturday and the medal matches will be played on Sunday.

For more information on the men’s bracket of the SWATCH FIVB Beach Junior World Championships, click here.

For more information on the women’s bracket of the SWATCH FIVB Beach Junior World Championships, click here.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, junior, Junior World Championship, Summer Ross, Tony Ciarelli, Under 21 World Championships