Two U.S. Women’s Beach Pairs 2-0 at Stavanger

Bill Kauffman
Associate Director, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 29, 2011) – Two U.S. women’s beach teams went undefeated on Wednesday to open the FIVB Swatch ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Stavanger 2011, while the men’s main draw gets set to start on Thursday.

Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) went 2-0 on the first day of pool play, as did Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.). Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) bounced back after an opening loss to even their pool record. In the men’s qualification round, Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) lost to Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewizc 21-19, 16-21, 15-12 and were eliminated from the competition.

May-Treanor and Walsh, playing as the second seed in the tournament, won both their matches in Pool B. The duo defeated Netherlands No. 31 seeds Marloes Wesselink and Madelein Meppelink 21-18, 21-14 in 32 minutes to open the day. May-Treanor and Walsh downed Germany’s No. 18 seeds Jana Kohler and Julia Sude 21-17, 21-16 in 36 minutes. The Americans will face Switzerland Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, the 15th seeds in the tournament, on Thursday to conclude Pool B.

Kessy and Ross, the third seeds in the main draw, open Pool C with two victories starting with a 21-15, 21-15 victory over Poland’s No. 30 seeds Katarzyna Urban and Karolina Sowala in 33 minutes. The duo returned to the sand with a 21-17, 21-19 victory over Greece’s No. 19 seeds Vasiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani in 40 minutes. Kessy and Ross finish out Pool C on Thursday with a match against Czech Republic’s Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova, the 14th seeds in the tournament.

“We served well and we sided-out well,” Kessy said in an FIVB press release. “The next time we play we have to play better. We are playing against Klapalova-Hajeckova. We are going to watch a video of them. We have only played against them once before so it will be interesting but we have played well in Stavanger and have a lot of confidence playing here.”

Kessy and Ross have had success playing in Stavanger. They captured the same event gold medal in 2007, followed by a bronze in 2008 and the 2009 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championship held in Stavanger.

Fendrick and Hanson dropped their first Pool H match to Italy’s No. 25 seeds Daniela Gioria and Giulia Momoli 21-17, 21-14 in 32 minutes. Fendrick and Hanson bounced back to defeat Finland’s No. 24 seeds Emilia Nystrom and Erika Nystrom 21-11, 21-7 in 25 minutes. Fendrick and Hanson will play Norway’s Kathrine Maaseide and Ingrid Torlen, the ninth seeds in the tournament, on Thursday to wrap up Pool H.

The first two rounds of single elimination matches will be played Thursday after the final pool matches determine the 24 teams advancing out of pool play. Round three and the semifinals take place on Friday, while the medal matches are scheduled for Saturday.

Following the men’s qualification rounds on Wednesday, Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) were seeded second into the 32-team main draw and open Pool K on Thursday against Australia’s Sam Boehm and Isaac Kapa, the 31st seeds in the tournament, and Netherlands’ Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, the 18th seeds.

Matthew Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the 17th seeds in the tournament, will face two pairs of Brazilians to open the main draw Pool J on Thursday. The Americans face Brazil’s No. 16 seeds Rhooney de Oliveira Ferramenta and Pedro Solberg Salgado, followed by the top-seeds of Emanuel and Alison from Brazil.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), the 19th seeds in the Grand Slam, will face Germany’s No. 14 seeds David Klemperer and Eric Koreng to start Pool L on Thursday, followed by Brazil’s third seeds of Marcio Henrique Barroso Araujo and Ricardo Alex Costa Santos.

The men’s pool play concludes on Friday, to be followed by the first two rounds of single elimination later in the day. The third round and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, while the medal matches will be contested on Sunday.

A total of 170 teams from 41 countries (94 men’s teams from 34 countries and 76 women’s teams from 30 countries) are participating in the FIVB Swatch ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Stavanger 2011.

Tags: April Ross, Brad Keenan, Brooke Hanson, Casey Patterson, FIVB, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers