USA men's beach volleyball teams winless in Brazil
The efforts by two men's beach volleyball teams from the United States did not produce any wins on Friday in three matches as both tandems were eliminated from the $180,000 FIVB Brazilian Open in Salvador, Brazil.
Todd Rogers and Sean Scott battled their opponents from Germany and Brazil to the end before being eliminated to place ninth and split $5,500 in the first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event of the 2004 season.
Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger lost to a team from Norway in their opening match Friday to finish 13th to share $4,000.
Seeded 12th in the 32-team double-elimination main draw, Rogers and Scott missed an opportunity to win Friday's first match against fourth-seeded Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann of Germany. Leading 14-13 in the third set, Scott's attack went wide as the Germans scored the last three points of the match enroute to a 28-30, 21-16 and 16-14 win in 74 minutes.
In their final match Friday, Rogers and Scott dropped a 28-26 and 21-17 decision in 52 minutes to second-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Harley Marques of Brazil. Rogers and Scott had opened play Thursday with wins over teams from Brazil and Canada.
After winning two of three matches Thursday, the 13th-seeded Holdren and Rogers did not have an answer for "Euro ball" as they lost 14-21, 22-20 and 15-10 to 22nd-seeded Iver Horrem and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway.
"The Europeans are famous for unleashing some powerful serves," said Holdren after the match. "Sometimes, there service game costs them matches. For today, the Norwegians served us tough, especially from the middle of the match on. It's going to be a long season. We are disappointed, but not discouraged."
Holdren and Metzger split a pair of opening matches with teams from Germany, including a 19-21, 23-21 and 15-12 setback in 77 minutes by Dieckmann and Reckermann. The Americans advanced to Friday's action with a win over a team from France.
Fifth-seeded Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard of the United States was eliminated Thursday with a 1-2 mark to tie for 17th and split $3,000. They sandwiched a win over a team from Brazil with an opening loss to Canada and elimination defeat against Argentina.
The United States also had three teams in the qualifier with Eric Fonoimoana and Kevin Wong being eliminated Wednesday after winning a USA country quota playoff with the teams of Casey Jennings/Matt Fuerbringer and Sean Rosenthal/Larry Witt.
The Salvador event continues Saturday with two semi-final matches where the teams of top-seeded Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos of Brazil and sixth-seeded Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher of Switzerland advanced to the "final four" with 4-0 marks. The medal matches will be played Sunday where the Gold Medal team wins the $27,000 first-place prize.
With two of their four wins against United States tandems, Dieckmann and Reckermann play Kobel and Heuscher in Saturday's first semi-final. Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde of Argentina, the 11th-seeded team, challenges Emanuel and Ricardo in the second "final four" match. Baracetti and Conde, who ousted Blanton and Nygaard Thursday, had to win five elimination matches to reach the semis.
For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.
Todd Rogers and Sean Scott battled their opponents from Germany and Brazil to the end before being eliminated to place ninth and split $5,500 in the first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event of the 2004 season.
Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger lost to a team from Norway in their opening match Friday to finish 13th to share $4,000.
Seeded 12th in the 32-team double-elimination main draw, Rogers and Scott missed an opportunity to win Friday's first match against fourth-seeded Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann of Germany. Leading 14-13 in the third set, Scott's attack went wide as the Germans scored the last three points of the match enroute to a 28-30, 21-16 and 16-14 win in 74 minutes.
In their final match Friday, Rogers and Scott dropped a 28-26 and 21-17 decision in 52 minutes to second-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Harley Marques of Brazil. Rogers and Scott had opened play Thursday with wins over teams from Brazil and Canada.
After winning two of three matches Thursday, the 13th-seeded Holdren and Rogers did not have an answer for "Euro ball" as they lost 14-21, 22-20 and 15-10 to 22nd-seeded Iver Horrem and Bjorn Maaseide of Norway.
"The Europeans are famous for unleashing some powerful serves," said Holdren after the match. "Sometimes, there service game costs them matches. For today, the Norwegians served us tough, especially from the middle of the match on. It's going to be a long season. We are disappointed, but not discouraged."
Holdren and Metzger split a pair of opening matches with teams from Germany, including a 19-21, 23-21 and 15-12 setback in 77 minutes by Dieckmann and Reckermann. The Americans advanced to Friday's action with a win over a team from France.
Fifth-seeded Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard of the United States was eliminated Thursday with a 1-2 mark to tie for 17th and split $3,000. They sandwiched a win over a team from Brazil with an opening loss to Canada and elimination defeat against Argentina.
The United States also had three teams in the qualifier with Eric Fonoimoana and Kevin Wong being eliminated Wednesday after winning a USA country quota playoff with the teams of Casey Jennings/Matt Fuerbringer and Sean Rosenthal/Larry Witt.
The Salvador event continues Saturday with two semi-final matches where the teams of top-seeded Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos of Brazil and sixth-seeded Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher of Switzerland advanced to the "final four" with 4-0 marks. The medal matches will be played Sunday where the Gold Medal team wins the $27,000 first-place prize.
With two of their four wins against United States tandems, Dieckmann and Reckermann play Kobel and Heuscher in Saturday's first semi-final. Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde of Argentina, the 11th-seeded team, challenges Emanuel and Ricardo in the second "final four" match. Baracetti and Conde, who ousted Blanton and Nygaard Thursday, had to win five elimination matches to reach the semis.
For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.
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