Three Women's Beach Teams in 2nd Round 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 28, 2011) – Three U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams advanced to the second round of single-elimination on Thursday at Poland’s Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

Meanwhile, three U.S. men’s teams began pool play Thursday, with mixed results.

The U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), ranked second, advanced directly to the second round after going undefeated in Pool B. On Thursday, May-Treanor and Walsh completed pool play by defeating Switzerland’s 15th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, 21-14, 21-13 in 33 minutes.

On Friday, they will play Italy’s sixth-seeded Cicolari-Menegatti in the second round of single-elimination.

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded fifth and playing in Pool E, also advanced straight to the second round. After going 1-1 in pool on Wednesday, Kessy and Ross defeated Germany’s 12th-ranked Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler on Thursday, 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes.

On Friday, they will face Brazil’s 30th-ranked Liliane Maestrini and Angela Vieira.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.), ranked 17th, advanced to the first round of single-elimination play on Thursday, but lost to their compatriots Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nichole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), ranked 19th, 21-19, 21-16 in 36 minutes.

Fendrick and Hanson advanced to the first round by winning their final pool play match on Thursday, defeating Poland’s 32nd-ranked Sylwia Pilarek and Aneta Gancarczyk, 21-15, 21-13 in 31 minutes.

Akers and Branagh advanced by winning their final pool play match over Lili and Vieira, 21-17, 15-21, 16-14 in 52 minutes.

Akers and Branagh will play Germany’s seventh-ranked Goller-Ludwig in the second round of elimination

In the men’s bracket, second-ranked Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) suffered two pool play losses on Thursday. The U.S. pair first fell to Germany’s 31st-ranked Markus Böckermann and Mischa Urbatzka, 21-16, 21-17 in 33 minutes. Then they lost to Czech Republic’s 18th-ranked Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala, 23-21, 19-21, 16-14 in 58 minutes.

On Friday, they will try to come back against Latvia’s 15th-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilous and Ruslans Sorokins.

Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) ranked 16th, went 1-1 in pool play on Thursday. They opened by defeating Portugal’s 32nd-seeded Luis Miguel Barbosa Maia and Pedro Rosas, 21-17, 21-19 in 36 minutes. Then they fell to face Brazil’s 17th-seeded Thiago Santos Barbosa and Harley Marques Silva, 21-12, 21-13 in 31 minutes. On Friday, Gibb and Rosenthal will conclude pool play against Brazil’s top-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego.

Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii), seeded 19th, opened Thursday with a loss to Italy’s 14th-ranked Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, 21-23, 21-17, 15-13 in 48 minutes. However, Jennings and Wong came back to upset Germany’s third-seeded Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, 16-21, 21-19, 15-11 in 53 minutes.

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, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Kevin Wong, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, mobile, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers