Three U.S. Beach Teams in NORCECA Quarterfinals

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 9, 2011) – Two U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams and one men’s team competing at the NORCECA Circuit event in Guatemala City, Guatemala have advanced to Sunday’s quarterfinals.

The quarterfinal, semifinal and medal matches will all be played Sunday.

The women’s USA-1 team of Jenny Kropp (Grand Island, Neb.) and Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) completed pool play undefeated on Saturday, defeating Honduras’ Gina Flores and Martha Euceda, 21-10, 21-5 and received a bye into the quarterfinals by being the top-ranked team in Pool A.

The USA-2 women’s team of Jennifer Snyder (Glendale, Ariz.) and Erin Gray (Orland Park, Ill.) also went undefeated in pool play, beating the Puerto Rico-2 team of Beatriz Rivera and Yaileen Torres, 21-14, 21-11 in the final pool play match. In the first round, Snyder and Gray beat Trinidad & Tobago’s Elki Philip and Pauline Woodroffe, 21-6, 21-12 to advance.

On Sunday, Kropp and Pavlik will play Cubans Niriam Sinal and Ion Canet. Snyder and Gray will face the Puerto Rico-1 team of Yarleen Santiago and Dariam Acevedo.

In the men’s bracket, the USA-1 men’s team of Mike Bruning (Tucson, Ariz.) and Jason Wight (West Springfield, Va.) finished pool play unbeaten, defeating Cayman Islands’ Richard Campbell and Olney Thompson, 21-9, 21-17. In the first round, Bruning and Wight topped Nicaragua’s Winston Calderon and Francisco Castro, 21-16, 21-18.

In Sunday’s quarterfinals, Bruning and Wight will play Cubans Karel Peña and Javier Jimenez.

Peña and Jimenez defeated the men’s USA-2 team of Stevo VanderWerp (Grand Haven, Mich.) and Matt McKinney (Santa Ynez, Calif.) in Saturday’s final pool play match, 21-19, 21-10. VanderWerp and McKinney were eliminated in the first round by the Puerto Rican team of Roberto Rodriguez and Christopher Underwood, 22-20, 19-21, 15-13.

For complete results, visit the NORCECA web site.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Matt McKinney, NORCECA, NORCECA Beach Circuit