COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 15, 2018) – Alix Klineman/April Ross won gold and Sara Hughes/ Summer Ross took bronze on Sunday at the FIVB World Tour four-star event in Yanzhou, China.
Klineman/Ross, the second-seeded team in the main draw, won $20,000 and 800 points toward Olympic qualification. Hughes/Ross, the third seeds, won $10,000 and 640 points.
In the gold medal final, Klineman/Ross defeated Brazil’s Ana Patricia/Rebecca, 21-19, 21-16.
“We had to focus on our side,” Ross told the FIVB. “They served very tough, but Alix sided out very well. We just had to figure out to get some points here and there. It was really tough to play against them.”
“They are a great physical team,” Klineman added. “We know that they are going to push us, so we tried to be really aggressive.”
In the bronze medal match, Hughes/Ross beat Canada’s Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes, 16-21, 23-21, 15-5.
After losing the first set, Hughes/Ross had to fight off match point in the second. Pavan/Humana-Paredes never recovered and Hughes/Ross built a huge lead in the tiebreaker.
“We wanted to win a medal,” Hughes said. “We fought for each other and came up with a victory.”
Klineman/Ross went 1-1 in pool play, including a loss to their U.S. teammates Emily Day/Betsi Flint.
After beating Japan in the first round. Klineman/Ross beat the U.S. team of Kelly Claes/Kerri Walsh Jennings, 19-21, 21-16, 15-11 in the second round. In the semifinals, they defeated Pavan/Humana-Paredes, 21-19, 25-27, 15-11.
Hughes/Ross also lost a pool play match to Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova/Evgenia Ukolova 21-18, 13-21, 15-12. They ran into the Russian pair again in the third round and won, 21-19, 21-13.
Hughes/Ross fell to Ana Patricia/Rebecca in the semifinals, 21-16, 21-18.
FINAL STANDINGS IN YANZHOU
Women
1 Alix Klineman/April Ross
2 Ana Patricia/Rebecca (Brazil)
3 Sara Hughes/Summer Ross
9T Kelly Claes/Kerri Walsh Jennings
9T Betsi Flint/Emily Day
9T Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen
Men
1 Ilya Leshukov/Konstantin/Semenov (Russia)
2 Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy (Russia)
3 Gustavo Albrecht/Saymon Barbosa (Brazil)
9T Ryan Doherty/Billy Allen
9T Miles Evans/Bill Kolinske
9T Stafford Slick/Casey Patterson
DNQ David Lee/Mark Burik
Oct. 16-21: FIVB World Tour Four-Star in Las Vegas, Nev.
U.S. Teams
Women’s Main Draw
2 Summer Ross/Sarah Hughes
3 April Ross/Alix Klineman
7 Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen
11 Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings
Women’s Qualifiers
1 Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil
2 Betsi Flint/Emily Day
3 Brittany Howard/Nicole Branagh
Men’s Main Draw
7 Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb
23 Casey Patterson/Stafford Slick
24 Ryan Doherty/Bill Allen
Men’s Qualifiers
3 Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb
5 Sean Rosenthal/Chase Budinger
6 Bill Kolinske/Miles Evans
12 Reid Priddy/Jeremy Casebeer
15 Avery Drost/Eric Zaun
USAV Staff: Tyler Hildebrand
USAV Staff: Sean Scott
USAV Staff: Phil Noyes