Two U.S. Women's Beach Teams Unbeaten in China

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 29, 2009) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams of Jen Kessy and April Ross and Angie Akers and Tyra Turner have advanced to the third round of the Sanya Open, a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in China.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the event’s top seeds and defending champions, opened main draw play on Thursday by defeating Thailand’s 32nd-ranked Julaluk Radarong and Manerat Udomchavee, 21-15, 21-16 in 37 minutes.

In the second round, the pair survived an upset bid by 16th-seeded Daniela Gioria and Giulia Momoli by defeating the Italians 21-11, 20-22, 15-12 in 57 minutes. They will play 25th-seeded qualifiers Danielle Remmers and Sophie van Gestel of The Netherlands in the third round on Friday.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.), ranked third, defeated Mexico’s 30th-ranked Xitlali Herrera and Rosaria Reyes, 21-10, 21-13 in 28 minutes in the first round. In the second round, they defeated 14th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of Czech Republic, 23-21, 21-19 in 39 minutes.

Akers and Turner will play Switzerland’s 11th-ranked Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr in Friday’s third round.

The 21st-seeded U.S. beach team of Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) is playing in the consolation bracket after losing in the second round on Thursday.

Fendrick and Ivy opened Thursday by upsetting Czech Republic’s 12th-ranked Hana Klapalova and Tereza Petrova, 21-15, 21-20 in 45 minutes. However they lost a second-round battle to Greece’s fifth-seeded Vicky Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani, 21-19, 17-21, 9-15 in 52 minutes.

Fendrick and Ivy will play Netherlands’ 22nd-ranked Madelein Meppelink and Marloes Wesselink on Friday.

There are no U.S. teams left in the men’s bracket. The U.S. team of Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), ranked 12th in the event, won its first match in consolation on Thursday, defeating Japan’s 11th-ranked Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori, 21-18, 21-19 in 38 minutes.

However they lost in the next round, falling to Italy’s 14th-seeded Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso, 21-15, 19-21, 8-15 in 55 minutes. They finish the tournament in 13th.

The 18th-ranked U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) finished 17th after losing to Netherlands’ top-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, 14-21, 15-21 in 39 minutes in the consolation bracket.

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

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Ashley Ivy, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, FIVB beach, Jennifer Kessy, Lauren Fendrick, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Tyra Turner