Hochevar, Fopma Advance to FIVB Qualifying Round

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 26, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Jen Fopma (Bellflower, Calif.) has advanced from the country quota round of the Olympic Bay Sanya Open, a women’s event on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Hochevar and Fopma defeated Tealle Hunkus (Girard, Ohio) and Heather Lowe (Cypress, Calif.) in Tuesday’s country quota match, 21-10, 21-14 in 29 minutes.

It is the second time that Hochevar has advanced to the qualifying round of an FIVB World Tour event. She also advanced in 2009 in Phuket with partner Jenny Kropp (Grand Island, Neb.). Fopma played in a 2009 qualifying round in Barcelona, Spain, with Whitney Pavlik.

In Wednesday’s first round of qualification, Hochevar and Fopma, ranked 39th, will face Japan’s 26th-seeded Ayumi Kusano and Mutsumi Ozaki.

The winners will play Netherlands’ seventh-ranked Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine van der Vlist.

The main draw is set to begin on Thursday with the U.S. teams of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.)/Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)/April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.)/Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) competing.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh