Two U.S. Beach Teams Still Undefeated in China

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 28, 2011) – Two U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams have advanced to the third round at the  Olympic Bay Sanya Open in China, a women’s event on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

The U.S. teams of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), ranked fifth, and Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), seeded 13th, both won two matches on Thursday to advance to Friday’s third round.

However the two teams have to play each other on Friday, which will drop one into the consolation bracket.

May-Treanor and Walsh opened with a 22-20, 21-10 victory in 39 minutes over Germany’s 28th-seeded Jana Köhler and Julia Sude. In the second round, they took a 21-17, 21-12 win over Brazil’s 12th-seeded Maria Clara Salgado Rufino and Carolina Solberg Salgado.

Akers and Branagh made it to the third round with a first-round, 16-21, 21-18, 15-10 win in 48 minutes over Brazil’s 20th-seeded Angela Vieira and Liliane Maestrini. In the second round, Akers and Branagh defeated Australia’s 29th-ranked Alice Rohkamper and Tamsin Hinchley, 21-14, 23-21 in 36 minutes.

The U.S. team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) is still alive in consolation after losing its second-round match on Thursday.

In the first round, Kessy and Ross topped Netherlands’ 27th-ranked Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine Van der Vlist, 21-15, 21-15 in 34 minutes. But in the second round, they fell to Mexico’s 22nd-ranked Bibiana Candelas and Mayra Garcia, 21-19, 14-21, 15-10 in 50 minutes.

Kessy and Ross will play Köhler and Sude in consolation on Friday.

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

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