Ivy, Rutledge Advance to Phuket Main Draw

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 3, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Ashley Ivy and Lisa Rutledge won two matches on Wednesday to advance to the main draw of the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT.

Ivy (Arlington, Texas) and Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) will be among 32 teams competing in the first round of the main draw on Thursday. The medal matches are set for Sunday on Karon Beach.

Ivy and Rutledge, seeded second in the qualifier, and fresh off having to win two matches the day before in the country quota competition, advanced by sweeping the 31st-seeded team from Malaysia before defeating the 15th-seeded duo from Australia in a three set match.

After getting a bye in the first round, Ivy and Rutledge opened Wednesday by defeating 31st-ranked Beh Shun Thing and Luk Teck Hua of Malaysia, 21-15, 21-11 in 38 minutes.

In the third round, they beat 15th-ranked Australians Alice Rohkamper and Tamsin Barnett Hinchley, 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-10) in 55 minutes. Ivy and Rutledge were in a close third set, leading 9-8, before finishing off the match with a 6-2 run that included a pair of blocks by Rutledge.

Ivy and Rutledge are ranked 20th in the main draw and will play Spain’s 13th-seeded Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo.

Three other U.S. women’s beach teams will begin play in the main draw on Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) will play 29th-ranked Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan.

Sixth-ranked Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) will face 27th-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine van der Vlist.

Seventh-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the two-time defending champions of the event, will play Canada’s 26th-seeded Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney.

Rain is expected for much of this year’s tournament as Phuket has had one of the worst monsoon seasons in memory.

For the FIVB’s tournament page for Phuket, click here.

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