All U.S. Beach Teams Advance in Quebec

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 21, 2011) – All eight U.S. beach teams remain alive after the first day of double elimination in the main draw at the 2011 $280,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Quebec Open Jeep on Thursday in Canada.

Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) were undefeated. First they won by default over compatriots Sean Scott (Kailua, Hawaii) and John Hyden (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) due to injury. The defending Olympic gold medalists then defeated Brazil’s 16th-seeds Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Joao Luis Pianca Maciel, 21-14, 21-18 in 39 minutes. The U.S. pair will face Brazil’s eighth-seeded team of Thiago Santos Barbosa and Harley Marques Silva in the third round on Friday.  

Coming back from their first-round injury, Scott and Hyden downed Great Britain’s 17th-seeded team of Steven Grotowski and Josh Garcia-Thompson in consolation, 21-16, 21-13 in 38 minutes. The Americans will face New Zealand’s 15th-seeded team of Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman in consolation on Friday.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked fifth, defeated Canada’s 28th-seeded team of Maverick Hatch and Sam Schachter, 21-17, 21-13 in 32 minutes. The Americans then defeated Sweden’s 21st-seeded team of Stefan Gunnarsson and Hannes Brinkborg, 21-19, 21-15 in 44 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal will face 29th-seeds Moises Neilton Santos and Alvaro Morais Filho of Brazil in their first match on Friday. 

Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), ranked seventh, defeated 26th-seeds Peng Gao and Cheng Chen of China, 21-19, 21-13 in 38 minutes. The pair then downed Bo Soderberg and Anders Lund Hoyer, the 23rd-seeds from Denmark, 21-16, 21-13 in 38 minutes. Fuerbringer and Lucena will face Germany’s second-ranked Jonathan Ermann and Kay Matysik in their third-round match.

Women’s top seeds Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) defeated Canada’s 32nd-seeded team of Victoria Cowley and Alexandra Mingay, 21-4, 21-12 in 29 minutes in the first round. However Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) upset Kessy and Ross in the second round, 21-18-21-19 in 39 minutes. Kessy and Ross will battle 15th-ranked Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Marins das Chagas of Georgia in Friday’s consolation round.

Hochevar and Rutledge, seeded 17th, defeated Japan’s Satoko Urata and Takemi Nishibori, 16-21, 21-13, 16-14 in 51 minutes in their first match on Thursday. The duo will face Brazil’s eighth-seeded Taiana Lima and Vivian Danielle da Conceicao Cunh.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) ranked fourth, defeated Canada’s 29th-seeded team of Jamie Lynn Broder and Ashley Voth, 21-15, 21-12 in 31 minutes. The Americans then fell to Netherlands' 13th-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven and Jantine Van der Vlist, 22-20, 11-21, 15-13 in 45 minutes. The U.S. pair will play France’s 19th-seeded team of Eva Hamzaoui and Laura Longuet in Friday’s consolation round. 

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked sixth, went undefeated Thursday, defeating Vasiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani, the seventh seeds from Greece, 21-11, 21-12 in 34 minutes and Austria’s 11th-seeded team of Doris Schwaiger and Stefanie Schwaiger, 16-21, 21-17, 15-13 in 45 minutes. The Americans will battle 14th-seeds Nat Cook and Tamish Hinchley of Australia in Friday’s third-round match.

Double elimination will continue Friday with rounds three and four. The semifinals are slated for Saturday with the medal matches to follow on Sunday.

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, please visit www.fivb.org or visit the event website at www.quebecopenjeep.com.

Tags: 2011 FIVB World Tour, 2011 SWATCH World Tour, Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brittany Hochevar, Brooke Hanson, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Sean Scott, Todd Rogers