USA women's teams post 4-0 mark at FIVB China Open
The pro beach volleyball teams of Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan compiled a 4-0 match record for the United States on Friday (May 28) at the FIVB China Open, as both tandems need to win at least two more games each Saturday to improve their Olympic qualifying point totals.
The pro beach volleyball teams of Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan compiled a 4-0 match record for the United States here Friday (May 28) as both tandems need to win at least two more games each Saturday to improve their Olympic qualifying point totals.
With Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the top-ranked team on the women's Olympic qualification list missing the next two SWATCH-FIVB World Tour events to compete in domestic events in Southern California, the McPeak/Youngs and Davis/Johnson Jordan teams competition for the second United States berth in Athens remains close with only four points separating the two teams.
With their 21-17 and 21-13 victory over McPeak and Youngs in the Rhodes title match this past Sunday, May and Walsh have now won 80-straight pro beach matches enroute to their 14th-straight title. Combined with three domestic titles in Florida, Arizona and Texas, May and Walsh have now won five titles this season.
Seeded third in the 32-team Main Draw for this week's $180,000 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event, McPeak and Youngs competed for 73 minutes on the sand Friday to defeat teams from Austria and Bulgaria to advance to their opening winner's bracket match Saturday against sixth-seeded Nicole Schnyder-Benoit and Simone Kuhn of Switzerland. The Americans will be seeking to avenge a 21-19, 19-21 and 15-12 elimination loss to the Swiss pair in March's Brazilian event.
The fourth-seeded Davis and Johnson Jordan spent on 65 minutes on the sand Friday in bettering teams from Greece and Cuba prior to facing 21st-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Efthalia Koutroumanidou. The Greek tandem, who dropped their only match against Davis and Johnson Jordan last July in France, scored a pair off upset wins over tandems from Australia and China during the opening two rounds Friday.
With opening wins Saturday, both American teams are guaranteed fifth-place finishes this week to erase the 180-point efforts each teams achieved when they both placed seventh in the 2004 season opener in Brazil. Opening wins Saturday will earn Davis and Johnson Jordan a match against either top-seeded Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar or ninth-seeded Lu Wang/Whenhui You of China. If McPeak and Youngs win their first match Saturday, they will play either seventh-seeded Suzanne Lahme/Danja Musch of Germany or 15th-seeded Dalixia Fernandez Grasset/Tamara Larrea Peraza of Cuba.
Although finishing fourth in Greece, Davis and Johnson still moved ahead of McPeak and Youngs on the United States' Olympic qualifying list. May and Walsh are the No. 1 ranked team in the world on the Olympic qualifying list with 3,900 points from their best eight finishes on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour since January 2003. Davis and Johnson Jordan now have 2,558 points followed by McPeak and Youngs at 2,554.
May and Walsh, who will be competing this weekend in Huntington Beach, Calif., will also miss the next SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event in Japan before returning to international play for the final three Olympic qualifying events in Switzerland, Germany and Norway. The tandems of McPeak/Youngs and Davis/Johnson Jordan are also scheduled to miss the Japanese event to compete in the domestic Manhattan Beach event with May and Walsh.
For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.
With Misty May and Kerri Walsh, the top-ranked team on the women's Olympic qualification list missing the next two SWATCH-FIVB World Tour events to compete in domestic events in Southern California, the McPeak/Youngs and Davis/Johnson Jordan teams competition for the second United States berth in Athens remains close with only four points separating the two teams.
With their 21-17 and 21-13 victory over McPeak and Youngs in the Rhodes title match this past Sunday, May and Walsh have now won 80-straight pro beach matches enroute to their 14th-straight title. Combined with three domestic titles in Florida, Arizona and Texas, May and Walsh have now won five titles this season.
Seeded third in the 32-team Main Draw for this week's $180,000 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event, McPeak and Youngs competed for 73 minutes on the sand Friday to defeat teams from Austria and Bulgaria to advance to their opening winner's bracket match Saturday against sixth-seeded Nicole Schnyder-Benoit and Simone Kuhn of Switzerland. The Americans will be seeking to avenge a 21-19, 19-21 and 15-12 elimination loss to the Swiss pair in March's Brazilian event.
The fourth-seeded Davis and Johnson Jordan spent on 65 minutes on the sand Friday in bettering teams from Greece and Cuba prior to facing 21st-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Efthalia Koutroumanidou. The Greek tandem, who dropped their only match against Davis and Johnson Jordan last July in France, scored a pair off upset wins over tandems from Australia and China during the opening two rounds Friday.
With opening wins Saturday, both American teams are guaranteed fifth-place finishes this week to erase the 180-point efforts each teams achieved when they both placed seventh in the 2004 season opener in Brazil. Opening wins Saturday will earn Davis and Johnson Jordan a match against either top-seeded Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar or ninth-seeded Lu Wang/Whenhui You of China. If McPeak and Youngs win their first match Saturday, they will play either seventh-seeded Suzanne Lahme/Danja Musch of Germany or 15th-seeded Dalixia Fernandez Grasset/Tamara Larrea Peraza of Cuba.
Although finishing fourth in Greece, Davis and Johnson still moved ahead of McPeak and Youngs on the United States' Olympic qualifying list. May and Walsh are the No. 1 ranked team in the world on the Olympic qualifying list with 3,900 points from their best eight finishes on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour since January 2003. Davis and Johnson Jordan now have 2,558 points followed by McPeak and Youngs at 2,554.
May and Walsh, who will be competing this weekend in Huntington Beach, Calif., will also miss the next SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event in Japan before returning to international play for the final three Olympic qualifying events in Switzerland, Germany and Norway. The tandems of McPeak/Youngs and Davis/Johnson Jordan are also scheduled to miss the Japanese event to compete in the domestic Manhattan Beach event with May and Walsh.
For more information on FIVB beach volleyball, go to the FIVB web site.
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