Three U.S. Beach Teams Undefeated

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 20, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh has advanced to the semifinals of the Brasilia Open while the U.S. men’s teams of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena are in the third round after play on Wednesday.

Four other U.S. beach teams remain alive in the consolation brackets the first event of the 2011 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, which is being held in Brazil.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded seventh, won two matches on Wednesday to advance to Thursday’s semifinals. In the third round, they defeated China’s second-ranked Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 21-19, 21-12 in 39 minutes. In the fourth round, they topped Brazil’s third-ranked Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, 21-10, 21-17 in 29 minutes.

They must wait for the consolation matches to finish to find out whom they will play in the semis. Brazil’s top-ranked Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca will play in the other semifinal.

On the first day of the men’s main draw, the top-seeded Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the event’s defending champions, won two matches, beating Chile’s 32nd-ranked Esteban and Marco Grimalt, 21-15, 21-12 in 33 minutes and Georgia’s 16th-seeded Renato "Geor" Gomes and Jorge "Gia" Terceiro, 21-11, 18-21, 18-16 in 58 minutes.

In Thursday’s third round, Dalhausser and Rogers will play Spain’s ninth-ranked Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera.

Also through to the third round unscathed was the fourth-seeded U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.). Fuerbringer and Lucena defeated 29th-ranked Igor Hernandez and Jesus Villafane of Venezuela in the first round, 21-19, 21-12 in 34 minutes. In the second round, the U.S. team beat 13th-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of Netherlands, 21-18, 21-11 in 36 minutes.

Fuerbringer and Lucena will face Brazil’s fifth-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in Thursday’s third round.

Two U.S. men’s teams also remain alive in consolation.

Sixth-seeded Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) lost in the first round to Sweden’s 27th-ranked Hannes Brinkborg and Stefan Gunnarsson, 21-19, 9-21, 15-9 in 49 minutes. However they came back to win their consolation match, 21-14, 21-16 in 31 minutes over Switzerland’s 27th-ranked Martin Laciga and Jonas Weingart. Gibb and Rosenthal will play Germany’s 21st-seeded Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik in Thursday’s second round of consolation.

Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.), ranked 26th, who had to play two qualifying matches on Tuesday, lost their first-round match on Wednesday to Brazil’s seventh-seeded Pedro Cunha and Pedro Salgado, 21-17, 21-15 in 38 minutes. Patterson and Keenan came back in consolation to beat Germany’s 23rd-seeded Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif, 24-22, 21-15 in 38 minutes. On Thursday, they will face Russia’s 25th-ranked Yury Bogatov and Alexey Pastukhov.

The 12th-ranked U.S. men’s team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii) got off to a rough start in 2011, as they lost both their Wednesday matches in three sets and were eliminated from the tournament.

Two U.S. women’s teams also remain alive in the consolation bracket.

Eighth-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), who lost their first-round match on Tuesday, won two consolation matches on Wednesday. The U.S. pair defeated China’s 23rd-seeded Ying Huang and Yuan Yue in the second round of consolation, 21-15, 21-18 in 37 minutes. Next, they beat their 12th-ranked compatriots Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), 21-15, 21-17 in 36 minutes, eliminating them from the tournament.

On Thursday, Kessy and Ross will play Austria’s sixth-seeded Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger. The winner will play Maria and Talita of Brazil for a chance to play Larissa and Juliana in the semifinals.

The 22nd-seeded U.S. team of Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), who had to win a country quota match on Sunday and two qualifying matches on Monday, is also alive in consolation after losing its third-round match to Brazil’s third-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, 21-16, 15-21, 15-9 in 49 minutes.

Fendrick and Hanson came back in consolation to defeat Czech Republic’s 10th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova, 30-28, 21-18 in 47 minutes. Fendrick and Hanson will play Xue and Zhang of China on Thursday. The winner will play Germany’s fourth-ranked Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig for the chance to play May-Treanor and Walsh in the semifinals.

Complete information about the FIVB World Tour is available on the FIVB web site.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, Casey Patterson, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Kevin Wong, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers