Stavanger, Norway, June 26, 2008 - Following last week's SWATCH FIVB World Tour podium sweep in Paris, four women's teams from the United States completed pool play action here Thursday with a combined 12-0 match mark at the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam to earn first-round "byes" for elimination play. The four American teams were joined as group winners by two teams each from Brazil and Germany. The Germans teams of 19th-seeded Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau (Pool C) and 13th-seeded Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig (Pool D) posted a 3-0 group mark along with fifth-seeded Shelda Bede/Ana Paula Connelly of Brazil (Pool E). Sixth-seeded Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro of Brazil (Pool F) won two of three pool matches to earn a "bye." While Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh captured Pool A, the other 3-0 group winners from the United States were second-seeded Nicole Branagh/Elaine Youngs (Pool B), seventh-seeded Tyra Turner/Rachel Wacholder (Pool G) and eighth-seeded Jen Boss/April Ross (Pool H). Boss and Ross are the defending ConocoPhillips Grand Slam champions despite winning only one of three pool matches in 2007 on the Vaagen Harbour dockside courts. Jia Tian and Jie Wang, who finished second to Boss and Ross last year, failed to advance from Pool C this year as the third-seeded Chinese placed 25th this season. May-Treanor and Walsh protected their No. 1-seed for the elimination rounds by extending their record SWATCH FIVB World Tour winning streak to 58 matches with pool wins this week over teams from Norway, Germany and Cuba. The Americans will be seeking their first ConocoPhillips Grand Slam gold medal after placing fourth, second and third in their three previous Vaagen Harbour appearances. The reigning Olympic and three-time world champions, May-Treanor and Walsh have posted a 71-1 record since the end of the 2006 season with their only setback being a 21-19 and 21-19 decision to Tian and Wang in the 2007 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam semi-finals. The Americans defeated Goller and Ludwig for the Vaagen Harbour bronze medal last year.
In Paris last week, May-Treanor and Walsh defeated Turner and Wacholder for the gold medal while Branagh and Youngs defeated Tian and Wang for the bronze medal. Like this week, the United States women were undefeated in pool play with May-Treanor and Walsh posting consecutive elimination bracket wins over Boss/Ross, Branagh/Youngs and Turner/Wacholder to capture their 33rd SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal. With Turner and Wacholder not qualifying for the Berlin Grand Slam, the United States women have now posted a 32-1 pool play mark this season. The only setback was in a Berlin pool where Pohl and Rau scored a 21-18 and 21-16 victory over Branagh and Youngs to win the group. The 10th annual ConocoPhillips Grand Slam also features men's competition where 32 of the 48 pool play matches were staged Thursday. The women's "final four" contests will be played Saturday while the men's events concludes Sunday with the semi-final and medal matches. The winning teams will each share the $43,500 first-place prizes.
|
