USA Volleyball

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Communications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 9, 2012) – The Chase for London continued Saturday at the Moscow Grand Slam in Russia as the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena opened pool play going 2-0, while Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal are 1-1.

On the women’s side, the U.S. beach volleyball teams of Jen Kessy and April Ross along with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh both advanced to the second round.

The Moscow Grand Slam is part of the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.

Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) went into Moscow trailing Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) by 40 points in the race for the second men’s slot on the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team.

However, Fuerbringer and Lucena, seeded No. 7, opened pool play with victories over Poland’s No. 26-seeded team of Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz (21-15, 29-31, 15-7 in 1 hour, 1 minute) and Germany’s 23rd-seeded David Klemperer and Eric Koreng (21-14, 15-21, 15-8 in 50 minutes.).

On Sunday, Fuerbringer and Lucena will complete pool play against Russia’s No. 10 Yaroslav Koshkarev and Konstantin Semenov. The first round of single elimination will also be played on Sunday.

Gibb and Rosenthal fell to Russia’s ninth-ranked Yury Bogatov and Serguei Prokopiev to open pool play, 21-19, 21-16 in 41 minutes. The U.S. pair bounced back to defeat Switzerland’s 24th-seeded Patrick Heuscher and Jefferson Bellaguarda, 21-14, 21-12 in 34 minutes.

Gibb and Rosenthal will conclude pool play on Sunday against Switzerland’s No. 25-seeded Sasha Heyer and Sebastian Chevallier.

In the women’s main draw, Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the No. 4 seeds, finished pool play with a 21-13, 21-12 victory in 33 minutes over Belgium’s No. 23-seeded Liesbeth Mouha and Katrien Gielen.

The U.S. pair advanced to the second round where they will face Italy’s No. 8 Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti on Sunday. Round 3 will also be played on Sunday.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded No. 6, won their final pool play match over Germany’s 11th-seeded team of Sarah Goller and Laura Ludwig, 22-20, 21-13 in 37 minutes.

In Sunday’s second round they will play Russia’s No. 9 Anastasia Vasina and Anna Vozakova.

If Kessy/Ross and May-Treanor/Walsh both win their second-round matches, they will play each other in the third round.

For complete information about the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour, visit their web site.