Kessy, Ross Claim Stavanger Gold Once Again

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 2, 2011) – Jen Kessy and April Ross continued their domination on the Stavanger, Norway, sand as they captured the FIVB Swatch ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Stavanger 2011 on Saturday, while the men’s side of the tournament was shut out from the semifinals.

In the championship match under wet and rainy conditions, third-seeds Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) needed just 40 minutes to complete a 21-16, 21-15 victory over Germany’s No. 13 seeds Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig for the gold medal. After the first set was tied 9-all, Kessy and Ross started to put up some blocks to slowly pull away to the five-point victory. In the second set, Ross served three consecutive points to break a 5-all tie and the American lead extended to 13-8. The Germans narrowed the gap to 18-15, only to have the American duo score the final three points to win the set, match and gold medal.

“Stavanger has been a very special place for us, to say the least,” Kessy said in an FIVB press release following the gold-medal match. “We worked so hard in this tournament, we wanted to come out and have fun and when we can relax, we usually play better. We sided out really well and pressed the serve. April made some great plays all over the court and together we found a way to win again in Stavanger. We can’t explain it, but we now have three sets of those gorgeous Viking swords and we plan on returning for another one next year.”

However, Kessy and Ross had to battle in the semifinals simply to reach the gold-medal match. They overcame a slow start in their semifinal victory over Netherlands’ No. 6 seeds Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel earlier in the day. The Americans rallied from a 27-25 loss in the opening set to dominate the second set 21-11. In the tiebreaking third set, Kessy and Ross were down 9-6 before the their domination returned to the sand with nine of the final 11 points for a 15-11 victory.

The Americans ended the tournament with a 7-0 record and just the one set loss in the semifinal round.

Kessy and Ross, who now have won nine career FIVB gold medals, 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 gold medal held in Stavanger.

Kessy and Ross have now reached 25 career FIVB medals as part of 28 FIVB semifinal appearances out of 54 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour events.

Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Calif.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) won two single elimination matches on Saturday before losing in the quarterfinal round. The second-seeded Americans topped Latvia’s No. 25 seeds Aleksandrs Samoilous and Ruslans Sorokins 21-12, 21-9 in 34 minutes in the first round, followed by a 21-13, 21-15 victory over Spain’s sixth-seeds Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrian Gavira Collado. However, Dalhausser and Rogers lost a tight 21-19, 21-23, 15-10 quarterfinal match to Germany’s fourth seeds Julies Brink and Jonas Reckermann in 64 minutes. The German pair also eliminated Dalhausser and Rogers at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championship in the Round of 16 on June 17.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) also reached the quarterfinal round before falling to Brazil’s third seeds Marcio Araujo and Ricardo 21-14, 21-14. Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded No. 19 in the tournament started Saturday with a 21-17, 21-19 victory over Austria’s No. 26 seeds Daniel Mullner and Alexander Horst in 36 minutes. The Americans edged out China’s No. 8 seeds Linyin Xu and Penggen Wu 15-21, 21-12, 15-12 in a 46-minute second-round match.

Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Matthew Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded 17th in the tournament, lost a heartbreaking first round match 21-18, 15-21, 16-14 to Switzerland’s No. 15 seeds Patrick Heuscher and Jefferson Bellaguarda.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour continues next week with the dual-gender 1 to 1 Energy Grand Slam held in Gstaad, Switzerland. The women’s competition takes place July 4-9, while the men’s competition is scheduled for July 5-10.

For more information on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, click here.

Tags: April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers