COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – U.S. beach teams now begin their long road schedule on the FIVB World Tour with the men’s only Kish Island tournament.
In Kish Island, tenth ranked Ryan Doherty and John Mayer were the only U.S. team in the main draw competition. The duo tied for 17th after losing to No. 23 Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko of Russia in the round of 32, 21-19, 21-16. Adam Roberts and Marty Lorenz were eliminated in qualification, 21-17, 16-21, 17-15, to The Netherlands’ Jasper Bouter/Tom van Steenis.
The new ranking of FIVB World Tour events that are 3-4 stars now open with a one-round, 16 teams/gender single elimination qualification. Eight teams from the qualification round will enter the main draw 32-team bracket. Two star tournaments only have a 24-team main draw competition, 1 stars play a 16-team main draw. As with last week’s Fort Lauderdale Major, 5 star tournaments have a 24 team qualification tournament, followed by a 32 team main draw.
| Kish Island 3-Star Roster | ||||||
| Athletes | Entry | |||||
| Ryan Doherty | John Mayer | Main Draw | ||||
| Adam Roberts | Marty Lorenz | Qualification | ||||
| Miles Evans | Bill Kolinske | Reserve | ||||
| Ed Ratledge | Dave McKienzie | Reserve | ||||
| Staff | ||||||
| John Ruger | Team Leader | |||||
| Davis Koh | Sports Medicine, DPT | |||||
From #KishIsland with love! #BeachWorldTour pic.twitter.com/exsPk9uC8d
— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) February 15, 2017
WORLD TOUR RANKINGS UPDATED
The 2017 FIVB World Tour rankings were updated on Feb. 13 to reflect points after the Fort Lauderdale Major, based on teams’ eight best results in the last 365 days. USA’s Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are tops for the men and in the second slot for the women are April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings.
USA BEACH HIGH PERFORMANCE ADDS TRYOUTS
USA Beach High Performance has transitioned tryouts to Skills Assessment Camps in 2017. With the adjustment to the programming, there are four camps based in various zones for athletes to participate in.
| Date | Location | Zone | ||
| March 4-5 | Tavares, FL | Atlantic Zone | ||
| March 18-19 | California | Pacific Zone | ||
| April 1-2 | Houston TX | Border Zone | ||
| April 29-30 | Cedar Rapids, IA | Central Zone |
JUNIOR BEACH TOUR FEATURES SEVEN STOPS IN MARCH
Just like the professional beach volleyball athletes, the Junior Beach Tour has begun its season on the sand in the early months of the year and will continue with seven tour stops in the month of March. The week of Feb. 20, USAV JBT will be releasing updated information about the JBT Championships, which will be July 20-25.