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Courtney Nelson
Intern, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-mail:
courtney.nelson@usav.org
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 12, 2012) – The U.S. beach volleyball teams at the FIVB SWATCH Youth (U-19) World Championships both advanced to play another day in Larnaka, Cyprus.
The girls’ team of Justine Wong-Orantes (Cypress, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) won its pool and advanced straight to Round 2 after defeating two more teams on Thursday to go 3-0 overall in pool play.
In the first match of the day, the duo defeated No. 24-seeded Roukeya Insa Garanke and Samira Abdou Hamadou of Nigeria 21-8, 21-0 in 23 minutes. The U.S. team carried the momentum into the second match against Australia’s No.9-seeded Rebecca Reeve and Jessyka Ngauamo, winning the match 21-16, 21-16 in 34 minutes.
On Friday, the U.S. girls will play the winner of the match between No. 30-seeded Ioanna Leonidou and Erika Zempyla of Cyprus and Lithuania’s No. 18-seeded Ieva Dumbauskaite and Monika Povilaityte.
The American boys’ team of Bennett Bird and Riley Mallon dropped its only game on Thursday to Martin Ermacora and Lukas Peter Stranger of Austria 21-19, 21-17 in 39 minutes. Bird and Mallon still advanced to Round 1 of single elimination and will play on Friday against Croatia’s No. 18-seeded Ivan Zeljkovic and Mario Boras.
Friday’s play will be in a single-elimination format, meaning that a team is finished after losing just one game. The medal matches will take place on Saturday.
The event has brought in 80 teams, including 40 men’s and 40 women’s, to compete for the title in Cyprus’ third largest city. Thirty-six countries are represented at the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth World Championships.
The format for the event has placed 32 teams in each gender in the main draw. Six pools with four teams in each will compete in pool play before the top three teams from each pool will advance to single-elimination play on Friday. Following those matches, the championship matches will be played on Saturday.
For more information about the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth (Under-19) World Championships, visit the FIVB web site.