Three beach teams tie for fifth in Xiamen

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA had three beach volleyball teams tie for fifth at the FIVB World Tour Xiamen 3 Star tournament in China.

Brittany Hochevar/Emily Day, Sean Rosenthal/Trevor Crabb, Ryan Doherty/Avery Drost each tied for fifth, respectively, marking team bests for each of the pairs. The U.S. had three additional teams all tie for 17th at the tournament.

In qualification, Caitlin Ledoux/Kendra Vanzwieten and Rosenthal/Tr. Crabb each picked up wins to advance into the main draw. The single elimination tournament featured 32 teams in the opening round of the main draw, the U.S. had two men’s teams and one women’s team advance out of the round.

In the round of 16, Hochevar/Day topped Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen/Anniina Parkkinen, 21-12, 21-15. They moved on to their first quarterfinal appearance of the year, but dropped the match to Brazil’s Barbara Seixas/Fernanda Alves,13-21, 21-16, 15-12.

In the men’s round of 16, Doherty and Drost took out Australia’s Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann, 21-18, 21-19. Rosenthal/Tr. Crabb also notched a win, against Qatar’s Julio Cesar/Ahmen Tijan, 21-18, 21-16. Both teams met their elimination in the quarterfinals, Doherty/Drost falling in two to Italy and Rosenthal/Tr. Crabb to the Netherlands in three.

WEEK IN REVIEW
Xiamen 3-Star
– Tied for fifth: Brittany Hochevar/Emily Day; Ryan Doherty/Avery Drost, Sean Rosenthal/Trevor Crabb
– Tied for 17th: Kimberly DiCello/Emily Stockman, Caitlin Ledoux/Kendra Vanzwieten; Stafford Slick/Billy Allen

UPCOMING EVENTS
April 21-23 NORCECA Cayman Islands
May 4-7 AVP Huntington Beach
May 5-7 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship
May 11-13 USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships
May 17-21 FIVB Rio 4-Star
May 18-21 AVP Austin
May 23-28 FIVB Lucerne 4-Star
May 31 – June 4 FIVB Moscow 3-Star