U.S. Beach Teams Look for Wins in Rome

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 13, 2011) – Action got underway on Monday at the eighth edition of the FIVB Swatch World Championships in Rome, Italy. Five U.S. beach volleyball teams have one match under their belts while four additional American pairs will start their tournament play on Tuesday.

Pool A housed two U.S. teams forcing them to face each other in the first match. Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii), seeded 24th, defeated top seeds and compatriots, Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.), 22-20, 21-12 in 34 minutes.  Rogers and Dalhausser will face Angola’s 48th-seeded team of Mario Silva and Abreu Morais on Tuesday and 25th-seed Andy Ces and Kevin Ces of France on Wednesday. Wong and Jennings will battle Ces/Ces on Tuesday and Silva/Morais on Wednesday.

All four U.S. men’s teams competed in one match Monday in round robin play. Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked tenth, defeated 34th-seeds Rivo Vesik and Karl Jaani of Estonia, 17-21, 24-22, 17-15 in 52 minutes in Pool K. Gibb and Rosenthal’s pool will not compete on Tuesday, but action will continue Wednesday when they take on Russia’s 39th-seeded team of Serguei Prokopiev/Yury Bogatov. They will play Latvia’s 15th-seeded team of Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins on Thursday.

Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded seventh and competing in Pool G, defeated Brazil’s 18th-seeded team of Thiago Santos Barbosa and Harley Marques Silva, 21-14, 21-17 in 37 minutes. The American pair will face Australia’s 42nd-seeded team of Sam Boehm and Isaac Kapa on Tuesday and Georgia’s 31st-seeded team of Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro on Wednesday.

The U.S. team of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), seeded 11th, were the only U.S. women’s team to compete Monday. The duo defeated Italy’s 14th-seeded team of Gioria Daniela and Giulia Momoli, 21-15, 21-17 in 39 minutes in Pool L. The pair will play Latvia’s 35th-seeded team of Inguna Minusa and Inese Jursone on Tuesday and Belgium’s 38th-seeded team of Katrien Gielen and Liesbeth Mouha on Wednesday.

The defending FIVB World Champions, Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are ranked third in the tournament and will begin their climb for a second-consecutive gold medal on Tuesday in Pool C. The duo will face the Czech Republic’s 22nd-seeded team of Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova before facing Austria’s 27th-seeded team of Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli. In the final day of pool play, Kessy and Ross will face Switzerland’s 46th-seeded team of Muriel Grassli and Tanja Goricanec.

Prior to Kessy and Ross capturing gold at the 2009 FIVB World Championships, the U.S. power pair of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) earned the FIVB World Championship title for three consecutive editions in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Walsh and May-Treanor enter the tournament fresh off a gold-medal win at the Beijing Grand Slam, another stop on the 2011 FIVB World Tour, defeating Germany’s Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler 21-14, 24-26, 15-9 Saturday, June 11.

Walsh and May-Treanor are seeded fifth and will compete in Pool E against Italy’s 29th-ranked team of Laura Giombini and Valeria Rosso and the 20th seeds, Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic. The following day, the pair will face the Czech Republic’s 44th-seeded team of Sona Novakova Dosoudilova and Tereza Tobiasov.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), seeded 12th, open Pool M facing Great Britain’s 36th-ranked team of Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton. The American duo will then face 13th-seeded team of Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti from Italy. On Wednesday Fendrick and Hanson will take on 37th-seeds Roos Van der Hoeven and Janitine  Van der Vlist of the Netherlands.

For the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Championships full-color media guide, click here.

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

Tags: 2011 FIVB World Tour, 2011 SWATCH World Tour, Angie Akers, April Ross, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Kevin Wong, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers