U.S. Men's Beach Teams Reach 3rd Round 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. 15, 2011) – Two U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams have advanced to the third round at the World University Games while the women’s team of Emily Day and Heather Hughes finished pool play undefeated on Monday in Shenzhen, China.

The U.S. men’s team of Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif./UC Irvine) and Maddison McKibbin (Honolulu, Hawaii/USC), won two matches on Monday, defeating Costa Rica’s Julio Alvarez and Raul Sandoval, 21-16, 21-13 in the first round.

Hughes and McKibbin had a comeback victory in the second round, beating Italy’s Matteo Cecchini and Raffaele Cionna, 14-21, 21-17, 15-13.

The U.S. men’s team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif./USC) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif./USC) also won its first- and second-round matches.

In the first round, the Trojans beat Japan’s Murakami and Sato, 21-15, 21-11. In the second round, the U.S. pair avenged a pool play loss to Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Yury Bogatov, coming back from a first-set loss to defeat the Europeans, 19-21, 21-17, 19-17.

Third-round matches will be played on Tuesday along with consolation matches. The quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday and the semifinals and medal matches on Thursday.

On the women’s side, Day (Torrance, Calif./Loyola Marymount) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif./Loyola Marymount) remained unbeaten in pool play with a 21-15, 21-14 victory over Estonia’s Kristel Kiens and Kertti Kulm on Monday.

The U.S. women’s team of Geena Urango (Los Alamitos, Calif./USC) and Jane Chefeh (Fontana, Calif./Cal State San Bernardino) lost its final pool play match to Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee, 21-16, 21-13.

Women’s first- and second-round matches along with consolation matches will begin on Tuesday.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Jeff Carlson, mobile, Tony Ciarelli, World Masters Games