Three Women's Teams Move on in Moscow

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 14, 2011) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams have advanced to the second round of elimination play at the Moscow (Russia) Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) is undefeated in its first two pool play matches.

The U.S. women’s team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded second, finished pool play on Thursday with an undefeated record thanks to a 22-20, 21-13 victory in 32 minutes over Austria’s 15th-ranked Stefanie and Doris Schwaiger.

May-Treanor and Walsh advanced directly to Friday’s second round, where they will face Russia’s 10th-seeded Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Khomyakova.

After losing their first two pool play matches on Wednesday, Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked 17th, defeated Netherlands’ 32nd-ranked Marloes Wesselink and Madelein Meppelink in their final pool play match on Thursday, 21-14, 21-16 in 37 minutes.

Akers and Branagh advanced to the first round, where they beat Australia’s 23rd-seeded Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden, 21-19, 14-21, 15-12 in 50 minutes. Akers and Branagh will face Brazil’s fifth-ranked Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes in the second round on Friday.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), seeded 14th, lost their final pool play match on Friday to Italy’s third-ranked Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari, 21-16, 21-17 in 32 minutes. However, their 1-2 record was good enough to advance to the first round, where they defeated Czech Republic’s 12th-ranked Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova, 21-18, 23-21 in 37 minutes.

On Friday, Fendrick and Hanson will play China’s fourth-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in the second round.

In the men’s bracket, fourth-ranked Dalhausser and Rogers won both their pool play matches on Thursday. First they defeated Russia’s 29th-seeded Alexey Yutvalin and Dmitri Barsouk, 21-17, 21-15 in 36 minutes. Next, they beat Italy’s 20th-seeded Paolo and Matteo Ingrosso, 21-19, 24-22 in 44 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers will complete pool play on Friday against Latvia’s 13th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins.

Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded 24th, went 1-1 on Thursday, upsetting Russia’s ninth-ranked Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, 18-21, 21-18, 15-11 in 49 minutes, before losing to Netherlands’ eighth-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, 21-15, 19-21, 15-13 in 48 minutes.

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

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded 18th had a tough day and lost both pool play matches. The fell to Czech Republic’s 15th-ranked Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala, 22-20, 23-21 in 42 minutes and then lost to Germany’s second-ranked Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, 21-17, 21-7 in 34 minutes.

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

The men’s first round of single elimination play will also be played Friday.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brooke Hanson, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh