Day, Hughes Reach Semis 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. 18, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Emily Day and Heather Hughes made it to the semifinals at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

Day (Torrance, Calif./Loyola Marymount) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif./Loyola Marymount) will play China’s Jin Jieqiong and Miao Chenchen on Friday for the chance to play in the gold medal match, which will also take place Friday.

In the other semifinal, Brazil’s Elize Secomana and Agatha Bednarczur will face Germany’s Karla Borger and Britta Buethe.

Secomana and Bednarczur handed Day and Hughes their first loss of the tournament on Thursday, defeating the U.S. team, 21-15, 21-16 in the fourth round.

Day and Hughes came back in the consolation bracket to beat Slovakia’s Dominika Nestarcova and Natalia Dubocova, 21-9, 21-17, which put them into the semifinal.

Day and Hughes now have a record of 7-1 in the tournament. Jieqiong and Chenchen are 6-1. Jieqiong played in 10 events on the FIVB Swatch World Tour in 2010. Her best finish was 17th in Brazil with partner Ji Linjun.  Jieqiong and Chenchen competed in the FIVB World Tour event in Shanghai this year, but did not make it out of the qualifying round.

In the men’s gold medal match played Thursday, Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz defeated Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Yury Bogatov, 15-21, 21-10, 15-12.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, Emily Day, Heather Hughes, mobile, World University Games