May-Treanor, Walsh to Play in Finland Final

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 19, 2011) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will play for the gold medal while Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have advanced to the semifinals at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Paf Open in Aland, Finland.

Fourth-ranked May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) will face China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in Saturday’s gold medal match (5:30 a.m. PT).

“Somewhere deep in my heart, I really wanted us to play Juliana and Larissa because they kicked our butts last night and I wanted to show them what we can really do,” Walsh told the FIVB. “But the Chinese are a very good team. I know they’ve played a lot of three-set games, but they are still dangerous.”

The U.S. pair opened Friday by defeating Germany’s 26th-seeded Jana Köhler and Julia Sude in the consolation bracket, 21-8, 21-9 in 24 minutes. They advanced to the semifinals where the U.S. team beat Brazil’s third-ranked Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli, 22-20, 21-14 in 34 minutes.

The U.S. beach volleyball team of fifth-seeded Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) finished the tournament tied for seventh on Friday after losing to eighth-seeded Maria Clara Salgado Rufino and Carolina Solberg Salgado in consolation, 26-28, 21-16, 15-10 in 1 hour, 5 minutes, the longest match of the tournament.

In the men’s bracket, the top-ranked Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) marched into Saturday’s semifinals undefeated after beating Czech Republic’s eighth-seeded Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala in the third round, 21-17, 21-12 in 36 minutes.

In the fourth round, Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Brazil’s fifth-seeded Marcio Araujo and Benjamin Insfran, 13-21, 21-13, 15-11 in 51 minutes.

“The first set didn’t go to plan, but we pulled it together and pulled through,” Dalhausser told the FIVB. “Three-set matches build character, but a three set match is still a three set match and I’d rather have two.”

Dalhausser and Rogers must wait for the consolation bracket to play out to find out their semifinal opponents. The men’s medal matches are scheduled for Sunday.

The 11th-ranked U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) finished the tournament on Friday tied for 13th. The U.S. team opened with a consolation bracket victory over Switzerland’s 21st-ranked Martin Laciga and Jonas Weingart, 21-19, 21-10 in 34 minutes.

But in the next round, Fuerbringer and Lucena fell to Poland’s third-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, 24-22, 22-20 in 49 minutes.

Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Bradley Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.), ranked 23rd, finished the tournament on Friday tied for 17th after losing in consolation to Sweden’s ninth-seeded Stefan Gunnarsson and Hannes Brinkborg, 21-19, 13-21, 15-13 in 50 minutes.

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: April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Patterson, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Kerri Walsh, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, mobile, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers