Day, Hughes Undefeated at World University Games

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 14, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Emily Day and Heather Hughes was undefeated after the first day of competition for women on Sunday at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

Day (Torrance, Calif./Loyola Marymount) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif./Loyola Marymount) won both their pool play matches on Sunday. The team opened with a 21-16, 21-18 victory over Tanja Goricanec and Muriel Graessli of Switzerland in the morning.

In their afternoon match, Day and Hughes defeated Spain’s Balbuena Florian and Bouza Corral, 18-21, 21-18, 15-9.

The second U.S. women’s beach team of Geena Urango (Los Alamitos, Calif./USC) and Jane Chefeh (Fontana, Calif./Cal State San Bernardino) had a tougher day on Sunday. Urango and Chafeh lost their morning match to Germany’s Julia Grossner and Victoria Bieneck, 21-17, 21-18.

The U.S. pair fell in their pool play match to Estonia’s Kadri Puri and Maarja Kerner, 21-15, 21-18.

Women’s pool play will conclude on Monday and first round play will begin on Tuesday.

The U.S. men’s beach teams concluded pool play on Sunday and will begin play in the first round on Monday. First round pairings were not yet available.

The team of Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif./UC Irvine) and Maddison McKibbin (Honolulu, Hawaii/USC) finished pool play at 2-1.

The pair went 1-1 on Saturday, losing their second match to Norway’s Morten Kvamsdal and Anders Stromsvag, 20-22, 21-19, 15-12 after winning their morning match.

On Sunday, Hughes and McKibbin defeated Hong Kong’s Wong and Chung Kan Kwok, 21-11, 21-7.

The team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif./USC) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif./USC) finished pool play with a 1-2 record. After going 1-1 on Saturday, Carlson and Ciarelli lost on Sunday to Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Yury Bogatov, 21-17, 21-17.

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, Jeff Carlson, mobile, Tony Ciarelli, World University Games