U.S. Beach Teams Survive Tough Day in Phuket

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 4, 2010) – Four U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams lost a match on Thursday, but all four are still alive at the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT, the last event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Three of the U.S. teams – sixth-ranked Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.), seventh-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and 20th-seeded Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) – suffered first-round losses.

Fourth-seeded Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) lost in the second round.

Walsh and Branagh opened Thursday with a first-round victory over 29th-ranked Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan, 21-12, 21-14 in 31 minutes. However, they dropped their second-round match to Spain’s 13th-ranked Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo, 21-12, 21-18 in 37 minutes.

On Friday, they will play Finland’s 14th-seeded Erika Nystrom and Emilia Nystrom.

Akers and Turner were upset in the first round by 27th-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine van der Vlist of Netherlands, 21-15, 21-17 in 38 minutes. They came back in consolation to defeat Slovenia’s 22nd-ranked Erika Fabjan and Simona Fabjan, 21-18, 21-19 in 42 minutes.

They will open Friday against Greece’s 12th-seeded Maria Tsiartsiani and Vassiliki Arvaniti.

Kessy and Ross suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Canada’s 26th-seeded Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney, 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-11) in 1 hour, 6 minutes.

They came back in consolation with another marathon match to beat Belgium’s 23rd-ranked Goedele Van Cauteren and Liesbeth Mouha, 2-1 (24-22, 19-21, 16-14) in 1 hour, 4 minutes.

They will play 24th-ranked Irina Chaika and Ekaterina Khomyakova of Russia on Friday.

Ivy and Rutledge lost in the first round to Fernandez Steiner and Baquerizo – who went on to defeat Walsh and Branagh in the second round – 21-16, 21-19 in 39 minutes. Ivy and Rutledge came back in consolation to defeat 29th-ranked Tatyana Mashkova and Irina Tsimbalova of Kazakhstan, 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-12) in 49 minutes.

On Friday they will go up against Netherlands’ 19th-ranked Danielle Remmers and Sophie van Gestel.

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