U.S. Men's Beach Teams Play in Consolation Bracket

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 28, 2009) – Two U.S. men’s beach teams are still alive in the consolation bracket of the Sanya Open, a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in China.

The team of Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), ranked 12th in the event, opened Wednesday with a loss to Venezuela’s 21st-seeded Igor Hernandez and Jesus Fañe, 21-23, 16-21 in 41 minutes. Keenan and Lucena came back in the first consolation round to defeat Australia’s 28th-seeded Sam Boehm and Christopher McHugh, 21-18, 21-17 in 38 minutes.

Lucena and Keenan will play Japan’s 11th-ranked Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori in the second round of consolation on Thursday.

The 18th-ranked U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) fell to Russia’s 15th-seeded Dmitri Barsouk and Konstantin Semenov, 16-21, 21-17, 11-15 in 56 minutes. However, they came back in consolation to defeat their countrymen, Matt Olson (Cardiff, Calif.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii), seeded 31st, 22-20, 21-15 in 42 minutes.

Olson and Wong lost to second-seeded Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira from Spain in the first round, 19-21, 19-21 in 41 minutes.

Fuerbringer and Mayer will have to play Netherlands’ top-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil in the second round of consolation on Thursday. Nummerdor and Schuil were upset in the second round by Germany’s 17th-seeded Mischa Urbatzka and Thomas Kaczmarek.

In the women’s bracket, the U.S. team of Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) lost in the first round of qualifying on Wednesday, 21-8, 19-21, 14-16 to Japan’s Miwa Asao and Takemi Nishibori.

Women’s main draw play will begin Thursday. Defending tournament champions Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are the top seeds and will face Thailand’s 32nd-ranked Julaluk Radarong and Manerat Udomchavee in the first round.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) are ranked third and will play Xitlali Herrera and Rosaria Reyes of Mexico, ranked 30th, in the first round.

The 21st-seeded U.S. beach team of Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) will play Czech Republic’s 12th-ranked Hana Klapalova and Tereza Petrova in the first round.

More information and complete results and photos are available at www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/index.asp.