Roenicke, Ross to Play for World Championship Gold

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 18, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach team of Tara Roenicke and Summer Ross will play for the gold medal on Sunday at the 2010 SWATCH FIVB Junior (Under-21) World Championships in Alanya, Turkey.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s teams of Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Evan Barry (San Diego, Calif.) along with Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will finish the tournament tied for fifth after losing in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Sunday’s gold medal match will be Ross’ second of the year. In July, she won the girls’ FIVB Youth World Championship with partner Jane Croson (Lakewood, Calif.).

This is also the first time the United States has had a team reach the medal round at the beach volleyball Junior World Championships. The United States was the only country to have three teams reach the quarterfinal round in Turkey.

Roenicke and Ross, the fourth-seeded USA-1 women’s team, will play Italy’s 13th-seeded Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth in Sunday’s final. Menegatti and Orsi Toth have not lost a match or even a set in the tournament.

Roenicke and Ross had to win three single-elimination matches on Saturday to advance.

They opened with a 21-16, 21-15 victory in 29 minutes over Mexico’s 12th-ranked Ana Rios and Paola Avalos. In the quarterfinals, they defeated seventh-seeded Barbora Hermannova and Martina Bonnerova of Czech Republic, 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-13) in 53 minutes.

In the semifinals, they got a relatively easy 21-15, 21-18 victory in 36 minutes over Brazil’s second-ranked Julia Schmidt and Fabi Boogaerdt.

The 10th-ranked USA-1 men’s team of Ciarelli and Barry won its first round match on Saturday with a 21-17, 21-7 victory in 34 minutes over Norway’s 12th-ranked Svein Solhaug and Jonas Tomter.

However Ciarelli and Barry lost in the quarterfinals to Canada’s 18th-seeded Garrett May and Sam Schachter in a 1 hour, 7 minute battle, 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-12).

The 24th-ranked USA-2 team of Carlson and Hughes won its first round match over fifth-seeded Christiaan Varenhorst and Jeroen Vismans of Netherlands, 21-14, 21-14, in 36 minutes. But Carlson and Hughes lost in the quarterfinals to Austria’s 21st-seeded Peter Eglseer and Felix Koraimann, 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-13) in 47 minutes.

To view a tournament photo gallery, click here.

To read Ali Wood Lamberson’s blog from Turkey, click here.

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, FIVB beach, FIVB World Championship, Summer Ross, SWATCH FIVB Junior World Championships, Tony Ciarelli, Under 21 World Championships, World Championships