Five U.S. Beach Teams Still in Hunt for Gold in Finland

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) – Three U.S. men's beach volleyball teams and two women’s teams remained in the hunt for gold on Thursday at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Paf Open in Aland, Finland.

The top-seeded men’s team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) won two matches on Wednesday and is the only U.S. team still undefeated in the tournament.

Dalhausser and Rogers opened the day with a 21-17, 21-17 win in 42 minutes over Sweden’s 32nd-ranked Daniel Andersson and Bjorn Berg in the first round. In the second round, Dalhausser and Rogers defeated 16th-ranked Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr of Norway, 21-16, 21-16 in 38 minutes.

“It went really well,” Rogers told the FIVB after the second match. “The Norwegians served really tough, but we won. We won both games today and that is great.”

In Friday’s third round, the U.S. team is scheduled to take on Czech Republic’s eighth-seeded Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala.

The 11th-ranked U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) opened with a first-round win over New Zealand’s 22nd-seeded Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman, 21-17, 21-12 in 37 minutes.

However, Fuerbringer and Lucena lost their second-round match to Germany’s sixth-ranked Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik, 23-21, 21-19 in 44 minutes. They will play Thursday in the consolation bracket against Switzerland’s 21st-ranked Martin Laciga and Jonas Weingart.

Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Bradley Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.), ranked 23rd, also won their first-round match against Finland’s 10th-seeded Timo Haavisto and Toni Vahela, 21-18, 21-11 in 30 minutes. Patterson and Keenan lost to Russia’s seventh-seeded Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, 21-13, 21-15 in 32 minutes.

The U.S. team will play Sweden’s ninth-seeded Stefan Gunnarsson and Hannes Brinkborg in the consolation bracket on Friday.

The 15th-seeded team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) finished the tournament tied for 25th after losing two matches on Thursday. In the first round, they fell to Germany’s 18th-ranked Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif, 21-18, 17-21, 15-13 in 48 minutes. In consolation, they lost to Turkey’s 31st-ranked Selçuk Sekerci and Volkan Gögtepe, 21-17, 21-18 in 38 minutes.

On the women’s side, the U.S. fourth-ranked beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) defeated their compatriots, fifth-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), in a third-round battle, 17-21, 21-18, 15-11 in 45 minutes.

However, May-Treanor and Walsh fell in the fourth round to Brazil’s top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, 21-19, 21-15 in 33 minutes.

“Juliana and Larissa played really well against us,” May-Treanor told the FIVB. “The stuff that we could control, we didn’t, and we made a lot of errors. The match with April and Jennifer should have prepared us because we want to play tough games.”

The U.S. pair will play a consolation match on Friday against the winner of the all-German match between 11th-ranked Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig and 26th-seeded Jana Köhler and Julia Sude.

Kessy and Ross landed in the consolation bracket after their loss and defeated Belgium’s 23rd-seeded Katrien Gielen and Liesbeth Mouha, 25-23, 21-16 in 43 minutes.

“It was the first time we’ve played against them and it was really tough, but we had been watching them closely so we knew what we were up against,” Ross told the FIVB.

“Today has been mentally hard. We lost the earlier game today, so it felt hard to bounce back up again and try to win.”

While most teams had took a week’s break following the A1 Grand Slam presented by Volksbank in Klagenfurt, Ross and Kessy took part in the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International in London, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Despite reaching the final and winning a silver medal, the pair refused to blame fatigue for their earlier loss.

"Our bodies are feeling just fine,” Ross said. “The week in London was fine as it felt like a week at home. We went to the gym three times in the week and had fun.”

Kessy and Ross will play Brazil’s eighth-seeded Maria Clara Salgado Rufino and Carolina Solberg Salgado in consolation on Friday.

The other two U.S. women’s beach teams competing in Finland finished tied for 13th after losing in consolation on Thursday.

Fendrick and Hanson, who lost in the first round on Wednesday, defeated Australia’s 18th-seeded Natalie Cook and Tamsin Hinchley in their second consolation match on Thursday, 21-16, 21-11 in 36 minutes. However, the U.S. team lost to Belgium’s Gielen and Mouha, 19-21, 21-19, 15-11 in 48 minutes.

Akers and Branagh, who lost in the second round on Wednesday, won their first consolation match on Wednesday over Russia’s 22nd-ranked Anastasia Vasina and Anna Vozakova, 23-21, 21-17 in 43 minutes. However they fell in their second match to Czech Republic’s 19th-ranked Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova, 21-19, 21-14 in 31 minutes.

The women’s finals are scheduled to take place on Saturday with the men’s to follow on Sunday.

A total of 165 teams, 95 men and 70 women, started out competing in the 2011 Paf Open that is taking place on the Isle of Aland at Mariehamn under the supervision of both the Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Foundation, marking just the third time that national federations have joined forces to stage an FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour event.

For more information about the tournament, click here.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brooke Hanson, Casey Patterson, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, mobile, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers