Beach Teams Advance to First Round

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 17, 2010) – The three U.S. beach volleyball teams competing at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Junior (Under-21) World Championships in Alanya, Turkey all went undefeated in their pools and will advance Saturday’s first round of elimination.

No matter what happens in the single-elimination bracket, the U.S. has already had its best beach performance ever by advancing three teams out of pool play at the FIVB Junior World Championships.

The USA-1 women’s team of Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Tara Roenicke (Alta Loma, Calif.), seeded fourth, came from behind to defeat Poland’s ninth-seeded Kinga Kolosinka and Beata Galek, 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-9) in 48 minutes. 

The match was a battle of champions as Ross won the gold medal this year’s FIVB Youth World Championships in Porto, Portugal with Jane Croson while Kolosinka won the gold medal at last year’s Junior World Championship in Blackpool, England with Monika Brzostek. The Polish pair will also advance with a 2-1 pool play record.

“We really started slow against the Polish team and they are older and more experienced internationally than we are which made it an even tougher match,” Ross said. “Tara is so much fun to play with and she makes great shots and it got me going and we jumped out in the second set 6-1 and pulled away in the final one.

“Winning our pool is good, but now the fun really starts with the single-elimination bracket tomorrow. We are definitely pleased with our play so far and will try and continue it for the rest of the weekend.”

Roenicke and Ross will play Mexico’s 12th-ranked Ana Rios and Paola Avalos in Saturday’s first round of elimination.

The two U.S. men’s junior beach teams each played two pool play matches on Friday and each team went undefeated.

The 10th-ranked USA-1 men’s team of Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Evan Barry (San Diego, Calif.) opened with a victory over 22nd-ranked Youhen Vishneuski and Aliaksandr Dzladkou of Belarus, 21-17, 21-18 in 41 minutes. It followed that with a 21-17, 21-13 win over third-ranked Marek Leznicki and Michal Makowski of Poland in 34 minutes.

Ciarelli and Barry will play Norway’s 12th-ranked Svein Solhaug and Jonas Tomter on Saturday.

Solhaug and Tomter were one of two teams upset by the USA-2 men’s team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded 24th, on Friday.

Carlson and Hughes topped Solhaug and Tomter, 21-18, 21-14 in 34 minutes, and then defeated 13th-seeded Helmut Moser and Robert Seidl of Austria, 21-17, 21-16 in 34 minutes.

Carlson and Hughes will play fifth-seeded Christiaan Varenhorst and Jeroen Vismans of Netherlands in single-elimination on Friday.

Single-elimination bracket play for both genders 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, FIVB beach, FIVB World Championship, Summer Ross, SWATCH FIVB Junior World Championships, Tony Ciarelli, Under 21 World Championships