Kessy, Ross Take Silver Medal in Poland

B.J. Hoeptner Evans July 30, 2011

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Photo: Courtesy of the FIVB

Sean Rosenthal digs the ball during his third-round match on July 30 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 30, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross came close to taking a second major upset on Saturday, but fell to Brazil’s top-seeded seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca in the gold medal match of Poland’s Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

The fifth-seeded Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) won the first set of the final, 21-14, but then lost the second 21-19 and lost the tie-breaker, 18-16.

The 53-minute battle came after Kessy and Ross won a three-set semifinal over Brazil’s fourth-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, 18-21, 21-19, 15-13 in 57 minutes.

Kessy and Ross reached the semifinals with an upset victory over compatriots Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) on Friday.

On the men’s side, after a rocky start to the tournament, the U.S. teams of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), ranked second, reached the semifinals with two victories on Saturday.

In the second round, Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Russia’s 12th-seeded Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, 21-19, 21-16 in 40 minutes.

The U.S. pair followed that with a laborious 21-18, 24-26, 15-12 victory over Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in 1 hour, 8 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers will play Brazil’s top-ranked Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti in Sunday’s semifinal. The other semifinal will see Poland’s fourth-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel take on Germany’s 13th-seeded Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik.

The U.S. team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), ranked 16th, lost in the third round on Saturday.

Gibb and Rosenthal opened with a 16-21, 21-18, 14-16 upset in 54 minutes over Germany’s 10th-seeded David "Hase" Klemperer and Eric Koreng. However, they followed with a third-round loss to Erdmann and Matysik, 19-21, 31-29, 15-13 in 1 hour, 1 minute.

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: April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, mobile, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers