Hughes, Day Finish Fourth on Beach in Seoul

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 21, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Heather Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.) and Emily Day (Torrance, Calif.) finished fourth at the 2011 FIVB Seoul Challenger beach volleyball tournament in Korea.

The U.S. team of Michelle Moriarty (Houston, Texas) and Diane Copenhagen (Saratoga, Calif.) also competed in the event, finishing tied for 17th.

Hughes and Day, seeded 20th in the event, went 4-0 in advancing to the semifinals. Along the way they defeated Czech Republic’s 13th-ranked Michaela Vorlová and Karolina Rehácková (first round; 12-21, 21-11, 15-13 in 48 minutes) and fourth-seeded Janne Kongshavn and Ragnhild Aas of Norway (second round; 21-18, 21-15 in 36 minutes)

In the third round, Hughes and Day topped fifth-ranked Irina Tsimbalova and Tatyana Mashkova of Kazakhstan (21-17, 21-16 in 41 minutes). In the fourth round, they played the longest match of the tournament to defeat Germany’s 24th-seeded Katharina Culav and Katarina Schillerwein, 24-26, 21-15, 15-13 in 53 minutes.

Hughes and Day fell in the semifinals to Germany’s third-seeded Stefanie Hüttermann and Anni Schumacher, 13-21, 21-19, 15-12 in 46 minutes.

In the bronze medal match, they were topped by seventh-seeded Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland, 21-16, 21-17 in 34 minutes.

Moriarty and Copenhagen, seeded 21st, lost their first-round match to 12th-raned Christina Roubanis and Joanna Papageorgiou of Greece, 21-16, 21-12 in 35 minutes. They fell in their first consolation match to Japan’s 22nd-ranked Hiroyo Kaneda and Megumi Murakami, 21-15, 21-17 in 33 minutes.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB beach