Two U.S. Men's Beach Teams Make Shanghai Semis

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 6, 2011) – Two U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams have advanced to the semifinals of the China Shanghai Jinshan Open while a U.S. women’s team has advanced unbeaten  to the fourth round of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour event.

The U.S. men’s teams of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), ranked No. 1, and 11th-seeded Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) each won one match on Friday to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.

On the women’s side, after their upset of top-seeded Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca on Thursday, Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), defeated China’s ninth-ranked Ying Huang and Yuan Yue, 21-18, 21-15 in 39 minutes on Friday to advance to Saturday’s fourth round undefeated.

Fendrick and Hanson will face fifth-ranked Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger on Saturday.

The U.S. women’s team of sixth-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) is still working its way through the consolation bracket in hopes of making it to Sunday’s semifinals.

Kessy and Ross opened Friday by beating Netherlands’ 12th-seeded Rebekka Kadijk and Merel Mooren, 21-17, 21-19 in 34 minutes. They battled Great Britain’s 29th-seeded Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney, 19-21, 21-16, 16-14 in 55 minutes and then had an easier time defeating China’s Huang and Yue, 21-12, 21-13 in 33 minutes.

On Saturday, Kessy and Ross will play Italy’s 18th-ranked Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti for the chance to move on. The winner will play the winner of the consolation match between Juliana and Larissa and China’s No. 2-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi.

The U.S. women’s team of eighth-ranked Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) finished the tournament tied for 13th after losing to Cicolari and Menegatti, 21-19, 21-16 in 38 minutes on Friday.

In the men’s bracket, Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to Saturday’s semifinals by defeating their fourth-ranked compatriots Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) in the fourth round, 21-15, 19-21, 15-9 in 52 minutes.

“It’s a tough match, I am glad that we won it at the end,” Dalhausser told the FIVB. “We’ll see who we’ll play in the semis; hopefully we could win that match and make it to the final.”

Dalhausser added that it will be hard to match or surpass the record of winning nine titles last season, but he and Rogers will strive to win the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championships next month in Rome.

“We had an amazing season last year, I don’t know if we can top it but we could hope for the best, maybe win a few here and there, maybe the World Championships as well.”

Gibb and Rosenthal advanced with a 21-18, 18-21, 15-9 win in 49 minutes over Spain’s seventh seeds Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira Collado.

“It’s a great win to us, it’s very meaningful, we are very happy,” Gibb told the FIVB after securing a World Tour semifinal berth with Rosenthal for the first time since the Myslowice Open in May 2009. “We just want to win our next match. That’s a big match for us to get into the final. We have not been to a final for a couple of years, so we are excited.

“It’s been a big weekend for USA. It’s fun to have all the other Americans playing very well and we are pushing each other.”

Dalhausser and Rogers will face Herrera and Gavira, who won their consolation match, in Saturday’s semifinals. Gibb and Rosenthal will play Germany’s third-ranked Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, whom they upset in the third round.

Brink and Reckermann advanced by defeating Fuerbringer and Lucena in the consolation bracket and the U.S. pair finished the tournament tied for fifth.

The main draw tournament of the US$380,000 Shanghai Open will continue on Friday with the men’s and women’s medal matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday respectively. The gold medal teams will split US$30,000, the silver US$21,000 and the bronze US$15,000.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brooke Hanson, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers