Three U.S. Women’s Beach Teams in Main Draw

Becky Murdy April 27, 2011

4_27_brittany_hochevar_blocking_mustsami_ozaki_jpn

Photo: Courtesy of teh FIVB

Brittany Hochevar, left, blocks a hard hit from Japan's Mustsami Ozaki during their qualifying match on April 27.

 

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 27, 2011) – After winning its first match in the qualification round of the Olympic Bay Sanya Open in China, the U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Jennifer Fopma (Bellflower, Calif.) lost a three-set duel to Netherlands on Wednesday and will not be advancing to the main draw of the women’s event on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Hochevar and Fopma, seeded 39th in qualifying, began with a 21-14, 21-18 first-round victory lasting a quick 36 minutes over the 26th-seeded Mutsumi Ozaki and Ayumi  Kusano of Japan. The U.S. women subsequently lost to the seventh-seeded Netherlands’ Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine Van der Vlist, 17-21, 21-15, 15-12 in the second round of qualification. The tight battle with the Netherlands team concluded in 50 minutes, ending advancement opportunities for Hochevar and Fopma.

Three other U.S. women’s teams will compete in the main draw, which begins Thursday. 

The fifth-seeded U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), will face off against Germany’s 28th-seeded Jana Kohler and Julia Sude.

The U.S. women’s team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), seeded 13th, will play Brazil’s 20th-seeded Salgado Rufina Maria Clara and Carolina Solberg Salgado.

Rounding out the first round for the U.S. women is the sixth-seeded team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) who will play the Netherland’s Van der Hoeven and Van der Vlist, the duo that defeated U.S. women Hochevar and Fopma to qualify for the draw.

The complete schedule of the main draw at the Sanya Open can be found on the FIVB web site by clicking here.

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

Tags: April Ross, Brittany Hochevar, FIVB, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Fopma, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh