US Women finish round-robin with success: Beijing Grand Slam – Beach Volleyball
The round-robin phase of the 2011 Beijing Grand Slam Beach Volleyball Tournament concluded on Thursday, June 9. A total of sixteen women's teams managed to clear the round with the US having the most teams move forward.
The following tandems qualified for the top-sixteen round:
Kuhn and Zumkehr – Switzerland Borger and Buthe – Germany Saka and Rtvelo – Georgia Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor – United States April Ross and Jennifer Kessy – United States Xue Chen and Zhang Xi – China Gioria and Momoli – Italy Maria Anotnelli and Talita Antues – Brazil Klapalova and Hajeckova – Czech Republic Lara Ludwig and Sara Goller – Germany Brooke Hanson and Lauren Fendrick – United States Schwaiger and Schwaiger – Austria Holtwick and Semmler – Germany Maria Clara Salgado and Carline Salgado – Brazil Slukova and Kolocova – Czech Republic Menegatti and Cicolari – Italy
The grid of top-16 team includes three American pairs who proved their skills against a very tough group of competitors.
Following a stellar performance against the Spanish duo, the American Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, successfully registered their names in the top-sixteen teams of the 2011 SWATCH FIVB Beijing Grand Slam. The two-time defending Olympic champions worked
out a great performance and posted 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) victory over Liliana Fernandez Steiner/Elsa Baquerizo Macmillan of Spain. The match took place on Thursday, June 9.
Kerri Walsh shared her thoughts after the match and said, “We played more under control, we took care of the ball better and we didn’t panic. In the past couple of matches we were kind of looking at our opponents and trying to focus on them while I think
we are trying to focus on ourselves now.” Speaking of her partnership, Walsh said that she and Misty have been playing for a long time. It was only a matter of a couple of tournaments and they will develop the right chemistry between them. She stated that
returning to the number one spot was a dream they are currently working on.
“We are getting better, we are getting our rhythm and we are trying to get back to the No. 1 team in the world this year and next year”, she concluded.
Third seeded pairing of April Ross and Jennifer Kessy of USA joined the top-16 group after beating 14th seeds Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari of Italy. The match spanned over two sets, where Ross and Kessy totally rolled over the opponents. They secured
the opening set of the match by sending 21-16 on board. The Italians couldn’t match their performance with the American duo and dropped the second set by 21-13. It was comparatively better performance by Kessy and Ross than the previous match against Czech
Republic.
American 13th seeds Brooke Hanson and Lauren Fendrick were already confirmed for the top-16 round as they won two matches on Wednesday. They pulled off success against duos from Germany and Czech Republic.
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