U.S. Women's Beach Team Wins Bronze in Mexico

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 3, 2009) - The U.S. women's beach volleyball team of Saralyn Smith (Key West, Fla.) and Beth Van Fleet (Tampa, Fla.) won the bronze medal on Sunday at NORCECA Maeva 2009, a NORCECA Beach Circuit event held in Manzanillo, Mexico.

Smith and Van Fleet defeated Canada's Tammy Thomas and Jaime Broder, 22-20, 21-14 in the third-place match.

Smith and Van Fleet advanced to Sunday's bronze medal match with two victories on Saturday. First they defeated Saint Lucia's Dania Hamilton and Samantha Mann, 21-11, 21-7. Next, they beat Canada's Leann Kinvig and Renee Laroque, 21-13, 21-16.

In Sunday's semifinal, Smith and Van Fleet fell to Mexico's Diana Estrada and Martha Revueltas, 21-17, 19-21, 19-21. The U.S. team reached match point four times in the final set, but could not get the victory.

Estrada and Revueltas fell to Cuba's Ion Canet and Milagros Crespo in the gold medal match, 17-21, 10-21.

In the men's bracket, the U.S. beach team of Seth Burnham (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Marcin Jagoda (Tarzana, Calif.), which had lost its first match on Friday, lost again on Saturday to Mexico's Oscar Cardenas and Edgar Barajas, 14-21, 17-21 and were eliminated.

More information about the NORCECA Beach Circuit is available on the NORCECA web site.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, NORCECA