Fendrick, Hanson Win Country Quota in China

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 26, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach team of Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson will advance from the country quota bracket of the US$190,000 Sanya Open, part of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, in Sanya, China.

Four teams from the United States competed Tuesday for one spot in Wednesday’s qualifier. Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) will be the top-ranked team in the qualifier, and will get a bye in the first round. In the second round, the will play the winner of the first-round match between Germany’s 16th-seeded Karla Borger and Britta Buthe and Kazakhstan’s 17th-ranked Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova.

Fendrick and Hanson emerged victorious from Tuesday’s country quota for the first time as partners. The duo began play in mid-afternoon in hot and humid conditions with a win over Tealle Hunkus (Girard, Ohio) and Heather Lowe (Cypress, Calif.), 21-18, 21-18 in 38 minutes.

In the other country quota match, Jaimi Gregory (Westminster, Calif.) and Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) upset the much more experienced FIVB duo of Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.), 21-15, 21-15 in 40 minutes. Gregory was making her FIVB debut while Hochevar had played just once previously on the international circuit. Ivy and Rutledge have both recorded top-five finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour within the past year.

Fendrick and Hanson earned the last remaining spot for an American team with a 21-15, 21-17 win in 38 minutes against Gregory and Hochevar.

“The country quota matches are really tough, it’s just a different kind of pressure,” Hanson said. “We did a good job respecting our opponents. We haven’t played either one as a team, so we knew their tendencies as individuals but nothing about them as a team. We just tried to focus on our side of the net. In the heat you want to get out and experience game-like conditions to see what it’s like, so I think this will help us going into the qualifier.”

As partners Fendrick and Hanson’s best finish on the FIVB World Tour is 13th, which they accomplished in Norway in August. Fendrick enjoyed her career best finish on the FIVB Tour last year in Asia, placing fourth in Phuket with then-partner Ivy. Hanson’s international career best came in the season opener in Brasilia, Brazil, placing fifth with Rutledge.

The resort city of Sanya is hosting the international beach volleyball community for the third straight season, with 65 teams from 26 countries vying for US $190,000 in prize money. The event runs Oct. 26-31 at the Sanya Bay Resort before the 15-stop women's SWATCH FIVB World Tour concludes in Thailand (Phuket, Nov. 2-7). By then the international circuit will have visited 17 sites in 14 countries over an eight-month period in 2010 with $6.83m awarded in prize money.

Leading the list of U.S. players in the US$190,000 Sanya Open is two-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), who will be playing in her first FIVB event since 2008. Walsh took time off from competition this summer following the birth of her son, Sundance, in May.

Walsh will be playing with Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), who has been playing this season with Walsh’s former partner, Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.). May-Treanor was registered to compete in Sanya with Branagh, but her plans changed when husband Matt Treanor’s Major League Baseball team, the Texas Rangers, advanced to the 2010 World Series.

Walsh and Branagh will advance directly to the tournament’s main draw, which begins on Thursday (Oct. 28). Two other teams will also begin play on Thursday, Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and also Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.).

Kessy and Ross won the Sanya event in 2008 and finished second in 2009. Akers and Turner finished third at Sanya in 2009.

The medal matches will be played on Sunday (Oct. 31).

For more information on the event, click here.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Ashley Ivy, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Nicole Branagh, Tyra Turner