Hochevar, Rutledge Upset Their Way to Main Draw

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 12, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Brittany Hochevar and Lisa Rutledge qualified for the main draw of the Moscow Grand Slam with two upset victories at the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour event in Russia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. women’s team of Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) along with the U.S. men’s team of Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) both withdrew from the competition due to injury.

Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Rutledge (Vista, Calif.), seeded 17th in qualifying, opened with a 21-19, 21-19 victory in 39 minutes over Norway’s 16th-ranked Kathrine Maaseide and Ingrid Torlen.

The big upset occurred on center court at Poklonnaya Gora (Victory Park) where Hochevar and Rutledge upset top seeds Sara Montagnolli and Barbara Hansel of Austria.

The Austrian team got a bye in the first qualification round, but lost 21-18 21-14 in 32 minutes to the Americans in the second and final round.

Hochevar and Rutledge are ranked 26th in the main draw and will play in Pool G. On Wednesday, they will go up against Germany’s seventh-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig before taking on Russia’s 10th-ranked Ekaterina Khomyakova and Evgenia Ukolova. On Thursday, they will conclude pool play against Australia’s Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden.

Among other U.S. teams playing in the main draw, second-seeded Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) will open play in Pool B against Russia’s 31st-seeded Maria Ushkova and Elizaveta Ryabova on Wednesday. They will follow with a match against Germany’s 18th-ranked Karla Borger and Britta Büthe. On Thursday, May-Treanor and Walsh will conclude pool play against Austria’s 15th-ranked Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), seeded 14th, will play in Pool C and will open against 19th-ranked Jana Köhler and Julia Sude of Germany on Wednesday. They will then play Canada’s 30th-ranked Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney. They will finish on Thursday with Italy’s third-ranked Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari.

Finally, 17th-seeded Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), who benefitted from the withdrawal of Kessy and Ross by going straight into the main draw, will play in Pool A and will begin against Czech Republic’s 16th-ranked Slukova Marketa and Kristyna Kolocova on Wednesday. They will move on to play top-ranked Juliana Felisberta da Silva and Larissa Franca before finishing on Thursday against Netherlands’ 32nd-ranked Marloes Wesselink and Madelein Meppelink.

The U.S. men’s beach teams will begin competition in the main draw on Thursday.

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour, visit the FIVB web site.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brittany Hochevar, Brooke Hanson, Casey Patterson, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh