COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 3, 2019) – Led by Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings, four U.S. women’s teams finished in the top 10 at the FIVB World Tour four-star event in Sunday in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Sweat/Walsh Jennings (left to right in photo above) placed fourth, losing in the third-place match to Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (25-23, 21-17) and in the semifinals to Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Santos (21-16, 21-14).
Sweat/Walsh Jennings had beaten Agatha/Duda in the semifinals the previous weekend at the Jinjiang four-star.
Alix Klineman/April Ross finished fifth. The pair went undefeated until the third round when they lost to Agatha/Duda, 21-18, 21-18. Klineman/Ross beat Sweat/Walsh Jennings in a pool-play battle, 18-21, 21-16, 17-15.
Sara Hughes/Summer Ross and Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil each tied for ninth. Claes/Sponcil fell to Klineman/Ross in the second round (21-15, 21-18) while Hughes/S Ross fell to Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva/Rebecca Cavalcanti Barbosa (21-17, 21-18).
On the men’s side, Billy Allen/Stafford Slick and Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb each finished tied for 17th after losing in the first round.
Theo Brunner/Reid Priddy finished tied for 25th.
OLYMPIC RANKINGS
The U.S. is the only country to have five women’s beach teams in the top 15 of the Olympic rankings.
The top two U.S. teams (women’s and men’s) that finish in the top 15 will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the end of the qualifying period on June 15, 2020.
WOMEN
1 Ana Patrícia/Rebecca BRA 2,620
2 Walsh Jennings/Sweat USA 2,230
3 Klineman/Ross USA 1,860
4 Brandie/Bansley CAN 1,770
5 Ishii/Murakami JPN 1,600
6 Pavan/Melissa CAN 1,580
7 Hughes/Summer USA 1,400
8 Clancy/Artacho Del Solar AUS 1,330
9 Day/Flint USA 1,250
10 Sponcil/Claes USA 1,240
11 Betschart/Hüberli SUI 1,160
12 Strbova/Dubovcova SVK 1,160
13 Samoday/Lunina UKR 1,155
14 Amaranta/Lobato ESP 1,150
15 Menegatti/Orsi Toth ITA 1,130
MEN
1 Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy RUS 2,200
2 Mol, A./Sørum, C. NOR 2,080
3 Bryl/Fijalek POL 1,560
4 Pedlow/Schachter CAN 1,510
5 Grimalt M./Grimalt E. CHI 1,460
6 Cherif/Ahmed QAT 1,420
7 Crabb Tr./Bourne USA 1,420
8 Herrera/Gavira ESP 1,400
9 Perusic/Schweiner CZE 1,280
10 P. Gao/Y. Li CHN 1,270
11 Brouwer/Meeuwsen NED 1,240
12 Rudol/Szalankiewicz POL 1,230
13 Plavins/Tocs LAT 1,200
14 Seidl Rob./Waller AUT 1,180
15 Bergmann/Harms, Y. GER 1,170
VOTE FOR BROOKE AND KERRI!
Brooke Sweat and Kerri Walsh Jennings have been nominated for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, Best of May.
You can vote for them early and often at TeamUSA.org/Awards.
2019 ANOC WORLD BEACH GAMES TRIALS
Trials for the ANOC World Beach Games will be held June 28 in Manhattan Beach.
The ANOC World Beach Games are scheduled for Oct. 8-15 at a site to be determined.
Men’s and women’s beach teams of four people are encouraged to register at https://go.usav.org/19ANOCtrials.
COMING UP
June 7-9 NORCECA Tour in La Paz, Mexico
Women
McKenna Thibodeau/Madison Witt
Devon Newberry/Peri Brennan
Men
Travis Mewhirter/Kyle Friend
June 7-10 FIVB One-Star in Baden, Austria
Women
Kaley Melville/Lindsey Fuller
June 7-9 AVP New York
June 11-16 FIVB Four-Star in Warsaw, Poland
Women Main Draw
Alix Klineman/April Ross
Sara Hughes/Summer Ross
Sarah Sponcil/Kelly Claes
Country Quota
Betsi Flint/Emily Day
Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen
Kerri Walsh Jennings/Brooke Sweat
Men Main Draw
Nick Lucena/Phil Dalhausser
Trevor Crabb/Tri Bourne
Theo Brunner/Reid Priddy
Country Quota
Casey Patterson/Chase Budinger
Stafford Slick/Billy Allen
June 14-16 FIVB One-Star in Ios Island, Greece
Women
Kaley Melville/Lindsey Fuller