Four U.S. Beach Jr Teams Head to Worlds

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

Defending world champion Tara Roenicke (Alta Loma, Calif.) and partner Rebecca Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif.) will team up as the women’s USA-1 team, while Caitlin Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will pair to form the USA-2 team.

The USA-1 men’s team includes Parker Kalmbach (Coto De Caza, Calif.) and Vaun Lennon (Westchester, Calif.) with Ian Satterfield (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Chris Austin (Henderson, Nev.) joining forces as the men’s USA-2 team.

Roenicke and former partner Summer Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) made history at the 2010 edition of the World Championships by capturing the gold medal and becoming the first U.S. team of either gender to medal at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Junior World Championships.

Roenicke is a recent transfer from Houston and will enter her first season as a sophomore at outside hitter at Long Beach State. Strehlow is in her senior year at Woodrow Wilson High School and was named to prepvolleyball.com’s top 50 recruits in the class of 2012 as a junior.

Racich enters her junior year at Pepperdine as the first female sand volleyball scholarship recipiant. Racich made the switch from indoor to sand volleyball when Pepperdine made sand its 16th varsity sport after her sophomore year. Hughes, who is a junior at Mater Dei High School in California, most recently competed in the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth World Championships in Umag, Croatia 2011 (U-19) with Justine Wong-Orantes (Cypress, Calif.).

Kalmbach was a member of the 2009 USA Beach (U-19) National Team that placed 17th in the FIVB Beach Volleyball Youth World Championships. Both Kalmbach and Lennon will head into their sophomore seasons at Pepperdine University and UC San Diego, respectively.

Satterfield, a sophomore at Long Beach State, was a member of the 2008 U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team that captured the gold medal at the NORCECA Boys’ Youth Continental Championship.

Satterfield will take the court for his first season at LBS this spring, as he redshirted the 2010 season. Austin was a setter for the Long Beach City College Vikings, but recently transferred to play for the UC Irvine.

“These events have been critical to create a new generation of Beach Volleyball athletes,” said FIVB Beach Volleyball Events Director Angelo Squeo in an FIVB release. “In a few years, these players will challenge for FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour medals and vie for berths in future Olympic Games. The winners of these events will also be rewarded by the FIVB and the respective organizers with wild cards and free transportation to take part in the main draw of a FIVB Swatch World Tour event in 2011 or 2012.”

The five-day tournament will welcome 122 athletes (29 men’s and 32 women’s teams) from 25 countries to the Salter Lot of the Halifax Waterfront in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia for the 11th annual double-gendered event.

A total of 2,000 tons of sand were delivered to the location for this specific event for the four competition and two practice courts including center court which seats 2,000. The 2011 edition marks the first time in history that the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior World Championships are taking place in North America.

Play will begin on Aug. 31 for both the USA-2 teams as they compete in the qualification round. The top teams that make it out of qualification in each gender will then fill the final four slots in the 24-team main draw spanning Sept. 1-2. Both the quarterfinals and semifinals will take place on Sept. 3 with the gold and bronze-medal matches slated for Sept. 4.

2011 Men's Beach Volleyball Junior National Teams
USA-1 Parker Kalmbach and Vaun Lennon
USA-2 Ian Satterfield and Chris Austin