U.S. Beach Teams to Play for Third Place

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 19, 2011) – Two U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams will play for third place after losing to Cuba on Tuesday at the NORCECA Central Zone Phase of the Women’s Continental Cup in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.

The USA-B women’s team of Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Jenny Kropp (Grand Island, Neb.) opened the day with a 21-19, 22-20 victory over Imara Estevez and Kirenia Reyna of Cuba-A.

However, Cuba came back as Ion Canet and Niriam Sinal of Cuba-B followed with a 21-13, 21-17 victory over the USA-A women’s team of Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.). Canet and Sinal then defeated Pavlik and Kropp, 21-19, 21-17 and Estevez and Reyna defeated Ivy and Rutledge, 27-25, 16-21, 15-13.

Cuba will play Canada on Wednesday for the top position in the Central Zone. The United States will play Mexico with the winner going against the winner of the duel between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic to determine the top four teams. The top four finishers qualify to compete in a qualifying event for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

In the men’s bracket, Cuba will also play Canada for first and second place. The U.S. men’s beach teams will face Puerto Rico on Wednesday with the winner going on to play the winner of the matches between Mexico and Dominican Republic for third place.

The U.S. men’s teams competing will be Stevo VanderWerp (Grand Haven, Mich.) and Matt McKinney (Santa Ynez, Calif.) of USA-A and Bill Strickland (Malibu, Calif.) and Aaron Wachtfogel (Redondo Beach, Calif.) of USA-B.

For more information on the event, visit the NORCECA web site.

Tags: Ashley Ivy, Beach, Beach Volleyball, NORCECA, NORCECA Beach Circuit