May-Treanor, Walsh Off to Good Start in Poland

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 27, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh went undefeated in its first two pool play matches on Wednesday at Poland’s Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded second and playing in Pool B opened play on Wednesday with a 21-16, 21-16 victory in 39 minutes over Greece’s 18th-seeded Vasiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani. Next, they defeated Switzerland’s 31st-seeded Joana Heidrich and Isabelle Forrer, 21-11, 21-10 in 25 minutes.

On Thursday, May-Treanor and Walsh will go up against Switzerland’s 15th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded fifth and playing in Pool E, went 1-1 on Wednesday. The pair opened with a 2-12, 21-16 victory in 35 minutes over Georgia’s 28th-ranked Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins das Chagas. However, the lost their second match to Germany’s 21st-seeded Karla Borger and Britta Büthe, 21-15, 13-21, 15-13 in 48 minutes.

On Thursday, Kessy and Ross will go up against Germany’s 12th-ranked Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nichole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked 19th and playing in Pool C also went 1-1. Akers and Branagh opened with a victory over Czech Republic’s 14th-ranked Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova, 21-18, 18-21, 15-11 in 44 minutes. In their second match, the fell to China’s third-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 21-15, 21-12 in 34 minutes.

On Thursday, they will complete pool play against Brazil’s 30th-seeded Liliane Maestrini and Angela Vieira.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), ranked 17th, went 0-2 on Wednesday. The U.S. pair opened with a 21-18, 21-11 loss in 35 minutes to Brazil’s top-ranked Juliana Felisberta da Silva and Larissa Franca. In the afternoon, they fell to Czech Republic’s 16th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Slukova Marketa, 21-18, 18-21, 17-15 in 50 minutes.

On Thursday, Fendrick and Hanson will play Poland’s 32nd-ranked Sylwia Pilarek and Aneta Gancarczyk.

On the men’s side, the U.S. team of Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.), ranked 16th in qualifying, lost it first qualifying match to Norway’s 17th-seeded Iver Andreas Horrem and Oivind Hordvik, 19-21, 21-16, 15-9 in 43 minutes.

Three other U.S. men’s teams begin pool play competition on Thursday.

Second-ranked Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) will open on Thursday against Germany’s 31st-ranked 2 Markus Böckermann and Mischa Urbatzka and follow that with a match against Czech Republic’s 18th-ranked Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala. On Thursday, Dalhausser and Rogers will conclude pool play against Latvia’s 15th-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilous and Ruslans Sorokins.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) ranked 16th, will open against Portugal’s 32nd-seeded Luis Miguel Barbosa Maia and Pedro Rosas and then face Brazil’s 17th-seeded Thiago Santos Barbosa and Harley Marques Silva. On Friday, Gibb and Rosenthal will conclude pool play against Brazil’s top-seeded Thiago Santos Barbosa and Harley Marques Silva.

The reunited team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii), seeded 19th, will open Thursday against Italy’s 14th-ranked Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo and then will play Germany’s third-seeded Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.

On Thursday, they will close out pool play against Austria’s 30th-seeded Clemens Doppler and Matthias Mellitzer.

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, please visit http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2011/index.asp.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, Casey Patterson, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Kerri Walsh, Kevin Wong, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, mobile, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers