April Ross: Spiraling Down with Jenniffer Kessy
April Ross and Jennifer Kessy had quite a disappointing tournament at Gstaad, Switzerland for the AVP tour. Eliminated by the bronze medalist Chinese Xue / Zhang team, Ross and Kessy had been quickly robbed of the opportunity to reach the semi-finals. But the losses are actually following a patter of recent futility of the two partners.
This season looks to be difficult, even more so than usual. Ross and her partner of four years—a significant amount of time for beach volleyball partnership—had been eliminated the week before in Stavenger's Grand Slam event, in the earlier stages of the competition. While they had to face the skilled Brazilian squad of Juliana da Silva and Larissa Franca, which ended being the gold medalists, two consecutive early eliminations might cause a change in the usually formidable American team.
A successful career
Ross had quite a prolific career so far, which was grandly improved by her partnership with Kessy. She was however always able to shine, even without Kessy at the beginning of her career, and would have benefitted any partner.
She began her beach volleyball professional career with Keao Burdine, a teammate from college, in 2006. The two Americans then participated in the next 13 events of the season, finishing ninth at best. That year Ross won the title of the AVP rookie of the season. Ross then finished the season by trying out new partners, such as Barbra Fontana and Nancy Mason during two FIVB events, finishing at best 17th.
The next year was quite eventful for Ross. She met and joined Kessy, with whom she participated at the season opener in Miami, finishing second. The American duo continued their partnership and reached five other semi-finals next, which included a championship match.
They then defeated their fellow American beach volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh at Hermosa Beach during the winner's bracket; this was the first time that May-Treanor and Walsh had lost before the semi-finals in a AVP tour. In the Stavenger Grand Slam they were the lowest ranked team to win a FIVB event, upsetting the more experienced teams. At the end of the season Ross was in three categories in the top 10 of the AVP tour: second in aces per game, seventh in hitting percentage, and sixth in kills. Ross finished the season by placing second with her partner Kessy in St. Petersburg.
In 2008, Ross and Kessy reached all the semi-finals of the AVP events they have entered except for one, and participated in five championship matches, which enabled them to rank as the third best team of the tour. Again, Ross' brilliant skills in offensive overcame her opponents, and she was the top player in aces of the tour, and eighth in hitting percentage.
Unfortunately Ross and her partner Kessy were not able to enter the Beijing Summer Olympic Games as they were ranked the third best American team. The American duo however finished the season as the second best team, earned by two consecutive win at the end of the FIVB season. Ross was observed to have the speediest serve of the year, reaching 85.7 km/hr during a competition in Berlin.
However their partnership disappointed many of their supporters. The Americans’ skills appear to have been deteriorating during the two past Grand Slam events of the season. They were ranked third at the beginning of the year, but they still have many titles to gain to climb back to the top. Some rumors have been spread that the Americans might have also lost their magic touch, and would be spiraling to the bottom teams quickly.
The two Ross and Kessy will be however giving to each other another chance to be victorious in the next AVP event in the tour in Marseille, France next week. It will be a testament to their strong team spirit if they were to confidently reach the finale at the event, as they were used to. We will have to wait and see to know more if they can turn it around and reach their full potential, or come up just short yet again.
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