Jen Kessy (left) and April Ross seek a third Norwegian gold medal next week in Stavanger as the American pair is the top-ranked team on the 2010 women's SWATCH FIVB World Tour. | Lausanne, Switzerland, June 22, 2010 - It is another week’s break for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour before the international circuit resumes competition with its third of six Grand Slam events of the 2010 season in Norway where Stavanger hosts the Beach Volleyball community for the 12th-straight season on the dockside court in Vaagen Harbour.
The US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam features both men’s and women’s play with competition beginning June 28 and concluding July 3 and July 4 with the medal matches as the winning pairs in each gender will share the $43,500 first-place prizes along with claiming the 800 team points used in determining the season-ending SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions.
Teams from the United States currently are the top-ranked teams in the world as the American pairs of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Jen Kessy/April Ross are returning to Stavanger where both teams have captured the coveted “Viking swords” in the past.
Dalhausser and Rogers, who topped the Norwegian Grand Slam podium in 2008, currently lead the men’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour standings as the reigning Olympic champions have amassed 3,740 points for the first six men’s events in 2010 with six “final four” finishes, five podium placements and four gold medals with $174,200 in winnings.
With two Stavanger titles, including a Grand Slam crown in 2007 and a world championship gold medal in 2009, Kessy and Ross and compiled 3,020 points for the first five women’s events with five “final four” finishes, four podium placements and two gold medals with $129,200 in winnings.
While Dalhausser and Rogers hold a 720 point lead over Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil (3,020 points) in the men’s race with defending SWATCH tour champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany (3,000 points) in third-place, Kessy and Ross’s advantage is only 160 points in the women’s competition.
Four-time SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009) trail Kessy and Ross in the standings (3,020 to 2,860 points). Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil is third (2,220) followed by Chen Xue and Xi Zhang of China (2,180) and Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany (2,160).
While the women’s international play was idle this past week, the men competed in the Czech Republic where the SWATCH FIVB World Tour’s top three teams were collecting the medals led by Dalhausser and Rogers return to the top of the podium after placing second seven days earlier in Russia.
By becoming the 17th men’s team to win five or more elimination matches enroute to a FIVB gold medal, Dalhausser and Rogers captured the Prague gold medal by defeating Brink and Reckermann in the semi-finals before netting their 12th SWATCH title with a 21-15, 14-21 and 15-11 win over Alison and Emanuel in the Prague finale. Brink and Reckermann rebounded to defeat Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China in the Czech bronze medal match 25-27, 21-9 and 15-10.
Almost a week earlier in the Moscow gold medal match, Dalhausser and Rogers were upset in three sets by Wu and Xu. Brink and Reckermann captured their second of three bronze medals this season by defeating Casey Jennings and Brad Keenan in the Russian Grand Slam third-place match.
Wu and Xu’s Moscow gold medal marked a “first” for a Chinese men’s team in the 24-year history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour as the Russian victory created the Asian country’s first-ever gold medal sweep on the same weekend of men’s and women’s play. Xue and Zhang defeated Kessy and Ross for the women’s gold medal in Moscow as China became the third country to accomplish the “sweep”. Brazilian men and women have posted 47 weekend “doubles” with American teams topping each podium on the same weekend 11 times.
After the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam, the SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues with another Grand Slam stop July 5-11 in Gstaad, Switzerland, before taking another week off. “Open” play returns to France July 19-25 in Marseille before the final two Grand Slam stops in Austria (Klagenfurt, July 26-August 1) and Poland (Stare Jablonki, August 2-8).
2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Women’s Leaders (through June 13)
Women’s Team Rank, points
1, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 3,020
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 2,860
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 2,220
4, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 2,180
5, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 2,160
6, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 1,820
7, Angie Akers/Tyra Turner, United States, 1,700
7, Nicole Branagh/Misty May-Treanor, United States, 1,700
9, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 1,400
10, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 1,180
11, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 1,140
12, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 1,100
13, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 1,000
14, Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 940
15, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 880
16, Maria Bratkova/Evgenia Ukolova, Russia, 800
16, Vanilda Leao/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 800
16, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 800
19, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 700
20, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 680
21, Geeske Banck/Anja Gunther, Germany, 660
22, Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgium, 640
23, Ying Huang/Yuan Yue, China, 570
24, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 560 Women’s Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings
1, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 5, 2, $129,200
2, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 5, 2, $117,200
3, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 5, 1, $79,400
4, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 5, 0, $74,800
5, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 5, 0, $70,400
6, Angie Akers/Tyra Turner, United States, 4, 0, $51,300
7, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 5, 0, $49,800
8, Nicole Branagh/Misty May-Treanor, United States, 4, 0, $48,800
9, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 5, 0, $37,800
10, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 5, 0, $29,500
11, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 5, 0, $29,050
12, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 4, 0, $28,250
13, Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 5, 0, $24,550
14, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 4, 0, $24,500
15, Maria Bratkova/Evgenia Ukolova, Russia, 5, 0, $21,800
16, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 4, 0, $21,600
17, Vanilda Leao/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 4, 0, $19,850
18, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 5, 0, $19,800
18, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 4, 0, $19,800
20, Daniela Gioria/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 4, 0, $19,500
21, Geeske Banck/Anja Gunther, Germany, 4, 0, $19,000
22, Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgium, 4, 0, $17,750
23, Ying Huang/Yuan Yue, China, 5, 0, $16,600
24, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 4, 0, $16,450 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Men’s Leaders (through June 20)
Men’s Team Rank, points
1, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 3,740
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 3,020
3, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 3,000
4, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 2,560
5, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 2,080
6, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 1,960
7, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 1,880
8, Pedro Cunha/Thiago Santos Barbosa, Brazil, 1,620
9, Casey Jennings/Brad Keenan, United States, 1,560
10, Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 1,520
11, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 1,440
12, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 1,420
13, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 1,280
14, Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst, Austria, 1,020
15, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 980
16, Yury Bogatov/Serguei Prokopiev (II), Russia, 954
17, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Martin Laciga, Switzerland, 900
18, Renato "Geor" Gomes/Jorge "Gia" Terceiro, Georgia, 884
19, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 860
20, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 840
21, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 720
22, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 700
23, Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 580
24, Karl Jaani/Rivo Vesik, Estonia, 560
Men’s Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings
1, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 6, 4, $174,200
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 6, 0, $105,700
3, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 6, 0, $100,000
4, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 6, 0, $79,900
5, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 5, 1, $72,950
6, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 6, 0, $55,200
7, Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 4, 1, $54,000
8, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 6, 0, $48,200
9, Casey Jennings/Brad Keenan, United States, 6, 0, $44,000
10, Pedro Cunha/Thiago Santos Barbosa, Brazil, 6, 0, $42,250
11, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 6, 0, $37,000
12, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 5, 0, $35,350
13, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 5, 0, $34,700
14, Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst, Austria, 5, 0, $26,300
15, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Martin Laciga, Switzerland, 6, 0, $26,200
16, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 4, 0, $25,450
17, Yury Bogatov/Serguei Prokopiev (II), Russia, 6, 0, $23,050
18, Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 4, 0, $22,250
19, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 4, 0, $21,050
20, Renato "Geor" Gomes/Jorge "Gia" Terceiro, Georgia, 6, 0, $20,650
21, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 5, 0, $20,200
22, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 5, 0, $19,100
23, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 6, 0, $15,500
24, Karl Jaani/Rivo Vesik, Estonia, 4, 0, $15,100 |
