July 29, 2010

Two Women’s Beach Teams are 3-0 in Austria

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams of Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh and also Jen Kessy and April Ross completed pool play undefeated on Thursday at the 2010 FIVB World Tour A1 Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Both teams advanced straight to Friday’s second round.

Fourth seeded May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) defeated Czech Republic’s 13th-seeded Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova, 19-21, 21-14, 15-6 in 46 minutes. They will continue play Friday against Austria’s ninth-seed Barbara Hansel and Sara “Monti” Montagnolli at 9 a.m. (local time).

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), ranked sixth, defeated the 11th-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of Netherlands due to an injury forfeit by the Dutch team. The pair will play in round two against Kriystina Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of Czech Republic, seeded 16th, at 9 a.m. (local time).

Complete release is posted at http://usavolleyball.org/news/article/37576.
Girls' Youth Teams Unbeaten in Portugal
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. girls’ youth beach teams of Lara Dykstra and Rebecca Strehlow and also Summer Ross and Jane Croson are both 2-0 in pool play on Thursday at the 2010 FIVB Beach Youth (U-19) World Championships in Porto, Portugal.
The women’s USA2 team of Dykstra (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif.), seeded 24th, defeated top-seeded Mariana Alexandre and Joana Neto of Portugal, 21-16, 21-14 in 33 minutes. The pair continued their hot streak and topped the 12th-seed, Changning Zhang and Fan Wang of China, 21-18, 21-14 in 34 minutes. They will conclude pool play Friday facing Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Eliza Haynes, ranked 13th, at 1 p.m. (local time).

The women’s USA1 team of Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Croson (Lakewood, Calif.) opened up main draw pool play with a 21-23, 21-18, 15-7 victory over Austria’s 22nd-seeded Katharina Schutzenhofer and Lena Plesiutschnig, in 53 minutes.  The pair defeated the 15th-seed, Giada Benazzi and Sara Lombardi of Italy, 21-11, 21-17, in 26 minutes. They will resume play Friday as they finish up pool play against 10th-seeded Tereza Vankova and Eliska Galova of Czech Republic at 2 p.m. (local time). Complete release is posted at http://usavolleyball.org/news/article/37577.