COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 15, 2018) – Trevor Crabb and John Mayer made the most of their wild card entry into the FIVB three-star tournament in Lucerne, Switzerland, taking the gold medal. The U.S. women’s team of Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman won the bronze.
Crabb and Mayer bounced back from their first-match, pool-play loss to Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren and Tom Van Walle and won six straight matches. In the final, they defeated Serbia’s Lazar Kolaric and Stefan Basta, 21-10, 21-16.
For Crabb and Mayer, it was the first medal of any kind at an FIVB event.
“When we got the wild card for this tournament, I thought, let’s give it a shot and see what happens. I never thought we would be here. It’s pretty cool,” Mayer told the FIVB.
“Our first tournament together was last week in Huntington and we kind of got adjusted to each other,” Crabb added. “We came out not as well in our first match here, but we won six in a row right after it to win the gold. I couldn’t be more proud of this guy, playing well the whole week.”
Larsen and Stockman went undefeated in pool play and did not drop a set until the semifinals, where they lost (22-20, 21-14) to eventual tournament winners Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy of Australia.
In the third-place match, Stockman and Larsen beat Marleen Ramond-van Iersel and Joy Stubbe, 19-21, 21-17, 15-9.
“It feels amazing!” Stockman said. “Kelley and I are a new team and it is really nice to see our chemistry on the court. It feels right and it feels good at such an early part of the season.”
“We played well this tournament,” Larsen added. “We played some really tough teams. The Netherlands played great. It was a battle in that three-set match.”
Among other U.S. teams that competed in Lucerne, Casey Patterson and Stafford Slick tied for fifth as did Emily Day and Betsi Flint. Bill Kolinske/Miles Evans and Chase Budinger/Sean Rosenthal tied for ninth. Lane Carico and Lara Dykstra tied for 17th.
FIVB BANGKOK ONE-STAR
The U.S. women’s pair of Aurora Davis and Bree Scarbrough took the gold medal at the FIVB one-star event in Bangkok, Thailand.
Davis and Scarbrough defeated Paula Soria and Maria Belen Carro of Spain in the final, 21-13, 17-21, 15-8.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Five U.S. women’s teams and one men’s team will compete this week at the four-star event on May 16-20 in Itapema, Brazil.
Women’s Main Draw
Summer Ross / Sara Hughes
Brittany Hochevar / Kelly Claes
Kerri Walsh Jennings / Nicole Branagh
Women’s Qualification
Kelley Larsen / Emily Stockman
Emily Day / Betsi Flint
Men’s Qualification
Reid Priddy / Jeremy Casebeer
Sports Med: Nelson Santos and Karen Liu
Also this weekend, the AVP Tour gets started in Austin, Texas on May 17-20.