Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross tie for fifth in The Hague

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In a busy weekend of beach volleyball on the FIVB World Tour, the U.S. saw its top women’s team cement their status as the American leaders with a fifth-place finish, in The Netherlands.

Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross tied for fifth from The Hague, in their third Top 5 finish in as many events. Also in The Hague, Brittany Hochevar and Emily Day tied for ninth for their fourth Top 10 finish in 2017. The USA’s top men’s finishers tied for 17th: Stafford Slick/Billy Allen, and Sean Rosenthal/Trevor Crabb.

The U.S. had teams playing in The Netherlands (3 Star), China (2 Star), and Monaco (1 Star) this weekend. From The Hague, the site of the 2015 FIVB Beach World Championships, two American teams advanced out of the qualifier into the main draw. Rosenthal/Crabb, who would tie for 17th, earned two wins in qualification, before going 1-1 in pool play. Hochevar/Day won their second-round qualifier match before going 2-0 in pool play and advancing straight into the second round of the main draw.

Hochevar and Day lost to Canada in their second round match, 21-10, 21-13, but proved once again their partnership can push through qualification and into the deeper rounds, something they’ve now done on three occasions.

Not surprising, Sweat and Ross tallied their third Top 5 finish, tying for fifth after sweeping their pool and earning a big victory in the second round against Brazil’s Barbara Seixas/Fernanda Alves, 22-24, 22-20, 15-10. In the quarterfinals, they fell in two, 21-17, 21-16, to Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre/Joana Heidrich.

The American men faced tougher results, with the top seeded No. 8 Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner being ousted after pool play following losses to Austria and Canada. Both Rosenthal/Crabb and Slick/Allen were eliminated in the first round. Rosenthal/Crabb lost to Switzerland, while Slick/Allen took the match to three sets, but could not rally back against the Czech Republic.

Moscow silver medallists @summernoelross & @BaSweat move into The Hague last eight, upsetting @barbaraseixas & Fernanda 2-1 #BeachWorldTour pic.twitter.com/eAnNjgMMFf

— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) June 16, 2017

WEEK IN REVIEW
Hague 3-Star
– Tied for 5th: Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross, in three events, duo has finished in the Top 5 each time
– Tied for 9th: Brittany Hochevar/Emily Day, duo has five T25 finishes in 2017, the most for a USA women’s team, fourth finish in T10
– Tied for 17th: Stafford Slick/Billy Allen, their third consecutive t17th finish; Sean Rosenthal/Trevor Crabb, their third T25 finish and second tying for 17th
– Tied for 25th: Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner, their fourth T25 finish of the year, but earliest exit

Nanjing 2-Star
– Playing in semifinals on June 18: Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen
– Tied for 5th: Kimberly DiCello/Emily Stockman, the third T10 finish for the duo in 2017
– Tied for 9th: Amanda Dowdy/Irene Pollock, their first World Tour event of 2017

Monaco 1-Star
– Tied for 9th: Lara Dykstra/Jace Pardon, their first career FIVB World Tour event