New U.S. Beach Teams Hitting The Hague

Candice Kasischke August 23, 2011

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Photo: Courtesy of the FIVB

Brooke Hanson, above, will play in the qualifying round of the HP Beach Open with partner Lauren Fendrick on Aug. 24.

Candice Kasischke
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: Candice.kasischke@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (August 23, 2011) – Seven U.S. beach volleyball teams are in The Hague, Netherlands for the FIVB Swatch World Tour HP Beach Open on Aug. 23-28, although some of them might not be the teams you would expect.

Due to an injury to Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), he and Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) have withdrawn from the competition and Rogers has announced he will not compete for the rest of the year.

That withdrawal means that the other three U.S. men’s teams competing will start in Thursday’s main draw.

Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) has also withdrawn from the competition. His partner, Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) will team up with Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.). The other two U.S. men’s teams competing will be Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) along with Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.).

For the women, Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) will begin competition in Wednesday’s qualifying round, where they are the top seeds. In the first round, they will play the winner of the qualifying match between 33rd-seeded Juliana Antunes and Ana Sofia Fonseca of Portugal and 32nd-ranked Romana Kayser and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland.

Fendrick and Hanson were spared having to compete in a country quota competition after Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) withdrew from the competition due to an injury.

Akers’ partner, Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), will team with Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and the pair will start in Thursday’s main draw along with and Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) and also Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.)

For more information about the FIVB Swatch World Tour HP Beach Open, click here.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Brittany Hochevar, Brooke Hanson, Casey Jennings, 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