Day, Hughes Advance to Fourth 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. 17, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Emily Day and Heather Hughes advanced to the fourth round at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s team of Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif./USC) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, Calif./USC) lost its fourth-round match on Wednesday and the three other U.S. beach teams finished their World University Games competition with losses.

On Wednesday, Day (Torrance, Calif./Loyola Marymount) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif./Loyola Marymount) defeated the seasoned German team of Karla Borger and Britta Buethe, 21-14, 17-21, 17-15 in the third round.

Borger and Buethe have played in 10 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour events this year and finished in ninth place three times.

Day and Hughes, who are undefeated in the tournament at 6-0, are scheduled to play Brazil’s undefeated  Elize Secomana and Agatha Bednarczur in the fourth round.

On the men’s side, Carlson and Ciarelli finished the competition tied for fifth place after losing two matches on Wednesday.

Carlson and Ciarelli lost their fourth-round match  to Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz, 26-24, 21-16.

Carlson and Ciarelli moved into the consolation bracket where they fell to Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Yury Bogatov, 21-19, 21-15. It was the third time the two teams had played each other in the tournament, with the Russians winning in pool play and Carlson and Ciarelli taking a second-round victory.

Two other U.S. teams were also eliminated from the competition on Wednesday.

The U.S. men’s team of Connor Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif./UC Irvine) and Maddison McKibbin (Honolulu, Hawaii/USC), who were sent to the consolation bracket by Kadziola and Szalankiewicz on Tuesday, fell on Wednesday to Norway’s Morten Kvamsdal and Anders Stroemsvag, 21-19, 21-17. Hughes and McKibbin finished the tournament tied for seventh.

The U.S. women’s team of Geena Urango (Los Alamitos, Calif./USC) and Jane Chefeh (Fontana, Calif./Cal State San Bernardino) lost its second consolation match on Wednesday, falling to Estonia’s Kadri Puri and Maarja Kerner, 21-12, 21-19. The U.S. team finished the tournament tied for 17th.

Men’s semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for Thursday with the women’s to follow on Friday.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Connor Hughes, Emily Day, Geena Urango, Heather Hughes, Jane Chafeh, Jeff Carlson, Maddison McKibbin, mobile, Tony Ciarelli, World University Games