Akers, Branagh Advance to Qualifying

B.J. Hoeptner Evans July 25, 2011

Branagh_receives_with_akers

Photo: Courtesy of the FIVB

Nicole Branagh receives the ball as Angie Akers gets ready to make a play during the Quebec Open.

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 25, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Angie Akers and Nicole Branagh won the U.S. country quota by defeating Brittany Hochevar and Lisa Rutledge on Monday at the Mazury (Poland) Orlen Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

Earlier this summer, Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) lost two FIVB country quota matches to Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) in Stavanger, Norway and Gstaad, Switzerland.

But Akers and Branagh came back to defeat Hochevar and Rutledge on Monday in Poland, 22-20, 21-12 in 34 minutes.

Akers and Branagh, who started in the main draw and finished ninth in their last two FIVB World Tour tournaments in Moscow and Quebec, are ranked first in Tuesday’s qualifying round and received a bye to the second round. They will play the winner of the qualifying match between Switzerland’s 17th-ranked Muriel Graessli and Tanja Goricanec and the British 16th-ranked team of Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton.

Three other U.S. women’s beach teams will begin main draw play on Wednesday. Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), who won the Moscow Grand Slam and did not compete in Quebec, are scheduled to play in the main draw along with Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) along with Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.).

The men will begin country quota play on Tuesday. Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), who won the silver medal in Quebec, will nevertheless have to play compatriots Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) to determine which team will play in Wednesday’s qualification round.

The U.S. men’s teams that will begin play in Thursday’s main draw are Quebec winners Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.); Quebec bronzed medalists Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) along with the returning team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii).

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, please visit www.fivb.org

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brittany Hochevar, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, Casey Patterson, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Lisa Rutledge, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, mobile, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal