COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Volleyball’s professional beach teams will celebrate Independence Day this year with the start of the Gstaad 5 Star in Switzerland. Later in the week, the Beach High Performance program will host the Collegiate Beach Open in Huntington Beach, California.
In Switzerland, USA has eight teams in the main draw, and another two playing in qualification on July 4. The 5-Star tournament is the last at that designation in 2017, and part of a two-week swing that is preparing teams for the FIVB Beach World Championships, which is set to start July 28.
On July 4, John Hyden/Ryan Doherty and Emily Stockman/Kimberly DiCello will play in the second round of qualification, respectively, to advance into the main draw. USA has four men’s and women’s teams in the main draw. Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross are the top seeded women’s team, at sixth. Earning a wild card were Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branagh, a break after the duo were eliminated in country quota last week in Croatia. Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are once again the top U.S. men’s seed, entering the tournament ranked third.
| FIVB Gstaad 5-Star Roster | ||||||
| Athletes | Coach | Entry | ||||
| Brooke Sweat | Summer Ross | Ty Tramblie | Main Draw | |||
| Kelly Claes | Sara Hughes | Main Draw | ||||
| Lauren Fendrick | April Ross | Jon Daze | Main Draw | |||
| Kerri Walsh Jennings | Nicole Branagh | Marcio Sicoli | Main Draw Wild Card | |||
| Emily Stockman | Kimberly DiCello | Qualification/Country Quota | ||||
| Brittany Hochevar | Emily Day | Hector Gutierrez | Country Quota | |||
| Phil Dalhausser | Nick Lucena | Jason Lochhead | Main Draw | |||
| Casey Patterson | Theo Brunner | Rich Lambourne | Main Draw | |||
| Jake Gibb | Taylor Crabb | Marcio Sicoli | Main Draw | |||
| Sean Rosenthal | Trevor Crabb | Main Draw | ||||
| John Hyden | Ryan Doherty | Qualification | ||||
| Staff | ||||||
| Sean Scott | Team Lead/Video | |||||
| Aimee Miyazawa | USAV Beach Head Athletic Trainer | |||||
| Anthony Darmiento | USAV Strength and Conditioning | |||||
| Karla Solum | Sports Medicine, DC | |||||
| Tyler Widdison | Scout | |||||
COLLEGIATE BEACH OPEN
This week the USA Volleyball High Performance program will host the Collegiate Beach Open, July 6-8, in Huntington Beach, Calif. The Collegiate Beach Open is the first of two championship events in July, and will serve as the premiere event for the older athletes (U21/U23) in the HP pipeline. At the end of the month, the younger athletes that played in the zonal championships will compete at the USA Junior Beach Championships.
High Performance uses camps to assess its junior beach national team programs annually, for teams that compete in tournaments like the 2017 FIVB U21 World Championships, which follows next week in China, July 11-16.
JUNIOR BEACH TOUR
This week, seven tournaments sprinkle the schedule in the Midwest and West Coast. There are 12 JBT tournaments remaining in the regular season. The JBT Championships in Siesta Key, Florida, will run from July 20-25.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Porec 5-Star
– Tied for 5th: Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes, their second Top 5 finish on the World Tour since they graduated from USC in May; Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner, their second T5 finish this season; Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb, the third time they’ve tied for fifth in four events during 2017
– Tied for 9th: Lauren Fendrick/Lane Carico, their second and best T25 finish in 2017; Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, their lowest finish since May of 2016 (t17th)
– Tied for 17th: Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross, their earliest exit on the World Tour this year, but fourth T25 finish
– Tied for 25th: Brittany Hochevar/Emily Day, their sixth T25 finish in 2017, the most for a U.S. women’s team