U.S. Beach Teams Get Started at WUGs

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 13, 2011) – U.S. men’s beach teams began competition on Saturday at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

The team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif./USC) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif./USC), the 2008 silver medalists at the 2008 FIVB Beach Volleyball Boys’ Youth World Championship, went 1-1 on Saturday.

In the morning, Carlson and Ciarelli defeated Canada’s Francois Allaire and Michael Plantinga, 21-19, 21-11. However, in the afternoon, the U.S. team fell to Thailand’s Yungtin Kittipat and Pollueang Teerapat, 21-16, 21-12.

The other U.S. men’s beach team of Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif./UC Irvine) and Maddison McKibbin (Honolulu, Hawaii/USC) won its morning match against France’s Hugo Alimi and Vincent Lacombe, 21-16, 24-22.

The results of Hughes and McKibbin’s afternoon match were not available.

The U.S. men will continue to play on Sunday.

The women’s tournament will also begin on Sunday with the U.S. teams of Geena Urango (Los Alamitos, Calif./USC) and Jane Chefeh (Fontana, Calif./Cal State San Bernardino) as well as Emily Day (Torrance, Calif./Loyola Marymount) and Heather Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif./Loyola Marymount) set to compete.

The men’s semifinals and finals are set to be played on Aug. 18 while the women’s will take place Aug. 19.

To view photos from Saturday’s matches, click here.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Heather Hughes, Jane Chafeh, Jeff Carlson, mobile, Tony Ciarelli, World University Games