Three Women’s Beach Pairs Advance at Stavanger

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 30, 2011) – The U.S. has three women’s beach teams advancing into the single elimination phase of the FIVB Swatch ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Stavanger 2011, while three men’s beach teams had mixed results to open pool play on Thursday. The event is being held in Stavanger, Norway.

Second-seeds Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) captured Pool B with a 3-0 record with a 21-8, 21-18 victory over Switzerland’s Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, the 15th seeds in the event, in 32 minutes. May-Treanor and Walsh earned a bye into the second round of single elimination and will face the winner of Netherlands’ No. 27 seeds Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine Van der Vlist and Czech Republic’s No. 14 seeds of Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova on Friday afternoon.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded third in the tournament, needed 43 minutes on Friday to defeat Czech Republic’s Klapalova and Hajeckova to finish Pool C with a 3-0 record. Kessy and Ross also received a bye to the second round on Friday afternoon and will face the first round winner between Czech Republic’s No. 23 seeds Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova and Georgia’s No. 20 seeds Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins das Chagas.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad,Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), the No. 8 seeds in the tournament, concluded Pool H with a 21-19, 19-21, 15-12 victory over Norway’s Kathrine Maaseide and Ingrid Torlen, the ninth seeds in the tournament, in a lengthy 59-minute match. Fendrick and Hanson ended pool play with a 2-1 record after a first-match loss and will have a first-round match against Germany’s No. 18 seeds Jana Kohler and Julia Sude on Friday morning.

The pairs of May-Treanor/Walsh and Kessy/Ross did not lose a set during pool play. The single elimination phase of the tournament has first, second and third rounds being contested on Friday in the women’s division, followed by the semifinals and medal matches on Saturday.

Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Calif.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded second in the men’s tournament, started Pool K Thursday with a convincing 21-15, 21-19 win over China’s No. 31 seeds Peng Gao and Cheng Chen in 35 minutes. However, Netherlands No. 18 seeds Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil topped the reigning Olympic champions 21-17, 21-14 in the second pool match of the day. Dalhausser and Rogers will face Switzerland’s Patrick Heuscher and Jefferson Bellaguarda, the No. 15 seeds in the tournament, to conclude pool play on Friday with a berth into the first round of single elimination at stake.

Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Matthew Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded 17th in the tournament, split their pool J matches on the first day of the main draw. They defeated Norway’s No. 32 seeds Horrem and Hordvik 21-16, 21-17 in 38 minutes before losing to Brazil’s top-seeds of Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti 21-18, 21-11 in 35 minutes. The Americans conclude pool play on Friday against another pair of Brazilians, the 16th-seeded Rhooney de Oliveira Ferramenta and Pedro Solberg Salgado.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded 19th, lost both matches on the opening day of the main draw in Pool L. Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, the 14th seeds, edged the Americans 2-18, 17-21, 21-19 in a lengthy 57 minute match. Gibb and Rosenthal lost their second match of the day 21-17, 21-18 to third-seeds Marcio Henrique Barroso Araujo and Ricardo Alex Costa Santos of Brazil. The Americans conclude Pool L on Friday against the Canadian tandem of Christian Redmann and Ben Saxton, the 30th seeds in the event.

The three rounds of single elimination will take place on Saturday after the final pool matches on Friday. 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, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brooke Hanson, 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