May-Treanor, Walsh Undefeated on Day 1

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 13, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh went undefeated in its first day of pool play at the Moscow (Russia) Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) opened play in Pool B with a 21-16, 21-12 victory in 29 minutes over Russia’s 31st-seeded Maria Ushkova and Elizaveta Ryabova.

Things got a little harder in their second pool play match against Germany’s 18th-ranked Karla Borger and Britta Büthe. Borger and Büthe won the first set 22-20 before May-Treanor and Walsh came back to win the next two, 21-15, 15-11. The match took 45 minutes.

“Ever since we were kids we wanted to play Misty and Kerri; they are the best team ever,” Büthe told the FIVB following the match. “For us, it was a big surprise that on the court they were just normal people. I think we won the first set because they have never played us before. After that, the pressure they put on us was too high; it was hard to concentrate.”

May-Treanor and Walsh will finish pool play on Thursday against Austria’s 15th-ranked Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger. The first round of single-elimination play will also begin on Thursday.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), seeded 14th, went 1-1 in Pool C on Wednesday. The team opened with a 21-19, 21-17 loss in 36 minutes to 19th-ranked Jana Köhler and Julia Sude of Germany. It came back to defeat Canada’s 30th-ranked Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney, 21-15, 21-10 in 31 minutes.

Fendrick and Hanson will finish pool play on Thursday against Italy’s third-ranked Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari.

The two other U.S. women’s teams competing in Moscow were winless in pool play on Wednesday.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked 17th, opened play in Pool A with tough a 21-15, 16-21, 15-13 loss in 50 minutes to Czech Republic’s 16th-ranked Slukova Marketa and Kristyna Kolocova. They followed that with a 21-17, 21-14 loss in 34 minutes to top-ranked Juliana Felisberta da Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil.

Akers and Branagh will complete pool play on Thursday against Netherlands’ 32nd-ranked Marloes Wesselink and Madelein Meppelink.

Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.), seeded 26th, had to win two qualifying matches to get to the main draw. On Wednesday, they lost a Pool G battle to Germany’s seventh-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, 17-21, 24-22, 15-10 in 53 minutes. In their second match, the fell to Russia’s 10th-ranked Ekaterina Khomyakova and Evgenia Ukolova, 21-17, 22-20 in 46 minutes.

On Thursday, Hochevar and Rutledge will conclude pool play against Australia’s Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden.

The men’s main draw also begins on Thursday. The fourth-ranked U.S. team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) will open in Pool M against Russia’s 29th-seeded Alexey Yutvalin and Dmitri Barsouk before moving on to play Italy’s 20th-seeded Paolo and Matteo Ingrosso.

Dalhausser and Rogers will complete pool play on Friday against Latvia’s 13th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins. Men’s first round, single-elimination play will also start on Friday.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded 18th and playing in Pool K, will start against Czech Republic’s 15th-ranked Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala. They will move on to face Germany’s second-ranked Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.

On Friday, Gibb and Rosenthal will close out pool play against Netherlands’ 31st-ranked Emiel Boersma and Daan Spijkers.

Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded 24th, will open play in Pool Q on Thursday against Russia’s ninth-ranked Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev. Next, they will face Netherlands’ eighth-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil.

On Friday, they will finish pool play against 25th-ranked Bo Soderberg and Anders Lund Hoyer of Denmark.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brittany Hochevar, Brooke Hanson, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers