USA Beach Volleyball2012 Yearbook

Greetings from London!

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball TeamBack row from left: Al Lau, Robert Alejo, Mike Dodd, Jeff Conover, Marcio Sicoli, Meiling Brownfield, Joel Carmichael, Jonpaul Roepke Front row from left: Jennifer Kessy, April Ross, Sean Rosenthal, Jake Gibb, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Misty May-Treanor

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................................3

Fast Facts ......................................................................................................................................................................4

2012 Season Review ...................................................................................................................................................5-8

2012 Male Player of the Year ......................................................................................................................................9-10

2012 Female Player of the Year .....................................................................................................................................10

2012 Beach Team of the Year ...................................................................................................................................11-12

2012 Official Olympic Statistics .....................................................................................................................................13

Match Recaps for the 2012 Olympic Games ..............................................................................................................14-37

Match Recaps for 2012 FIVB World Tour....................................................................................................................38-61

2012 NORCECA Beach Circuit Results ......................................................................................................................62-63

2012 Domestic Results ............................................................................................................................................64-65

U.S. Beach Volleyball Player Bios ...............................................................................................................................66-84

2012 USAV Beach Player Rankings ................................................................................................................................85

2012 FIVB World Tour Rankings .....................................................................................................................................86

All-Time Olympic Results ...............................................................................................................................................87

USA Beach Volleyball Fact Sheet ....................................................................................................................................88

Credits: The 2012 USA Beach Volleyball Yearbook is a copyrighted publication produced by USA Volleyball.

Content and Design: B.J. Hoeptner Evans, USA Volleyball Commmunications Manager

USA Beach Volleyball 200 Pier Ave., Ste. 134 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 (310) 975-3930

E-Mail: info@usav.org Web Site: www.usavolleyball.org

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Fast Facts

Headquarters: 200 Pier Ave., Ste. 134 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254Phone: (310) 975-3930Fax: (310) 376-7300Web site: USAVolleyball.org

Managing Director, Beach Programs: Dave WilliamsDirector, Beach Programs: Ali Wood-LambersonManager, Beach Events: Jonpaul RoepkeCoordinator, Beach Programs: Amber ScottCoordinator, Beach High Performance: Patricia Daugherty

Media Inquiries: B.J. Hoeptner EvansPhone: (719) 228-6800E-mail: BJ.Evans@USAV.org

USA Volleyball Fast FactsCEO: Doug BealNational Office: 4065 Sinton Road, Suite 200Colorado Springs, CO 80907Phone: (719) 228-6800 Fax: (719) 228-6899International Federation: The FIVB (Federation Internatio-nale de Volleyball — fivb.org)Regional Confederation: NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean — norceca.net)

Founded in 1928, USA Volleyball is a Colorado incorporated non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) as the National Governing Body for the sport of Volleyball in the United States. USAV is responsible for both the Olympic disciplines of indoor vol-leyball and beach volleyball. USAV has more than 262,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,300 clubs nationwide. With an annual budget in excess of $18 million dollars, USA Volleyball supports the USA men’s and women’s senior national team programs, youth and ju-nior national teams, national championship events, coaching education and certification programs, grassroots development, and programs for the disabled and Paralympic Teams. USA Volleyball has a rich tradition of success.

2012 International Beach Events (senior level)

FIVB World TourApril 15-22 Brasilia Open April 25-29 Olympic Bay Sanya Open (women only)April 24-29 Silesia Open (men only)April 30-May 6 Shanghai Grand SlamMay 7-3 Beijing Grand SlamMay 22-27 Patria Direct Prague Open (men only)June 6-12 Moscow Grand Slam June 12-17 smart Grand Slam RomeJuly 2-8 1to1 Energy Grand SlamJuly 10-15 smart Grand Slam Berlin 2012July 16-22 A1 Grand SlamJuly 28-Aug. 9 London Olympic GamesAug. 13-19 Mazury Orlen Grand SlamAug. 28-Sept. 2 Paf Open (women only)Oct. 23-28 Bangsaen Thailand Open (women only)

NORCECA Beach CircuitMarch 24-26 Cayman IslandsMarch 28-April 2 GuatemalaApril 4-9 Dominican RepublicMay 16-21 Chiapas, MexicoMay 23-29 Toluca, MexicoJune 6-11 Varadero, CubaAug. 22-27 Puerto RicoSept. 28-30 Chula Vista, Calif.Oct. 26-28 St. LuciaNov. 14-19 Trinidad & TobagoNov. 28-Dec. 3 Aruba

Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball SeriesMay 25-27 Florida OpenJune 22-24 Belmar OpenJune 13-15 Chicago OpenJuly 20-22 Hermosa Beach OpenAug. 3-5 Milwaukee ShootoutAug. 24-26 Manhattan Beach OpenSept. 21-13 Huntington Beach National Championship

NVLMay 17-19 NVL Preakness (Baltimore, Md.)Sept. 13-15 NVL Best of the Beach (Las Vegas)

AVP Aug. 30-Sept. 2 Cincinnati OpenSept. 7-9 AVP Championships (Santa Barbara, Calif.)

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2012 Season ReviewThe 2012 beach volleyball season saw strong performances from a variety of U.S. teams and players. From Olympic gold and silver medals to an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Cham-pionship to domestic dominance, U.S. teams made themselves known.

FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD TOUR

Going into the 2012 season, most of the qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games, which was based on finishes on the FIVB World Tour, had been decided. The two gold medal-winning U.S. teams from the 2008 Olympic Games – Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings along with Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rog-ers – had essentially already qualified for London.

Jennifer Kessy and April Ross were also very close to locking up the second women’s Olympic slot and clinched it during their second FIVB World Tour tournament of the season in Shanghai, China.

But the second men’s slot was still very much up in the air heading into the season as Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena held a lead of just 60 points over 2008 Olympians Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. Fuerbringer and Lucena took the silver medal at the first FIVB World Tour event of the 2012 season in Brasilia, Brazil, to increase their lead to 400 points as Gibb and Rosenthal finished tied for ninth.

However Gibb and Rosenthal took a fifth and a second at the next two events in Myslowice, Poland, and Shanghai, while Fuerbringer and Lucena placed seventh and fifth, which cut their lead to 100 points.

At the first Grand Slam event of the season in Beijing, Fuerbringer and Lucena tied for fifth place while Gibb and Rosenthal finished fourth, tying the two teams in Olympic quali-fying points at 4,920 apiece.

The Prague Open in Czech Republic on May 22-27 proved to be a turning point in the race as Gibb and Rosenthal placed ninth, but Fuer-

bringer and Lucena lost both their first round match and their consolation match to finish 25th. Gibb and Rosenthal took a 40-point lead and increased it the next weekend at the Grand Slam event in Moscow where they finished fifth while Fuer-bringer and Lucena placed ninth.

The slot would be decided in the final week of qualifying on June 13-17 in Rome. Gibb and Rosenthal went into the tournament with a 200-point lead. Perhaps fittingly, they found themselves in the same pool with Fuerbringer and Lucena, whom they de-feated in the first pool play match, 21-16, 20-22, 15-10.

Gibb and Rosenthal secured the Olympic berth with a third vic-tory over Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins, 21-16, 18-21, 16-14, that also propelled the U.S. pair into the semifinals.

“It has been a great week and a pretty good year,” Rosenthal said immediately after qualifying for the Olympic Games. “It has been a huge year and an emotional year.”

To put an exclamation point on their success, Gibb and Rosen-thal went on to win the tournament, defeating Brazil’s top-seed-ed Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, 21-13, 21-12 in the final.

With the pressure off, Gibb and Rosenthal won the next FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Gstaad, Switzerland, finished second in the Berlin Grand Slam and finished third in Klagen-furt, Austria. Although they did not reach the podium again, they finished the season as the FIVB World Tour champions.

Fuerbringer and Lucena did not reach a World Tour podium again after Brazil.

“Being ranked No. 1 in the world is something I never even put on my radar,” Gibb said. “I didn’t set it as a goal because I like to set re-alistic goals.”

Dalhausser and Rogers started the international season strong, winning the first two World Tour events in Brazil and Shanghai, China. But they finished 17th at the next event in Beijing, losing in the first round Sean Rosenthal, left, and Jake Gibb play against Brazil in Rome. FIVB photo

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2012 Season Reviewto Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai, the team that would also eliminate Dalhausser and Rogers from the Olympic Games. They came back to win the bronze medal at the Prague Open, but then took a break from the tour for the month of June. It was later revealed that Dalhausser had been hospitalized during that time with blood clots in his shoulder and arm.

Dalhausser and Rogers won their final FIVB World Tour medal as a team at the Mazuri Orlen Grand Slam in Poland where they finished third. They fin-ished the season ranked third on the Tour. After the season, Dalhausser announced that he would be competing with Rosenthal in 2013.

On the women’s side, May-Treanor and Walsh Jen-nings reached the podium twice prior to London, taking a second in Moscow and the gold in Gstaad.

Kessy and Ross won a bronze medal in Rome prior to winning the silver medal in London. They took their only international gold medal of the season in the final event in Thailand. Kessy and Ross finished the season ranked fourth on the tour while May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings finished 11th.

2012 OLYMPIC GAMES

With The London Eye in the background and the chimes of Big Ben across the street, the beach volleyball tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London began July 28, the day after the Opening Ceremony, at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings sailed through pool play, with the only hiccup being a three-set match against 15th-ranked Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger in their final pool play match on Aug. 1. Although the U.S. team, seeded third, won the match, 17-21, 21-8, 15-10 in 47 minutes, the first-set loss was the first they had in any of three Olympics. They had won 32 straight Olympic sets going into the match.

“Obviously we wanted to win in two straight sets,” May-Treanor said. “But a victory is a victory and I’m proud with how we came out that second set and carried on.”

Kessy and Ross, seeded fourth, also won all three of their pool play matches, but their toughest match was their final match against Spain’s 16th-seeded Liliana Fernández Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan. After fighting off three match points, Kessy and Ross won the match, 21-19, 19-21, 19-17 in 1 hour, 6 minutes; one of the three longest matches of the women’s tour-

nament.

“We got really lucky on that one I think,” Kessy said. “I think Spain’s going to be bummed that they let that one go.”

In the men’s tournament, No. 2 seeded Dalhausser and Rog-ers won all their pool play matches, surviving a three-set battle against Spain’s No. 11 Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrián Gavira Collado, 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 in 58 minutes in their second match on July 31.

Unfortunately, in the first round, Dalhausser and Rogers ran into Italy’s No. 13 Nicolai and Lupo, who had won a “lucky losers” match over Canada to advance. The Italians prevailed, winning 21-17, 21-19 in 40 minutes.

“People say they’re the young Phil and Todd,” Rogers said of the Italian team. “They ‘Phil and Todded us to death,’ I guess you could say. They made a few critical plays when we had op-portunities and that was all the difference.”

Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded fourth, went 2-1 in pool play, beat-ing Grant Goldschmidt and Freedom Chiya of South Africa and Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins advanced to the first round of single elimination.

Gibb and Rosenthal won their first-round match over Russia’s No. 22 Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev, 21-14, 22-20. But they were shocked in the second round by Latvia’s No. 17 Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11 in 57 minutes.

“I felt the whole way through like we were going to pull it off,”

Phil Dalhausser attacks againt the Czech Republic at the Olympic Games. FIVB photo

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Gibb said. “I felt like we were going to come back when we were down 7-3. I don’t know what happened.”

In the women’s tournament, both May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings along with Kessy and Ross won their second- and third-round matches and took only two sets for each.

However, both teams had to battle in the semifinals. May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings played first and defeated No. 2 Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 22-20, 22-20 in 44 minutes.

May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings had to fight their way back from a six-point deficit in the first set. In the second set, the U.S. team fought off set point at 20-19 to win the match.

“It was amazing. I feel like we eked it out and we eked it out with a lot of heart,” Walsh Jennings said. “We didn’t play that great because they made us so uncomfortable. They’re just big, physical athletes.”

May-Treanor added, “I am very, very proud of how we really stuck together, stayed patient and adjusted.”

The second semifinal was even more competitive as Kessy and Ross upset top-seeded Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12, setting up an all-American gold medal match. França and Da Silva had defeated Kessy and Ross the last nine times the two teams had played.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” Ross said. “I obviously understand that I’m going to be playing in that match tomorrow. I’m just so proud that we were able to do this for USA Beach Volleyball. Misty and Kerri had a big challenge against the Chinese and they over-

2012 Season Review

came it. This was a super challenging match and we overcame it.

“I’m just really happy that we can be a part of this. I think this is awesome for beach volleyball in the United States.”

After the semifinals, the gold medal match was almost anti-climactic as May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings defeated Kes-sy and Ross, 21-16, 21-16 in 36 minutes. May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings finished the tournament at 7-0 (21-0 in Olym-pic matches going back to Athens and 42-1 in Olympic sets). Kessy and Ross finished their first Olympic Games with the sil-ver medal and a 6-1 record.

“A big reason Misty and I are gold medalists is because of those two girls,” Walsh Jennings said of Kessy and Ross. “They are one of my favorite teams to beat because they are so good. It’s an honor to share the podium with them. They drive me crazy on the court.”

NORCECA BEACH CIRCUIT

The 2012 NORCECA Beach Circuit provided international ex-perience to many U.S. beach volleyball teams, who collectively won both the men’s and women’s NORCECA tour champion-ships.

The U.S. women’s beach teams that won medals were:

Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik (gold in Guatemala on March 29-April 1)Michelle Moriarty and Traci Weamer (silver in Chiapas, Mexico on May 18-20)Medalists at the NORCECA event in Chula Vista, Calif. NORCECA photo

Kerri Walsh Jennings, left, blocks against Jennifer Kessy at the Olympic Games. FIVB photo

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2012 Season Review

Emily Day and Heather Hughes (gold in Chula Vista, Calif., on Sept. 28-30)Morgan Beck and Summer Ross (silver in Chula Vista, Calif., on Sept. 28-30)Kathryn Babcock and Weamer (gold in St. Lucia on Oct. 26-28)Day and Ross (gold in Trinidad & Tobago on Nov. 16-18)Tealle Hunkus and Weamer (silver in Trinidad & Tobago on Nov. 16-18)Hunkus and Ross (gold in Aruba on Nov. 30-Dec. 2)

The U.S. men’s beach teams that won medals were:

Tony Pray and John Heagy (silver in Guatemala on March 29-April 1)Tri Bourne and Will Montgomery (silver in Chula Vista, Calif., on Sept. 28-30)Jonathan Mesko and Montgomery (gold in St. Lucia on Oct. 26-28)Jeff Carlson and Tony Ciarelli (silver in St. Lucia on Oct. 26-28)Ciarelli and Montgomery (gold in Trinidad & Tobago on Nov. 16-18)Avery Drost and Montgomery (silver in Aruba on Nov. 30-Dec. 2)

DOMESTIC EVENTS

The Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series, NVL and AVP all held pro beach volleyball events in 2012. All were highlighted by some great athletic performances.

On the Pro Beach Series, the women’s team of Kenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik dominated, winning all six open events, in-cluding their second Manhattan Beach Open trophy in a row and the Huntington Beach National Championship. Brooke

Whitney Pavlik attacks during the Manhattan Beach Open. IMG photo

Sweat and Jennifer Fopma won the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series Milwaukee Shootout, which included four in-vited women’s teams.

On the men’s side, John Hyden and Sean Scott won five of the six open events, including their second straight Manhat-tan Beach Open and the Huntington Beach National Champion-ship. They also won the Milwaukee Shootout. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson won the Belmar Open in New Jersey.

The National Volleyball League (NVL) held two pro events in 2012. Doherty and Patterson won the men’s event held in Bal-timore in conjunction with the Preakness horse race, defeating Dalhausser and Rogers in the final. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross won the women’s title in Baltimore, defeating Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik in the final. At the Best of the Beach event held in Las Vegas, Jake Gibb won the men’s title and April Ross took the women’s crown.

The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), under new ownership, also held two events in 2012; in Cincinnati and Santa Barbara. Hyden and Scott won the men’s event in Cin-cinnati, defeating Dalhausser and Rogers and also Matt Fuer-bringer and Nick Lucena along the way. Kessy and Ross won the women’s title, beating Kropp and Pavlik in the semifinals and Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh Jennings in the final.

Gibb and Rosenthal won the event in Santa Barbara, defeating Dalhausser and Rogers and also Hyden and Scott to reach the final were they beat Brad Keenan and John Mayer. Kessy and Ross won the women’s title, again defeating Kropp and Pavlik in the semifinals and Branagh and Walsh in the final.

Sean Scott, left, and John Hyden celebrate their victory at Manhattan Beach. IMG photo

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2012 Male Player of the YearJake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) has been named the USA Volleyball Male Athlete of the Year for beach volleyball.

Gibb, 36, and partner Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) finished the 2012 season as the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Champions. They also qualified for their second-straight Olympic Games, where they finished fifth, and won the AVP Pro Beach Tour event in Santa Barbara, Calif.

“I am very honored and very excited about the award,” Gibb said. “Absolutely this has been my best year ever. It’s crazy that I’m 36 years old and just had my best year.”

Gibb was especially proud of having his best year in 2012 after having one of his worst in 2011 when he and Rosenthal won one silver medal and one bronze in international competition. That season came after Gibb was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2010. The cancer was removed via surgery and no further treat-ment was necessary, allowing him to continue his training and competing.

“The impressive thing was just getting through that year (2011). In 2012, I regrouped and that is a testament to good coaching and support.”

Gibb credits coach Mike Dodd and trainer Tim Pelot for helping him improve in 2012.

“Mike changed up some very key things in my game,” Gibb said. “Tim, my strength trainer, helped me put on 10 pounds of muscle. He helped my energy output.”

Gibb called winning the World Tour Championships the high point of his 2012 season.

“Being ranked No. 1 in the world is something I never even put on my radar,” he said. “I didn’t set it as a goal because I like to set realistic goals.”

Gibb and Rosenthal won two FIVB Grand Slam tournaments (Rome and Gstaad, Switzerland) for the first time. They also took the silver medal at the Berlin Grand Slam and the bronze at the Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria. Gibb and Rosenthal placed fourth in three other FIVB events in 2012.

While Gibb and Rosenthal qualified for their second straight Olympics, Gibb called their fifth-place finish in London the low point of his season. The team had expected to compete for a

medal after going in with four straight podium appearances in FIVB Grand Slams.

“We went in with that mindset,” he said. “I just felt like all the stars were aligned. We were playing really well. That was a really hard time.”

At the Olympics, Gibb finished 19th among all Olympic men’s beach volleyball players (second among Americans behind Rosenthal) with 75 points on 62 kills, 12 blocks and one ace in five matches (11 sets).

On the domestic side, Gibb and Rosenthal won a hard-fought victory at the AVP Championships in September in Santa Bar-bara. The pair lost to John Hyden (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Sean Scott (Kailua, Hawaii) in pool play, but advanced to defeat 2008 Olympic gold medalists Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and then defeated Hyden and Scott in the semifinals. They defeated Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) in the final.

The next weekend, Gibb won the NVL Best of the Beach tourna-ment in Las Vegas. He paired with Nick Lucena (St. Petersburg, Fla.) to defeat Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Dal-hausser in the final.

FIVB

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2012 Male Player of the Year

The future will bring big changes for Gibb, who will be partner-ing with Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) after six years with

Rosenthal, who will be playing with Dalhausser. Gibb and Patterson’s first tournament together is scheduled to be the FIVB World Cup event, currently planned for Janu-ary in Brazil, although the site and date have not been confirmed.

He and Patterson are planning to compete wherever “the biggest tournament is.

“There will be some travel, both international and domes-tic with Casey. I hope I get to stay home (in Costa Mesa, Calif.) more than in 2012.”

Gibb wants to see more of Jane, his wife of 12 years, and son Crosby, who was born in 2011 while Gibb was on the road competing.

FIVB

2012 Female Player of the YearMisty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) has been named the USA Volleyball Female Athlete of the Year for beach volleyball.

May-Treanor, 35, and partner Kerri Walsh Jennings (Saratoga, Calif.) won their third straight Olympic gold medal in London in 2012, making it through the competition with only one lost set. In the final, they defeated compatriots Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), 21-16, 21-16 in 36 minutes at Horse Guards Parade.

“I still feel like somebody pinch me that this just happened,” May-Treanor said immediately following the gold medal victory. “We’ve been walking around the stadium saying it feels like an out-of-body experience.

“This was about the experience, the friendship, the journey and volleyball was just a small part of it.”

May-Treanor led all Olympic beach volleyball players in digs in London with 107 on 225 attempts (15 sets) for a .48 success percentage. She was second among all players in scoring with 125 points on 120 kills, one block and four aces

May-Treanor and Walsh also won one 2012 FIVB Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland and finished second at the FIVB Grand Slam in Moscow.

The team finished the season ranked 11th on the FIVB World Tour after struggling in some of the early tournaments of 2012, including ninth-place finishes in Beijing and Shanghai. May-Tre-

anor and Walsh credit sports psychologis t Michael Ger-vais with help-ing them get back in sync.

"It's important that we're all on the same page. It's been a pro-cess," May-Tre-anor said.

The FIVB named May-Treanor its Most Inspira-tional Player of 2012, an honor she shared with Walsh Jennings.

May-Treanor did not compete domestically in 2012. She is ranked fourth in the USA Volleyball beach rankings.

May-Treanor, who is married to pro baseball player Matt Tre-anor, has not competed in beach volleyball since the Olympic Games and has said in interviews that she is retiring to coach

FIVB

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2012 Beach Team of the YearIn a season of standout performances from several U.S. wom-en’s beach volleyball teams, Jennifer Kessy and April Ross have been named the USA Volleyball Beach Team of the Year.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Ca-lif.) won the title for their success both internationally, where they were ranked fourth on the FIVB World Tour, and domesti-cally, where they were the top-ranked players in the USA Vol-leyball Beach Rankings.

The 2012 season also saw outstanding performances by Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh Jennings (Saratoga, Calif.), who won their third-straight Olympic gold medal along with a gold medal in Gstaad, Switzerland and a silver medal in Moscow, and Jenny Kropp (Grand Island, Neb.) and Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.), who dominated the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Tour with six victories.

On the FIVB World Tour, Kessy, 35, and Ross, 30, won a bronze medal in Rome and a gold medal in Thailand to go with the silver they won at the 2012 Olympic Games. They also had six fifth-place finishes on the Tour.

In the United States, Kessy and Ross won the women’s titles at the AVP tournaments in Cincinnati and Santa Barbara and the NVL event in Baltimore.

For Kessy, the highlights of the season were qualifying for the Olympic Games, reaching the podium in London, and winning the gold medal in Thailand. The toughest part of the season was not reaching the podium in some of the early FIVB World Tour events.

“We didn’t have our best year leading into the Olym-pics,” Kessy said. “In Rome we got on the podium (with a bronze). You want to win every tournament. But the main goal was winning at the Olympics.”

The finishes off the podium were difficult for Ross as well.

“I thought we were going to be a bigger presence on the podium going into the Olympics,” Ross said. “I can remember being upset about it. Maybe it helped us in the end. I wasn’t overcon-fident going into London.”

Jeff Conover (Bellflower, Calif.), who has coached Kessy and Ross since 2009, was concerned about the finishes, but kept his team focused on its goal.

“I was a little nervous. We usually win three or four gold medals per year,” Conover said. “We wanted to do well every tourna-ment. But in the end, it was always going to be about being ready for London.”

London was the highlight of the season for Ross, particularly her team’s 15-21, 21-19, 15-12 victory in the semifinals over Brazil’s No. 1-seeded Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva, a team that had defeated the Americans in their previous nine meetings.

“That was the most fun and meaningful match I’ve played in my entire life,” Ross said. “I’ve played in the world championships and the NCAA championships. That match was by far the best thing in my career.”

Conover agreed that the match was a high point.

“We played Brazil three or four times last year before the Olym-pics,” Conover said. “There were two matches that were identical (to the Olympic semifinal) where we got to 10-all in the third set and then gave points away. For us to come out on the winning

end in the same situation was validating for them.”

Kessy and Ross fell to compatriots May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings, 21-16, 21-16 in the Olympic gold medal match the day after the semifinals.

Conover said that if Kessy and Ross had another day to prepare, they would have at least given May-From left, April Ross, Jeff Conover and Jennifer Kessy in London. USAV photo

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Treanor and Walsh Jen-nings a tougher match.

Following the Olympics, Kessy and Ross took another fifth place at the Mazuri Orlen Grand Slam in Poland before finally winning their only FIVB gold medal of the season in Thailand.

Kessy and Ross stayed in Thailand following the tournament to help children who had been orphaned by the 2004 tsunami.

Kessy and Ross were introduced to the children two years ago by Bob Selznick (son of the late beach volleyball player and coach Gene Selznick), who had brought a team to compete in a junior tournament that was held in conjunction to the FIVB tournament in Thailand.

“Bob Selznick lives over there,” Kessy explained. “Two years ago, he brought a team from the SOS Children’s Village. The players had been orphaned by the tsunami. They won the tour-nament over players who were luckier in life. We were really intrigued.”

Kessy and Ross have donated clothing and equipment to the village, but now with the help of their sponsor, 4POINT4, a phil-anthropic brand of sports apparel and gear that donates sports equipment to developing nations, they will be able to do more.

“I’m such a believer that kids need to play sports growing up,” Ross said. “It gives you advantages and teaches you to be con-fident. Especially these girls who are orphaned and like to play beach volleyball, they don’t have all the advantages. I think that’s a worthy cause.”

The future is somewhat uncertain for Kessy and Ross. They are currently training for the 2013 FIVB World Cup tournament that is scheduled for Brazil early in the season (the date and city have

2012 Beach Team of the Yearyet to be announced). They have their sights set on winning the 2013 FIVB Beach World Championship in Stare Jablonki, Poland.

Kessy has talked about retiring after 2013 while Ross is looking to-ward the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I want to focus on being the best volleyball player I can be,” Ross said.

“Going forward, I don’t know what is going to happen. I believe in being prepared for anything.”

“Domestically, we would love to bring more popularity to the sport,” Kessy added. “We really want it to get back on TV.”

Ross on what makes Jennifer Kessy special: “I think as a player, if I have to narrow it down, it’s her competitiveness. It probably exceeds anyone I’ve ever known. It really does get us through matches sometimes. I think in our partnership, we have a lot of balance. Having fun and enjoying what you do is important to your success.”

Kessy on what makes April Ross special: “April would not can-cel practice if it was snowing out there. Sometimes she hurts her neck and can barely move and I have to force her to leave. She’s so motivated and she wants to be at practice and does not want to miss a workout. She always works as hard as she can the entire time. Sometimes I’m not feeling it at the gym; it really pushes me to snap out of it.”

Conover on what makes the team of Kessy and Ross special: “Kessy is the one that is going to make the awesome game-changing play. Ross is the steady one who consistently does amazing things. It’s the perfect combination. They just balance each other out really well.”

From left, April Ross and Jennifer Kessy celebrate their win in Thailand. FIVB photo

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2012 Official Olympic StatisticsWomen’s Statistics

Team Rankings by Skill

AttacksRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Zhang Xi/Xue - CHN 7 366 214 58 2 Kessy/Ross - USA 7 359 209 5810 May-Treanor/Walsh - USA 7 367 189 51

BlocksRK Team - NOC Matches Success1 May-Treanor/Walsh - USA 7 255 Kessy/Ross - USA 7 17

Service AcesRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Aces1 Zhang Xi/Xue - CHN 7 312 82 Kessy/Ross - USA 7 315 2311 May-Treanor/Walsh - USA 7 302 15

DigsRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 May-Treanor/Walsh - USA 7 302 151 50 6 Kessy/Ross - USA 7 256 110 43

Player Rankings by Skill

ScoringRk Name - NOC Matches Sets Atk Blk Serve Total Av/Set1 Zhang Xi - CHN 7 17 132 7 139 8 2 May-Trenor - USA 7 15 120 1 4 125 82 Ross - USA 7 17 106 5 14 125 75 Kessy - USA 7 17 103 12 9 124 78 Walsh - USA 7 15 69 24 11 104 7

AttackRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Ross - USA 7 171 106 6210 Walsh - USA 7 123 69 5613 Kessy - USA 7 188 103 5529 May-Treanor - USA 7 244 120 49

BlockRk Name - NOC Matches Success1 Walsh - USA 7 2410 Kessy - USA 7 1219 Ross - USA 7 526 May-Treanor - USA 7 1

Service AcesRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Aces Fastest Serve (km/hr)1 Xue Chen - CHN 7 160 21 632 Ross - USA 7 175 14 817 Walsh - USA 7 154 11 6913 Kessy - USA 7 140 9 7134 May-Treanor - USA 7 148 4 54

Fastest ServeRk Name - NOC km/hr`1 Ross - USA 8110 Kessy - USA 7115 Walsh - USA 6947 May-Treanor - USA 54

DigRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 May-Treanor - USA 7 225 107 489 Ross - USA 7 140 59 4214 Kessy - USA 7 116 51 4418 Walsh - USA 7 77 44 57

Men’s StatisticsTeam Rankings by Skill

AttacksRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Cunha/Ricardo - BRA 5 216 128 599 Rogers/Dalhausser - USA 4 192 104 5411 Gibb/Rosenthal - USA 5 257 137 53

BlocksRk Team - NOC Matches Success1 Emanuel/Alison - BRA 7 388 Rogers/Dalhausser - USA 4 2011 Gibb/Rosenthal - USA 5 15

Service AcesRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Aces1 Brink/Reckermann - GER 7 307 233 Rogers/Dalhausser - USA 4 173 1221 Gibb/Rosenthal - USA 5 208 4

DigsRk Team - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Plavins/Smedins - LAT 7 308 139 455 Gibb/Rosenthal - USA 5 180 95 5311 Rogers/Dalhausser - USA 4 140 67 48

Player Rankings by Skill

ScoringRk Name - NOC Matches Sets Attack Block Serve Total Av/Set1 Reckermann - GER 7 16 104 31 13 148 9.2516 Rosenthal - USA 5 11 75 3 3 81 7.3619 Gibb - USA 5 11 62 12 1 75 6.1823 Dalhausser - USA 4 9 42 19 9 70 7.7826 Rogers - USA 4 9 62 1 3 66 7.33

AttacksRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Dalhausser - USA 4 64 42 661 Semenov - RUS 4 64 42 6614 Gibb - USA 5 110 62 5625 Rosenthal - USA 5 147 75 5136 Rogers - USA 4 128 62 48

BlockRk Name - NOC Matches Sets Success Av/Set1 Alison - USA 7 17 37 2.188 Dalhausser - USA 4 9 19 2.1112 Gibb - USA 5 11 12 1.0925 Rosenthal - USA 5 11 3 0.2729 Rogers - USA 4 9 1 0.11

Service AcesRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Aces Fastest Serve (km/hr)1 Reckermann - GER 7 151 13 853 Dalhausser - USA 4 81 9 8724 Rogers - USA 4 92 3 5524 Rosenthal - USA 5 89 3 8437 Gibb - USA 5 119 1 87

Fastest ServeRk Name - NOC km/hr1 Sorokins - LAT 9913 Dalhausser - USA 8713 Gibb - USA 8722 Rosenthal - USA 8447 Rogers - USA 55

DigRk Name - NOC Matches Attempts Success Percentage1 Plavins - LAT 7 251 107 436 Rosenthal - USA 5 145 70 488 Rogers - USA 4 112 56 5027 Gibb - USA 5 35 25 7142 Dalhausser - USA 4 28 11 39

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Kerri Walsh gets ready for the serve. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal dives to keep the ball alive. (FIVB photo)

Misty May-Treanor receives the ball against Australia. (FIVB photo)

May-Treanor, Walsh Sail Past Australia

LONDON (July 28, 2012) – Late-night beach volleyball proved to be no problem for the U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh on Satur-day as they opened pool play with a 21-18, 21-19 victory over the Austra-lian duo of Natalie “Nat” Cook and Tamsin Hinchley at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh, seeded No. 3, are the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists and are now 1-0 in Pool B.

Cook is competing in her fifth Olympic Games.

Cook and Hinchley held leads in both sets of the women’s match, including leads of 13-9 and 16-14 in the second set. But May-Treanor and Walsh maintained their composure and took advantage of Australia’s mistakes.

“I think every single match is going to be a challenge,” Walsh said. “The parity and depth on the women’s side is awesome.”

May-Treanor and Walsh are playing all their pool play matches at 11 p.m. in London, which concerned Walsh before she arrived. But the team has been training late at night to prepare.

Gibb, Rosenthal Open with Victory

LONDON (July 28, 2012) – Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal opened the 2012 Olympic Games in London with a pool play victory over Grant Gold-schmidt and Freedom Chiya of South Africa, 21-10, 21-11 in 33 minutes at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Gibb and Rosenthal, who are seeded No. 4 in the tournament and are com-peting in their second Olympic Games after finishing fifth in Beijing, are now 1-0 in Pool D.

Gibb and Rosenthal never trailed the No. 21 South Africans.

“This is what we live for,” Gibb said when asked if he was nervous during the opening match of the Olympic Games. “Once you get the nerves out of the way, it’s fine. I could go back out there right now.”

The U.S. team led in attacks (24-13), blocks (3-1) and digs (23-10). It also scored on 15 errors by South Africa while committing six.

Gibb had 15 attacks and all three blocks. Rosenthal finished with 19 digs.

Chiya scored on eight kills and the match’s only ace. Goldschmidt added at block and each player had five digs.

In the first set the U.S. was leading 14-10 when Gibb scored on a kill and then served for the final six points. The score was tied 7-7 in the second set when Gibb scored on two straight attacks to pull ahead.

Later, with the U.S. leading 14-11, the pair scored on South Africa’s error and Gibb then served for the final six points.

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Jake Gibb attacks against South Africa (FIVB photo)

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April Ross dives for the ball against Argentina. (FIVB photo)

Phil Dalhausser, right, attacks against Japan. (FIVB photo)

Jennifer Kessy, left, high-fives April Ross during their match. (FIVB photo)

Kessy, Ross Win First Olympic Match

LONDON (July 29, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, seeded No. 4, won their first Olympic vol-leyball match, 21-11, 21-18 in 33 minutes against No. 21 Ana Gallay and Maria Virginia Zonta of Argentina on Sunday at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

The team is the only one of the four U.S. pairs making their Olympic debut.

Kessy finished with 16 kills, one block and two aces while Ross had nine attacks, one block and three aces. Kessy had eight digs and Ross was credited with four. The U.S. pair took advantage of 10 Argentina errors while committing seven.

“I was a little bit nervous today during the day,” Kessy said. “But then once I got out I ran out of the tunnel and saw every U.S. fan – I don’t know how many are out there – but I said, ‘OK, I’m at home.’ It was amazing.

“We are used to family and friends cheering for us, but not the whole na-tion.”

Despite the victory, Ross came away seeing room for improvement.

“Maybe I’m not so happy with some of the things I did out there, but it’s good to see what happened and be able to prepare for last time,” she said.

Dalhausser, Rogers Get Jump on Japan

LONDON (July 29, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers opened pool play at the 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday with a 21-15, 21-16 win in 40 minutes over Japan’s Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori (seeded No. 23) at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Dalhausser and Rogers are the defending Olympic champions and seeded No. 2 in the tournament. Dalhausser finished the match with 11 attacks, nine blocks and three aces along with four digs. Rogers was credited with 11 kills and 11 digs. Japan’s Kentaro Asahi led in attacks with 15 and his partner Katsuhiro Shiratori had 13 digs.

Dalhausser was impressed by the crowd, estimated at 10,639.

“The crowd is crazy. It sounds like they’re having a lot of fun,” Dalhausser said. “We’re definitely feeding off that energy a little bit.”

Rogers said the team’s first-match loss in 2008 in Beijing played a part in the pre-match planning.

“We thought that way in terms of our preparation and attitude going out on the court,” Rogers said. “Coming out on the court and having fun, under-standing that it’s the Olympics and we’re under pressure… Just go out and enjoy yourself and that’s kind of what we did.”

The teams were tied 9-9 in the first set when Dalhausser scored with a kill and two straight blocks to give his team a 12-9 lead that Japan never threatened.

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Todd Rogers receives the ball against Japan. (FIVB photo)

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Sean Rosenthal prepares for a perfect pass against Poland (FIVB photo)

Kerri Walsh celebrates a great play against Czech Republic. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal passes the ball to Jake Gibb (left). (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Suffer First Olympic Loss

LONDON (July 30, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost their first pool play match of the 2012 Olympic Games on Monday with a 21-17, 21-18 loss to Poland’s No. 9 Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who are seeded No. 4 in the tournament and are competing in their second Olympic Games after finishing fifth in Beijing, are now 1-1 in Pool D. Fijalek and Prudel are also 1-1.

“They served really well, they blocked really well; they’re a tough team one of the best in the world,” Rosenthal said. “They played really well and our ball control was a little off. I was passing a little inside, outside and didn’t see the court very well.”

Poland put up a balanced attack with Mariusz Prudel finishing with 14 kills and Grzegorz Fijalek adding 13. Rosenthal led all players in attacks with 20, but Gibb had only five. Poland led in blocking, 6-4, with all six blocks coming from Prudel. Gibb had three blocks for the U.S. while Rosenthal had one. Rosenthal had the only ace of the match.

Poland also took advantage of nine U.S. team errors while committing only five.

“We’ve won pools maybe 10 times in our careers,” Gibb said. “This isn’t the craziest thing that has ever happened to us. We’re going to be fine.”

May-Treanor, Walsh Defeat Czech Republic

LONDON (July 30, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, continued Olympic pool play action on Monday as they defeated No. 10 Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of Czech Republic, 21-14, 21-19 in 37 minutes at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) are the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists and are now 2-0 in Pool B. They are guaranteed to advance to the first round of single-elimination play, which begins Friday. Slukova and Kolocova are 1-1.

“It’s great to come out the way we have been and to get a win against that Czech team,” said May-Treanor, who celebrated her birthday on Monday. “They’re a very good, scrappy team. They’ve taken down a lot of team throughout the year. I’m very proud about the way we played together.”

The Czech team led in attacks 24-21, paced by Slukova with 15. May-Treanor had 14 for the U.S. pair. However May-Treanor and Walsh blocks (3-2), aces (4-1) and in digs (19-12). May-Treanor and Walsh also took advantage of 14 errors committed by the Czechs while committing only six.

“Those girls are relentless. They move the ball around a lot,” Walsh added.

“They do a lot of funky stuff. They’re both on the smaller side, but looks can be deceiving. They’re good and they’re very creative.”

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Misty May-Treanor plays the net against Czech Republic. (FIVB photo)

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Todd Rogers puts a perfect pass in play. (FIVB photo)

U.S. fans cheer for Jennifer Kessy and April Ross. (FIVB photo)

Todd Rogers, left, and Phil Dalhausser celebrate. (FIVB photo)

Dalhausser, Rogers Guarantee Their Advance

LONDON (July 31, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers guaranteed they would advance from their Olympic Games pool on Tuesday with a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 win in 58 minutes over Spain’s No. 11 Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrián Gavira Col-lado at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Dalhausser said the team could have played better in the first set.

“We really made it hard on ourselves tonight,” Dalhausser said. “We had a lot of opportunities in that first set to score points and we didn’t convert. We couldn’t hang on to the darn lead. We’re really lucky to come out with a ‘W’ tonight.”

Dalhausser and Rogers led in attacks (37-31), in blocks (5-3) and in aces (3-1). Rogers led in attacks with 27 while Dalhausser had 10. Dalhausser added four blocks and two aces. Rogers was credited with 25 digs.

The match was not without controversy as Spain was presented with a yellow card for disputing a call near the end of the third set that gave Dal-hausser and Rogers match point. Rogers contacted the ball once with his chest and then hit it over with his hand. The referee told Rogers that the first contact was a “spontaneous reaction.”

“I would have thought that it was a double contact,” Rogers said. “I agreed with (the Spanish team). I talked to the ref; he said it was a ‘boom-boom’ play. I said ‘Hey, I appreciate your judgment that way.’”

Kessy, Ross Go 2-0 at Olympic Games

LONDON (July 31, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross guaranteed that they will advance from pool play when they defeated Netherlands’ No. 9 Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer, 21-15, 12-21, 15-8 at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Kessy and Ross improved to 2-0 and will try to win the pool against No. 16 Liliana Fernández Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan of Spain (2-0).

Kessy and Ross won the first set. But then a difficult second set was made worse when Kessy had to take an injury timeout to warm up her feet.

“It just got to the point where I couldn’t feel my feet at all,” Kessy said. “I just needed to heat them up. I started tripping over my toes, but I got some warm water and that really warmed them up.”

Kessy and Ross came back to win the tie-breaker. “Honestly, I don’t think we did anything that different (in the third set),“ Ross said. “Maybe we calmed down and focused on more important stuff.”

Kessy and Ross led the Netherlands team in attacks (29-23), blocks (3-2) and aces (4-3). Their scoring was balanced as Kessy finished with 14 kills, two blocks and one ace and Ross finished with 15 kills, two blocks and two aces. Ross finished with 12 digs and Kessy totaled seven.

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Jennifer Kessy serves against Netherlands. (FIVB photo)

22

Kerri Walsh receives the ball as Misty May-Treanor gets ready. (FIVB photo)

Jake Gibb tries to go over Latvia’s block. (FIVB photo)

Misty May-Treanor dives to make the save. (FIVB photo)

May-Treanor, Walsh Win in Three

LONDON (Aug. 1, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, lost their first Olympic set as a team, but still closed out pool play with a 17-21, 21-8, 15-10 win over Austria’s No. 15 Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger (0-2) on Wednesday at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh win Pool B with a 3-0 record. Including London, Beijing and Athens, they had won 32 straight sets in the Olympic Games before losing the first set on Wednesday.

“Obviously we wanted to win in two straight sets,” May-Treanor said. “But a victory is a victory and I’m proud with how we came out that second set and carried on.”

May-Treanor and Walsh led Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger in attacks (30-26) with May-Treanor totaling 19 kills. Doris Schwaiger led in kills with 21. The U.S. team led in aces 4-3 with Walsh totaling three. Stefanie Schwaiger and Walsh each had four blocks.

The U.S. women led in dig, 31-26. May-Treanor had 24 digs.

“We came out a little bit flat and you never want to come out flat in Olympic competition, or any competition,” Walsh said. “So that was all on us. I think we put ourselves in a good position to come back and win game 1. So we just didn’t seal the deal because we weren’t crisp in game 1.”

Gibb, Rosenthal Defeat Latvia in Quick Sets

LONDON (Aug. 1, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal ensured they would advance to the next round of the 2012 Olympic Games with a 21-10, 21-16 victory in 37 minutes over Latvia’s No. 16 Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins (2-0) at Horse Guards Parade.

Gibb and Rosenthal won Pool D with a 2-1 record ahead of Poland’s No. 9 Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel (2-1) and also Samoilovs and Sorokins (2-1). All three teams had 2-1 records and five points. Gibb and Rosenthal won the tiebreaker, which is points ratio (1.337).

The team was relieved to be through to the next round after a loss to Fijalek and Prudel on Sunday.

“We’re feeling good. That was a big win for us,” Rosenthal said. “Poland played great the other night. We didn’t play our best game, but they played great so it made us not as good. It’s hard to sit there for two days and think about a loss and try to fix it.”

Gibb and Rosenthal scored 16 points on Latvia errors while committing only eight.

The U.S. team also led the match in kills (24-15), aces (2-1) and digs (10-7). Rosenthal had 14 attacks and nine digs for the U.S. Samoilovs and Sorokins led in blocks, 2-0, with Sorokins having both.

23

Sean Rosenthal hits against Ruslans Sorokins of Latvia(FIVB photo)

24

Jennifer Kessy, left, and April Ross go for the ball. (FIVB photo)

Todd Rogers dives to try and save the play. (FIVB photo)

April Ross attacks against Spain’s Liliana Fernández Steiner. (FIVB photo)

Rogers, Dalhausser Win Out in Pool Play

LONDON (Aug. 2, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers completed pool play at the 2012 Olympic Games on with a 21-13, 21-15 victory in 35 minutes over Petr Benes and Premysl Kubala of Czech Republic at Horse Guards Parade.

Benes and Kubala, seeded No. 14, finish third in the pool at 1-2.

Dalhausser and Rogers dominated the match, leading in attacks (24-19), blocks (5-1) and aces (3-0). The teams tied 9-9 in digs. Rogers had 13 kills, two aces and seven digs. Dalhausser had 11 kills and all five of his team’s blocks.

“We were just on. Everything seemed a little bit easier than the last few matches,” Rogers said.

“The last two matches just seemed like a struggle. This time we both were serving well; we both were passing, setting and siding out well. He blocked fantastically. When we’re like that we’re pretty tough to beat.”

Dalhausser added, “If we can keep playing like we did tonight I think we’ll do pretty well.”

Kessy, Ross Wrap Up Pool Play with Win

LONDON (Aug. 2, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross fought off three match points on Thursday as they completed Olympic pool play with a 21-19, 19-21, 19-17 victory in 1 hour, 7 minutes over Liliana Fernández Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan of Spain at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

No. 16 Fernández and Baquerizo finish Pool D in second place with a record of 2-1.

After the teams split the first two sets, Fernández and Baquerizo held match point in the third-set tie-breaker at 14-12. Kessy and Ross took timeout. Spain had errors in its next two attack attempts to tie the score at 14-14. A successful kill by Baquerizo gave the Spaniards another match point, but Kessy answered with an attack. Kessy and Ross reached match point at 16-15 and 17-16 with Spain fighting them off each time. At 17-17, Ross scored on two straight attacks for the victory.

“We got really lucky on that one I think,” Kessy said. “I think Spain’s going to be bummed that they let that one go.”

Kessy and Ross led in kills (40-32) but Spain dominated in aces (8-0). Each team finished with two blocks and Kessy and Ross led in digs (20-16). Kessy and Ross were charged with 15 team errors while Fernández and Baquerizo had 17.

“We’ve played in tournaments where we’ve breezed through pool play and it doesn’t do you any favors,” she said. “I think it’s good that we were tested like that today. We’re learning more about our team and we stuck together even more than in the Dutch game.”

25

Phil Dalhausser puts a wall up against the Czech Republic.(FIVB photo)

26

Todd Rogers hits against Italy’s Nicolai Paolo. (FIVB photo)

Jennifer Kessy, right, jousts with Switzerland. (FIVB photo)

Phil Dalhausser is dejected after the loss to Italy. (FIVB photo)

Dalhausser, Rogers End Olympic Run

LONDON (Aug. 3, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers ended its run at a second straight Olympic Games gold medal on Friday as it fell to No. 15 Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, 21-17, 21-19 at Horse Guards Parade.

Dalhausser and Rogers, the defending Olympic champions and seeded No. 2 in the tournament, finished with a record of 3-1. Paolo and Lupo, who advanced to the single-elimination round via the “lucky losers” drawing, are 2-2 and will advance to the quarterfinals.

“People say they’re the young Phil and Todd,” Rogers said of the Italian team. “They ‘Phil and Todded us to death,’ I guess you could say. They made a few critical plays when we had opportunities and that was all the difference.”

Paolo and Lupo led the match in kills (24-21) and blocks (5-1). Dalhausser and Rogers held the edge in aces (3-2) and digs (15-13). Dalhausser and Rogers scored 15 points on Italy’s errors while committing 13.

Rogers had 11 kills and 13 digs. Dalhausser had 10 kills, one block and three aces.

“I’m bummed. Obviously I would have liked to have medaled here again,” Dalhausser said. “We were outplayed and on this tour, you have one bad match and you could be going home. We had a bad match and they played well.”

Rogers said the team will finish out the season, but wasn’t sure what the future would hold.

“We’re going to Poland in 14 days,” he said. “We’re probably going to play out the season and figure it out. I don’t plan on being in another Olympic match unless it’s as a coach or a spectator.”

Kessy and Ross are Quarterfinals Bound

LONDON (Aug. 3, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross made it through the first round of single-elimina-tion at the Olympic Games on Friday as they defeated Switzerland’s No. 13 Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, 21-15, 21-19 at Horse Guards Parade.

Kessy and Ross, who are first time Olympians and seeded No. 4 in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals. Kuhn and Zumkehr finish their Olympic run with a 2-2 record.

”I would have liked to have sided out better in the first game, but we came back with a couple aces and that really helped me out,” Kessy said. “I was really happy with our second set.”

The U.S. pair led in attacks (26-15), in blocks (2-1) and in aces (6-2). It was also credited with 15 digs while Switzerland was credited with seven.

Switzerland scored on 16 errors by the U.S. while committing eight.

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Jennifer Kessy receives the ball as April Ross watches during a first round match against Switzerland. (FIVB photo)

28

Jake Gibb attacks against Russia as the official watches carefully. (FIVB photo)

Misty May-Treanor hits against Netherlands. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal celebrates the victory over Russia. (FIVB photo)

May-Treanor, Walsh Dominate at Horse Guards Parade

LONDON (Aug. 4, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, defeated No. 9 Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of Netherlands, 21-13, 21-12 in 30 minutes on Saturday in the first round of elimination in the Olympic tournament at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists, advance with a record of 4-0. They will play Italy’s No. 7 Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti in the quarterfinals. Van Iersel and Keizer finish the Olympic Games at 1-3.

“It’s so nice to come in, go to work and get the heck out of here to rest and prepare for the next match,” Walsh said. “Misty was a rock star tonight. I can’t wait to watch film because she was everywhere. It was like nine Mistys out there.”

May-Treanor and Walsh led in attacks (22-18) led by May-Treanor with 16. The U.S. team led in blocks (4-0), with Walsh tallying four. The Netherlands had two aces while May-Treanor had one. May-Treanor had 11 of the team’s 14 digs. Netherlands had 13 digs.

May-Treanor and Walsh took advantage of 15 team errors by the Nether-lands while committing only five.

“This is the Kerri and Misty that people come to see that we want to play like,” May-Treanor added. “We just keep elevating each match we’re out there.”

Gibb, Rosenthal Chart Win over Russia

LONDON (Aug. 4, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal defeated No. 22 Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev of Russia, 21-14, 22-20 on Saturday in the first round of single elimination in the Olympic tournament at Horse Guards Parade.

Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded No. 4, will play Martins Plavins and Janis Sme-dins of Latvia (No. 17) in the quarterfinals. Gibb and Rosenthal improve their record to 3-1. Sememov and Prokopiev finish the Olympic Games at 2-2.

Gibb and Rosenthal led the match in kills (29-22) led by Gibb with 16. They also finished with a 4-3 led in blocks and 25-20 in digs.

Rosenthal said the team had trouble with Serguei Prokopiev, who is nearly 7 feet tall.

“We knew (Semenov) was big at the net and I really showed everybody that he was that big,” Rosenthal said. Gibb said the team tried to play the net aggressively.

“We had a good game plan just coming out and being aggressive with our setting and I guess it paid off in the first set,” he said.

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Kerri Walsh attacks against Netherlands. (FIVB photo)

30

A panorama view of the arena at Horse Guards Parade. (FIVB photo)

April Ross receives the ball as Jennifer Kessy prepares to make a play against Czech Republic. (FIVB photo)

Kessy, Ross Heading to Olympic Semifinals

LONDON (Aug. 5, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross qualified for the Olympic semifinals with a 25-23, 21-18 victory in 49 minutes over Czech Republic’s No. 10 Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova at Horse Guards Parade.

After battling to win the first set, Kessy and Ross, seeded No. 4, took an 18-11 lead in the second, only to see the Czech team fight back.

“For two-thirds of the match I thought I played really well,” Ross said. “I don’t know what happened there at the end. I maybe thought they were going to roll over, which is a terrible thought to have in the Olympics. I knew they weren’t going to. I really think I was trying as hard as I could to put the ball away and they just read me really well and made some good plays.”

Kessy and Ross led in attacks (29-21) and in aces (4-3). Ross had 20 at-tacks for the U.S. and two aces, which came two in a row at the beginning of the second set. She was clocked with the fastest serve at 80 kilometers per hour (49 miles per hour).

The teams tied in blocks (3-3) and Slukova and Kolocova held the edge in digs (19-18). The Czech team also took advantage of 14 U.S. errors while committing only 10.

“We needed to win that first set. It was huge,” Kessy said. “I was really impressed by our composure, though not at the end.”

May-Treanor, Walsh Overwhelm Italy in Win

LONDON (Aug. 5, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, overwhelmed No. 7 Greta Cicolari Marta Menegatti, 21-13, 21-13 in 33 minutes on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament at Horse Guards Parade.

The victory over the Italian team made up for a previous loss May-Treanor and Walsh had suffered to them at the Rome Grand Slam in June.

“Prior to Rome was Moscow and we made it to our first final and got our butts kicked,” Walsh said. “We went to Rome and got our butts kicked again by that Italian team. We came home and we were so sick of losing that way.

“Misty and I have come together. We really looked deep at ourselves both individually and as a team and decided to take on this challenge.”

May-Treanor and Walsh credit both their coach, Marcio Sicoli, and their sport psychologist, Mike Gervais, with helping them turn their season around. They went on to win the gold medal at their next event, the Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland.

May-Treanor and Walsh led the Italian team in attacks (33-22) and blocks (2-0). May-Treanor had 19 attacks for the United States while Walsh had both blocks. May-Treanor and Walsh also had 19 digs as opposed to 14 for the Italians, and scored on seven Italian errors while committing only three. Jennifer Kessy blocks with intensity against Hana Klapalova of Czech

Republic. (FIVB photo)

April Ross, left, and Misty May-Treanor cheer for joy. (FIVB photo)

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Kerri Walsh celebrates as Italy’s Marta Menegatti picks herself up out of the sand. (FIVB photo)

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Sean Rosenthal goes to one knee to save the ball during a quarterfinal match against Latvia. (FIVB photo)

Jake Gibb blocks against Latvia’s Janis Smedins. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal cheers for a great play. (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Finish Olympics in Fifth Place

LONDON (Aug. 6, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal finished the 2012 Olympic Games in fifth place on Monday after falling to No. 17 Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11 in 58 minutes in the quarterfinals at Horse Guards Parade.

Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who were seeded No. 4 in the tournament, were competing in their second Olympic Games after finishing fifth in 2008 in Beijing. They complete the tournament with a 3-2 record.

“I felt the whole way through like we were going to pull it off,” Gibb said. “I felt like we were going to come back when we were down 7-3. I don’t know what happened.”

Gibb called the loss the “most disappointing loss of my career.”

Plavins and Smedins led the U.S. team in kills (37-35), aces (3-1) and digs (22-20). The teams tied in blocks (4-4).

“They took advantage of their breaks. The ball bounced their way off the block,” Rosenthal said of Latvia. “They’re a really good defensive team. They dig a lot of balls and keep a lot of rallies alive. They made plays when they had to.”

The teams battled back and forth to a 6-6 tie in the first set when the U.S. scored on Rosenthal’s kill and Gibb’s block. Plavins scored with a kill, but the U.S. scored two more points on a Gibb kill and Latvian hitting error to lead 10-7. The U.S. team extended the lead to five at 16-11 and 17-12 when Latvia mounted a comeback on two Smedins kills and a Plavins ace along with a U.S. error to pull to within one at 17-16. But the U.S. held them off with two quick points on kills to lead 19-16. The U.S. reached set point at 20-17, but Plavins scored twice on kills before the U.S. won the set on Plavins’ hitting error.

The teams again battled to a 6-6 tie in the second set, but this time Latvia scored twice on an attack and ace from Smedins to lead 8-6. Latvia led 10-8 when the U.S. tied the score on a Gibb kill and Rosenthal block. The teams continue to battle back and forth until the score was tied at 18-18. Smedins carried Latvia to set point with a block and kill before Plavins won the set with a kill.

Latvia jumped to a 3-1 lead in the third set on two Plavins attacks and a U.S. error. The Latvians increased the lead to four at 6-2. With Latvia leading 7-3, the U.S. pulled to within two on a kill and block from Gibb. Latvia called timeout and came back to score on a Plavins attack. The teams battled back and forth until Latvia led 12-8. The U.S. scored twice on two Gibb kills to pull to within two at 12-10. But it was too little, too late. Latvia reached match point on Plavins’ kill and a U.S. error. Rosenthal scored with a final attack before Plavins won it with a kill.

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Jake Gibb sets the ball during his quarterfinal match against Latvia (FIVB photo)

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Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh cheer for a great play. (FIVB photo)

Fans try to stay dry during the second Olympic semifinal. (FIVB photo)

Jennifer Kessy blocks against Brazil during the semifinals. (FIVB photo)

May-Treanor, Walsh to Play for Gold Again

LONDON (Aug. 7, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, advanced to its third straight Olympic final after defeating China’s No. 2 Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 22-20, 22-20 in 44 minutes on Tuesday in the semifinals at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists, improved to 6-0 (20-0 in Olympic matches going back to Athens and 40-1 in Olympic sets).

May-Treanor and Walsh had to fight their way back from a six-point deficit in the first set. In the second set, the U.S. team fought off set point at 20-19 to win the match. “It was amazing. I feel like we eked it out and we eked it out with a lot of heart,” Walsh said. “We didn’t play that great because they made us so uncomfortable. They’re just big, physical athletes.” May-Treanor added, “I am very, very proud of how we really stuck together, stayed patient and adjusted.” The play of the match, and perhaps the tournament, came in the second set with China leading 19-18. China’s Zhang attacked the ball and was caught by surprise when May-Treanor ran it down and passed it close to the net. Walsh passed it over while sliding under the net and it landed short on China’s side as Xue and Zhang had moved to the back of the court.

Kessy, Ross to Play in All-American Final

LONDON (Aug. 7, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross set the stage for an all-American Olympic gold medal match on Wednesday by upsetting Brazil’s No. 1 Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12 in the semifinals at Horse Guards Parade.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” Ross said. “I obviously understand that I’m going to be playing in that match tomorrow. I’m just so proud that we were able to do this for USA Beach Volleyball. “I’m just really happy that we can be a part of this. I think this is awesome for beach volleyball in the United States.”

Kessy and Ross endured a light but steady rain while coming back from a first-set loss to beat the Brazilians, who are the defending world champi-ons. Kessy and Ross had lost to França and Silva the last nine times they have played and went into the match with a 4-19 overall record against the Brazilian side. Ross said the team went into Tuesday’s match with a

different strategy.

“Our coach Jeff Conover did a lot of scouting and we watched every single video from here that they’ve played,” Ross said “We came up with the idea of serving Larissa more. From a strategy perspective I think that is different

than before.”

April Ross, left, and Misty May-Treanor reach for the ball. (FIVB photo)

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April Ross, left, and Jennifer Kessy scream for joy after their victory over Bra-zil in the Olympic semifinals. (FIVB photo)

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Misty May-Treanor passes the ball during the gold medal match. (FIVB photo)

Misty May-Treanor runs over to hug Kerri Walsh after the match. (FIVB photo)

Emotions run high for Jennifer Kessy, left, and Misty May-Treanor. (FIVB photo)

Kerri Walsh, left, blocks against Jennifer Kessy in the final. (FIVB photo)

Walsh and May-Treanor Pull Off Three-peat

LONDON (Aug. 8, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their third straight Olympic Games gold medal on Wednesday, defeating compatriots Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, 21-16, 21-16 in 36 minutes at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor and Walsh, who won gold medals in Athens in 2004 and Bei-jing in 2008 and were seeded No. 3 in London, finish the tournament at 7-0 (21-0 in Olympic matches going back to Athens and 42-1 in Olympic sets). Kessy and Ross (No. 4) finish their first Olympic Games with a silver medal and a 6-1 record.

“A big reason Misty and I are gold medalists is because of those two girls,” Walsh said of Kessy and Ross. “They are one of my favorite teams to beat because they are so good. It’s an honor to share the podium with them. They drive me crazy on the court.”

“I still feel like, ‘somebody pinch me that this just happened,’” said May-Treanor, who has said she plans to retire after the Olympic Games. “We’ve been walking around the stadium saying it feels like an out-of-body experi-ence.

“This was about the experience, the friendship, the journey and volleyball was just a small part of it.”

With May-Treanor and Walsh’s victory, the United States continues its streak of having at least one gold medalist in beach volleyball since its introduction in 1996. The United States has earned at least one volleyball medal, either indoor or beach, in every Olympics since 1984.

May-Treanor and Walsh become the first women to win three Olympic med-als in beach volleyball and the first players of either gender to win three beach volleyball gold medals

On Wednesday, May-Treanor and Walsh led in attacks (27-22), blocks (17-9) and digs (17-9). The two teams tied in aces (2-2).

May-Treanor led in attacks with 16. Kessy had 14 for her team. Walsh had three blocks while Kessy had two. May-Treanor finished with 15 digs.

“We’re really proud of what we did here,” Ross said. “I’m so proud of how we fought. We just didn’t have that same opportunity in this match. They didn’t let us back in. Kudos to them.

“We expected a battle and it wasn’t the battle we thought it was going to be.”

“They made us make great shots to go down; mediocre shots were not go-ing to go down,” Kessy said. “They played really well. It was just a bummer to lose the last time we are ever going to play against them.”

The last time the U.S. had two teams in the Olympic beach finals was at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta where Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes advanced as did the U.S. team of Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. Kiraly and Steffes went on to win the gold.

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From left, silver medalists Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh and bronze medalists Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta of Brazil. (FIVB photo)

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Women’s Results

April 15-20: Brasilia Open, Brazil1. Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, China2. Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Maria Antonelli, Brazil3. Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti, ItalyU.S. Results5T. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh9T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross17T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles25T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar

Men’s Results

April 17-22: Brasilia Open, Brazil1. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, USA2. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena, USA3. Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha, BrazilOther U.S. Results9T. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal25T. Brad Keenan and John MayerCQ. Casey Jennings and Billy Strickland

Dalhausser, Rogers Win All-U.S. Final in Brazil

BRASILIA, Brazil (April 22, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers defeated compatriots Matt Fuer-bringer and Nick Lucena to win the gold medal.

The top-ranked Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Fuerbringer and Lucena, seeded fourth, 21-17, 21-18 in 44 minutes. Rogers and Dalhausser will split $30,000 while Fuerbringer and Lucena will share $21,000. It was the third straight Brasilia Open victory for Dalhausser and Rogers.

“We love to play in Brazil. We love playing Americans and we love winning in Brazil and it certainly showed this week,” Rogers said in an FIVB release.

“We had a tough week, especially losing in the second round and having to come back in our first tournament of the year and me coming off a serious knee injury. In the second set I was tired and made a couple of mistakes and they got back in the game.

“We know Matt and Nick so well we have a lot more rallies than against most opponents, but I can say any questions I had about our off time from the tour are gone.”

It was the 13th time in the history of the FIVB SWATCH World Tour that two teams from the United States have met in the gold medal match.

In the women’s event, the top-seeded team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh finished tied for fifth after falling to Brazil’s No. 2 seeded Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva.

Phil Dalhausser passes the ball during the gold medal match against Matt Fuerbringer, left, and Nick Lucena. (FIVB photo)

Left: John Mayer attacks against compatriot Billy Strickland. Right: April Ross blocks against Brazil. (FIVB photo)

Jake Gibb dives for the ball to make the save in Brazil. (FIVB photo)

Matt Fuerbringer passes the ball against Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. (FIVB photo)

39From left, silver medalists Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena, gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers and bronzed medalists Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha. (FIVB photo)

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Jake Gibb thinks things over after a loss to Brazil. (FIVB photo)

Nick Lucena, left, and Casey Jennings, right, both play at the net. (FIVB photo)

Nick Lucena, right, attacks against Spain’s Adrian Gavira. (FIVB photo)

Matt Fuerbringer, right, attacks against Spain’s Pablo Herrera. (FIVB photo)

U.S. Men’s Teams Bow Out in Poland

MYSLOWICE, Poland (April 28, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams of Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena and Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal both finished play at the Silesia Open.

The two teams are battling for the second U.S. men’s beach volleyball berth at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Both were playing in the consolation bracket on Saturday after losing main draw matches.

Second-ranked Fuerbringer and Lucena fell to Spain’s third-seeded Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira, 21-14, 19-21, 15-11 in 50 minutes. Fuerbringer and Lucena finished the tournament tied for seventh.

Herrera and Gavira moved on to play the 13th-seeded Gibb and Rosen-thal and defeated the U.S. pair, 21-19, 21-11 in 32 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal finished the tournament tied for fifth.

Fuerbringer and Lucena went into Poland leading Gibb and Rosenthal by 400 points in the race for the second spot on the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team.

The U.S. team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers the defending Olym-pic champion, has already secured enough points to qualify and did not play in the tournament.

Two U.S. women’s teams competed on April 24-29 at the Sanya Open in China. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar finished 25th while Emily Day and Heather Hughes lost in qualifying.

Men’s Results

April 24-29: Silesia Open, Myslowice, Poland1. Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha, Brazil2. Marcio Araujo and Pedro Salgado, Brazil3. Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira, SpainU.S. Results5T. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal7T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena41T (QT). Casey Jennings and Billy Strickland

Women’s Results

April 24-29: Olympic Bay Sanya Open in China1. Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Maria Antonelli, Brazil2. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, Brazil3. Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, ChinaU.S. Results(No photos available)25T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar41T (QT). Emily Day and Heather Hughes

41Matt Fuerbringer reaches for the ball. (FIVB photo)

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Lauren Fendrick, left, goes up against the block by Spain. (FIVB photo)

Left: Angie Akers blocks against Greece. Left: Jake Gibb hits against Brazil. (FIVB photo)

Jake Gibb, left, looks to get the ball past Phil Dalhausser. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal dives for the ball. (FIVB photo)

Dalhausser, Rogers Win Second Gold of 2012

SHANGHAI, China (May 6, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers defeated compatriots Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal to win the gold medal at the Shanghai Grand Slam in China. Dalhausser and Rogers, the tournament’s No. 1 seeds, defeated Gibb and Rosenthal, ranked 14th, 21-19, 22-24, 15-11 in 1 hour, 7 minutes. “I thought we played really well,” Rogers said in an FIVB press release. “Jake and Rosey played very well, but I was very pleased with how we handled them.” The silver medal represents Gibb and Rosenthal’s best result on the FIVB SWATCH World Tour since they finished third at the 2011 Quebec Open. “(Dalhausser and Rogers) played great and they really just sided-out great,” Gibb said. “We can’t beat them if they side out that well. They played great and we can’t take anything away from them.” To reach the final match Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Brazil’s 12th-seeded Benjamin Insfrans and Bruno Schmidt when the Brazilian pair for-feited due to injury. Rogers and Dalhausser had won the first set, 35-33 before Insfrans was injured in the second set. In the women’s bracket, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded fourth, finished tied for ninth after losing in the second round. Fifth-ranked Jennifer Kessy and April Ross finished tied for fifth after losing in the third round.

Women’s Results

April 30-May 5: Shanghai Grand Slam, China1. Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, China2. Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Maria Antonelli, Brazil3. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, BrazilU.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross9T. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh17T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles33T (QT). Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar

Men’s Results

May 1-6: Shanghai Grand Slam, China1. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, USA2. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, USA3. Marcio Araujo and Pedro Salgado, BrazilOther U.S. Results5T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena17T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer

43Nick Lucena receives the ball on his knees. (FIVB photo)

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Misty May-Treanor takes flight to go after the ball. (FIVB photo)

Left: Jennifer Kessy prepares to serve. Right: Lauren Fendrick receives the ball. (FIVB photo)

Kerri Walsh, left, tries to block Jennifer Kessy in the second round. (FIVB photo)

Matt Fuerbringer celebrates during a match in Beijing. (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Tied with Fuerbringer, Lucena

BEIJING, China (May 13, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal pulled into a tie for a slot on the 2012 Olympic Team after finishing fourth at the Beijing Grand Slam in China, the second grand slam event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour.

Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded 11th in Beijing, fell to Brazil’s fifth-seeded Ali-son Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, 21-13, 21-16 in the bronze medal match in Beijing. The U.S. team fell to Netherlands’ third-seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, 22-20, 21-19 in the semifinals.

Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena, who are battling with Gibb and Rosen-thal for the second U.S. Olympic berth, finished fifth in Beijing after losing in the third round to Nummerdor and Schuil, 21-15, 21-17. Fuerbringer and Lucena went into Beijing with a 100-point lead over Gibb and Rosenthal.

Both teams now have 4,920 points toward Olympic qualifying. Gibb and Rosenthal are also leading the FIVB SWATCH World Tour with 1,880 points while Fuerbringer and Lucena are second with 1,800.

The U.S. women’s beach team of Jen Kessy and April Ross, seeded fifth, defeated compatriots and No. 4 seeds Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, 24-22, 24-22 in 45 minutes in the second round. May-Treanor and Walsh finished tied for ninth.

However Kessy and Ross fell to Netherlands’ sixth-ranked Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel in the third round, 21-13, 13-21, 15-10 in 43 minutes. Kessy and Ross finished tied for fifth.

Men’s Results

May 8-13: Beijing Grand Slam, China1. Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, Netherlands2. Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, Italy3. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, BrazilU.S. Results4. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal5T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena17T. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser

Women’s Results

May 7-12: Beijing Grand Slam, China1. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, Brazil2. Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti, Italy3. Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, NetherlandsU.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross9T. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh17T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles33T (QT). Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar

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Sean Rosenthal attacks against Latvia’s Ruslans Sorokins in Beijing. (FIVB photo)

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Jake Gibb thinks things over in Czech Republic. (FIVB photo)

Left: Todd Rogers sets the ball. Right: Billy Strickland passes. (FIVB photos)

Phil Dalhausser blocks against Brazil’s Ricardo Santos. (FIVB photo)

Dalhausser, Rogers Bounce Back for Bronze

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (May 27, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the bronze medal at the Patria Direct Prague Open in Czech Republic. Dalhausser and Rogers, seeded No. 1, defeated Brazil’s sixth-seeded Solberg and Marcio Araujo, 21-13, 21-19 in 40 minutes in the bronze medal match. The Olympic champions now own Prague gold (2010), silver (2011) and bronze (2012). In the bronze medal match strong serving Dalhausser, who scored three aces, kept the pressure on Marcio, which led to an easy win over the Brazilians. “Marcio did not have his best game today. I know from experience how hard it is sometimes to get motivated after you lose the semifinal,” Dal-hausser said after his team had collected its 41st overall medal.

Rogers celebrated his 100th World Tour event in Prague. Brazil's Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha claimed their fourth FIVB SWATCH World Tour title as they beat last year’s champions, Alison Ce-rutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil, in three sets, 21-15 19-21 15-10.

After a week off the FIVB SWATCH World Tour resumes on June 6 with the Grand Slam in Moscow. That will be followed by the final match in the Olympic qualification period, the Rome Grand Slam on June 12-17. While Dalhausser and Rogers have enough qualifying points to take the first United State’s men’s beach volleyball Olympic berth, the teams of Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena and Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal are still battling for the second spot. Going into Moscow, Gibb and Rosenthal have a 40-point lead over Fuer-bringer and Lucena.

Men’s Results

May 22-27: Patria Direct Prague Open, Czech Republic1. Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha, Brazil2. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Brazil3. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, USAOther U.S. Results9T. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal25T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena41T (QT). Casey Jennings and Billy Strickland

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Phil Dalhausser, right, blocks against Premysl Kubala of Czech Republic as Petr Benes watches. (FIVB photo)

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Brooke Niles lunges to make the dig against France. (FIVB photo)

Left: Jennifer Kessy, right, hits against the block of Kerri Walsh. (FIVB photo)Right: Jake Gibb is positioned to make a perfect pass. (FIVB photo)

Jennifer Kessy, left, passes to partner April Ross. (FIVB photo)

May-Treanor, Walsh Take Silver in Moscow

MOSCOW, Russia (June 11, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach vol-leyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh took the silver medal at the Moscow Grand Slam to earn their first podium appearance on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour. On the men’s side, Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal strengthened their posi-tion in The Chase for London with a fifth-place finish in Moscow while Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) placed ninth. In the championship match, May-Treanor and Walsh, seeded No. 6, fell to the top-seeded Chinese team of Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, 21-14, 21-14 in 34 minutes. The victory earned Xue and Xi their third gold medal at an FIVB event this season. In the semifinals, the U.S. pair defeated Brazil’s No. 2-seeded Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta Da Silvia, 21-12, 22-20 in 36 minutes.

The U.S. men’s beach team of Gibb and Rosenthal went into Moscow with a 40-point lead over Fuerbringer and Lucena in the battle to decide the second pair to make the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team. In the second round, No. 8-seeded Gibb and Rosenthal defeated Germany’s 19th-seeded Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif 21-12, 21-18 in 36 minutes. Their run at Moscow ended in the third round with a loss to the second-seeded Brazilian team of Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, 21-18, 21-19 in 39 minutes. Fuerbringer and Lucena, the No. 7 seed at Moscow, were upset in the second round by Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Rus-lans Sorokins (No. 13) 13-21, 21-11, 15-13 in 47 minutes and finished ninth.

Women’s Results

June 6-11: Moscow Grand Slam, Russia1. Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, China2. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, USA3. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, BrazilOther U.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross33T (QT). Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles33T (QT). Angie Akers and Brittany HochevarCQ. Tyra Turner and Nicole Branagh

Men’s Results

June 7-12 Moscow Grand Slam, Russia1. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Brazil2. Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, Netherlands3. Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha, BrazilU.S. Results5T. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal9T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena

49Brittany Hochevar, right, attacks against Japan’s Takemi Nishibori. (FIVB photo)

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Left: April Ross, left, and Jennifer Kessy celebrate their bronze medal. (FIVB photo)Right: Jake Gibb, left, and Sean Rosenthal stand atop the podium. (FIVB photo)

Angie Akers recieves the ball as Brittany Hochevar gets ready to make a play. (FIVB photo)

Left: Billy Strickland receives the ball. Right: John Mayer, right, attacks. (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Win First FIVB Grand Slam

ROME, Italy (June 17, 2012) – Riding the momentum of their Olympic qualification, the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal won its first FIVB Grand Slam tournament in Rome. On June 16, Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded No. 5, clinched enough FIVB quali-fying points to secure nomination to the U.S. Olympic Team that will com-pete in London. On June 17, they defeated Brazil’s top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti, 21-13, 21-12 in 36 minutes to win the gold medal. In other medal matches, the U.S. women’s team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross won the bronze medal while the U.S. men’s team of Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena fell in their bronze medal match. Gibb and Rosenthal won their second FIVB medal of the season after taking the silver at the Shanghai Grand Slam. “I can’t believe it really,” Gibb said in an FIVB press release. “It was a big win for us here. They are the world champions and in my opinion the best in the world and we got lucky tonight. “This is our first grand slam and it is something I haven’t done in 12 years of my career, so it is a very special moment.” Fuerbringer and Lucena, seeded No. 12, who had been battling Gibb and Rosenthal for the second nomination to the U.S. Olympic Team, lost in the bronze medal match to Switzerland’s No. 25 Sasha Heyer and Sebastian Chevalier, 23-21, 21-13 in 41 minutes. In the women’s event in Rome, Kessy and Ross won their first FIVB medal of the season with a 21-17, 15-21, 15-13 victory in 59 minutes in the bronze medal match over fifth-seeded Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari of Italy.

Men’s Results

June 13-17 smart Grand Slam Rome, Italy1. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, USA2. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Brazil3. Sascha Heyer and Sebastian Chevallier, SwitzerlandOther U.S. Results4. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena33T (QT). Casey Jennings and Billy Strickland33T (QT). Brad Keenan and John Mayer

Women’s Results

June 12-17: smart Grand Slam Rome, Italy1. Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland2. Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, Germany3. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, USAOther U.S. Results5T. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, USA17T. Tyra Turner and Nicole Branagh33T (QT). Angie Akers and Brittany HochevarCQ. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles

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Tyra Turner keeps her eye on the ball as she passes it in Rome. (FIVB photo)

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Misty May-Treanor, left, and Kerri Walsh examine the gold medal. (FIVB photo)

Brooke Sweat dives for the ball during a qualifying match in Gstaad. (FIVB photo)

Casey Jennings, left, and Billy Strickland both go after the ball in Gstaad. (FIVB photo)

U.S. Teams Sweep Gold in Gstaad

GSTAAD, Switzerland (July 7, 2012) – If the results in Gstaad are any indication, U.S. beach volleyball teams are peaking at exactly the right time. With 20 days to go until the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. women’s beach team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 6, picked up its first FIVB World Tour victory of the season as it defeated Neth-erlands’ fifth-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, 21-10, 21-13 in 32 minutes. The U.S. team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross finished fifth. “It is first of all very exciting to play against such a young, fired-up team and to see them in the finals,” May-Treanor said in an FIVB press release. “We needed to stay balanced against the Dutch, they are always dangerous competitors. I am also happy to see the Netherlands, the Swiss and the USA on the podium. This makes a great picture. I would like to get used to it."

On the men's side, the U.S. team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal won its second FIVB World Tour event in a row defeating Brazil’s second-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in the gold-medal match, 21-17, 21-17 in 38 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal won $43,500 for the victory.

Gibb and Rosenthal advanced to the gold medal match by defeating top-seeded compatriots Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the semifinals, 21-10, 21-18 in 34 minutes. Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to the bronze-medal match, where they fell to Italy’s 13th-seeded Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai 21-19, 21-18 in 36 minutes.

Women’s Results

July 2-7: 1to1 Energy Grand Slam, Gstaad, Switzerland1. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, USA2. Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands3. Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr, SwitzerlandOther U.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross17T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles17T. Jenny Kropp and Nicole Branagh25T. Brooke Sweat and Jennifer FopmaCQ. Angie Akers and Brittany HochevarCQ. Emily Day and Heather HughesMen’s Results

July 3-8:5 1to1 Energy Grand Slam, Gstaad, Switzerland1. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, USA2. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Brazil3. Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, ItalyOther U.S. Results4. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser5T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena25T. Casey Jennings and Billy StricklandCQ. Brad Keenan and John Mayer

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Jake Gibb, left, and Sean Rosenthal have all the cowbell they need follow-ing their victory in Gstaad, Switzerland. (FIVB photo)

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Brad Keenan dives for the ball as John Mayer gets ready to make a play. (FIVB photo)

April Ross, right, and Jennifer Kessy celebrate a great play. (FIVB photo)

Sean Rosenthal, right, stays out of the way of Jake Gibb’s pass. (FIVB photo)

Jake Gibb, right, gets ready to serve as Sean Rosenthal waits. (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Settle for Silver in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany (July 14, 2012) – The U.S. beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal came up one set short in its quest to win a third straight FIVB World Tour gold medal and had to settle for silver at the smart Grand Slam Berlin. On the women’s side, the U.S. team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross fin-ished fifth while Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson placed seventh. For the third straight tournament, Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded No. 3, faced Brazil’s top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti in a World Tour grand slam final. However, unlike the past two tournaments, Gibb and Rosenthal fell on Saturday, 21-17, 15-21, 15-11 in 46 minutes. “We’ve had a good tournament,” Gibb said.

“They played better than us, so good for them. We now have one more, big tournament next week in Klagenfurt so hopefully we will do well then.”

Gibb and Rosenthal reached the gold medal match by defeating Poland’s No. 15 Mariusz Prudel and Grzegorz Fijalek, 21-18, 21-14 in 42 minutes in the semifinals on Saturday. On the women’s side, No. 4 Kessy and Ross opened Saturday with a sec-ond-round victory over Germany’s No. 7 Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, 13-21, 21-18, 15-13 in 57 minutes. But in the third round, Kessy and Ross fell to Italy’s No. 5-seeded Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti, 22-20, 19-21, 17-19 in 1 hour and 3 minutes.

Men’s Results

July 10-14: smart Grand Slam Berlin, Germany1. Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, Brazil2. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, USA3. Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, PolandOther U.S. Results9T. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser17T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena25T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer

Women’s Results

July 11-15 smart Grand Slam Berlin, Germany1. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, Brazil2. Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, China3. Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti, ItalyU.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross9T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles17T. Summer Ross and Nicole Branagh25T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar

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Lauren Fendrick passes the ball to a waiting Brooke Niles. (FIVB photo)

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Sean Rosenthal shows impressive form in digging the ball. (FIVB photo)

Left: Jake Gibb, left, and Sean Rosenthal show their bronze medals. (FIVB photo)Right: Brittany Hochevar shows her enthusiasm while playing in Austria. (FIVB photo)

Phil Dalhausser receives the ball as Todd Rogers gets ready to make a play. (FIVB photo)

Angie Akers watches the ball while diving for it in Klagenfurt. (FIVB photo)

Gibb, Rosenthal Leave Austria with Bronze Medals

KLAGENFURT, Austria (July 22, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach vol-leyball teams of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal took third place at the A1 Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria to earn their fourth straight podium ap-pearance on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour. The top-seeded Gibb and Rosenthal fell in Sunday's semifinals to the Neth-erlands’ No. 8 seeded Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, 21-13, 19-21, 16-14 in 53 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal were set to face their No. 2-seeded U.S teammates Dalhausser and Rogers in the match for third. However Dalhausser and Rogers forfeited, giving Gibb and Rosenthal their fourth straight podium appearance including two first-place finishes in Rome and Gstaad and a second-place finish in Berlin. In the women's bracket, the U.S. team of Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles finished tied for 17th after losing in the first round of single elimination. The teams of Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar along with Tara Roenicke and Summer Ross placed 25th.

Gibb and Rosenthal are now 48-17 in 61 World Tour events together having earned 12 total medals, three bronze medals and 14 final four finishes. In the semifinals, Dalhausser and Rogers fell to Brazil’s No. 7-seeded Pedro Salgado and Marcio Araujo, 25-23, 17-21, 15-10 in 1 hour, 7 minutes. They finished their run at Klagenfurt in fourth place. Nummerdor and Schuil defeated Salgado and Araujo to win the gold medal,

Men’s Results

July 17-22: A1 Grand Slam, Klagenfurt, Austria1. Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, Netherlands2. Marcio Araujo and Pedro Salgado, Brazil3. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, USAOther U.S. Results4. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser17T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena

Women’s Results

July 16-21: A1 Grand Slam, Klagenfurt, Austria1. Ekaterina Khomyakova and Evgenia Ukolova, Russia2. Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands3. Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Maria Antonelli, BrazilU.S. Results17T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles25T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar25T. Summer Ross and Tara Roenicke33T (QT). Emily Day and Heather Hughes

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Heather Hughes spikes the ball during a qualifying match at the A1 Grand Slam in Austria. (FIVB photo)

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Left: Todd Rogers, left, congratulates Phil Dalhausser. Right: Nick Lucena. (FIVB photos)

Kerri Walsh, right, receives the ball as Nicole Branagh heads toward the net. (FIVB photo)

Matt Fuerbringer reaches for the ball in front of Nick Lucena. (FIVB photo)

John Mayer stretches for the ball from his knees. (FIVB photo)

Dalhausser, Rogers Take Bronze in Poland

STARE JABLONKI, Poland (Aug. 20, 2012) – The U.S. Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball Team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the bronze medal at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland. The event was the final grand slam and the final men's event on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour. Dalhausser and Rogers, who were the two-time defending champions of the event and seeded No. 4, defeated the U.S. Olympic team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal by injury forfeit in the bronze medal match.

On the women’s side, Jennnifer Kessy and April Ross along with Kerri Walsh and Nicole Branagh suffered losses in the single-elimination bracket to end their runs in Poland.

In the second round contest, top-seeded Kessy and Ross defeated Spain's Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Else Baquerizo McMillan (No. 19), 17-21, 21-16, 15-17. Kessy and Ross finished fifth after losing in the quarterfinals to Germany’s Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler, 21-18, 18-21, 15-12 in 50 minutes. The fourth-seeded Walsh and Branagh suffered a second-round loss to the Czech Republic’s seventh-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova, 21-19, 21-19 in 35 minutes and finished ninth.

The event may have been the last as a team for Dalhausser and Rogers, who have played together since 2005. The team ends the 2012 season with four medals.

Men’s Results

Aug. 14-19: Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, Stare Jablonki, Poland1. Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, Latvia2. Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst, Austria3. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, USAOther U.S. Results4. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal5T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena41T (QT). Brad Keenan and John Mayer

Women’s Results

Aug. 13-18: Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, Stare Jablonki, Poland 1. Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta de Silva, Brazil2. Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti, Italy3. Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler, GermanyU.S. Results5T. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross9T. Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh17T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar25T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles

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Nicole Branagh looks to the skies as she re-ceives the ball during a main draw match in Poland. (FIVB photo)

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Left: Sarah Hughes, left, hits against the block of Summer Ross. (FIVB photo)Right: Jennifer Fopma, left, blocks against Emily Day. (FIVB photo)

Jenny Kropp, left, slaps hands with partner Whitney Pavlik. (FIVB photo)

Jennifer Kessy, left, cheers for the gold medal victory with April Ross. (FIVB photo)

Kessy, Ross Win First Gold Medals of Season

BANGSAEN, Thailand (Oct. 28, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross won their third Thailand Open title in Bangsaen, the final event on the women’s 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour. Kessy and Ross, seeded No. 2, beat Russia’s No. 3 Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Khomyakova, 21-17 21-19 in 44 minutes in the first ever Unit-ed States-Russia final in women’s FIVB World Tour history. In the bronze medal match, the U.S. team of Nicole Branagh and Lauren Fendrick, seeded No. 7, fell to Brazil’s No. 5 Agatha Bednarczuk and Bar-bara Seixas de Freitas, 19-21 21-19 15-9 in 56 minutes. Kessy and Ross played all six previous editions of the Thailand Open in Phuket, the first one in 2006 with different partners. They won gold in 2008 and 2009 and finished second last year. Overall they have collected 10 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals in 71 events on the World Tour. The pair won bronze at the Grand Slam in Rome this year and silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. “Winning silver at the Olympics was great, but we really wanted this med-al,” Kessy told the FIVB. “We were desperate to win here. We won gold in every year we played together, but this year we left it 'til the very end.” Ross added, “It was tough. We fought against the weather here and we reached the final the hard way, through the losers' bracket, but we did it.” Ross dedicated her medal to her grandfather who passed away during the tournament. The Russian team did not get a lot of chances against Kessy and Ross. They trailed the whole first set and had a small lead in the second set at 12-10; but gave that away quickly. Ukolova and Khomyakova managed to save one match point at 20-18; but Kessy finished the match with a cross-court spike.

Women’s Results

Oct. 23-28 Bangsaen Thailand Open1. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross2. Ekaterina Khomyakova and Evgenia Ukolova, Russia3. Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas de FreitasOther U.S. Results13T. Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar17T. Summer Ross and Heather Hughes CQ. Brooke Sweat and Jennifer FopmaCQ. Whitney Pavlik and Jenny KroppCQ. Sara Hughes and Kaitlin Sather

Heather Hughes, left, and Summer Ross go for the high-10. (FIVB photo)

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Jennifer Fopma, left, and Whitney Pavlik meet at the net. (FIVB photo)

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2012 NORCECA Beach CircuitWomen’s Results

March 23-25: Grand Cayman1. Bibiana Candelas and Mayra Garcia, Mexico2. Martha Revuelta and Vanessa Virgen, Mexico3. Yarleen Santiago and Yamileska Yantin, Puerto RicoU.S. Results4. Heather Hughes and Jennifer Snyder5. Michelle Moriarty and Traci Weamer

March 29-April 1: Guatemala1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik, USA2. Susana Alvarado and Anna Ramirez, Guatemala3. Elia Torres and Swan Mendoza, Nicaragua

May 18-20: Chiapas, Mexico1. Nirian Sinal and Ion Canet, Cuba2. Michelle Moriarty and Traci Weamer, USA3. Martha Revuelta and Vanessa Viergen, Mexico

Sept. 28-30: Chula Vista, Calif.1. Emily Day and Heather Hughes, USA2. Summer Ross and Morgan Beck, USA3. Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas, MexicoOther U.S. results (Only results of first two U.S. teams counted in overall standings)5. Michelle Moriarty and Kaitlin Sather7. Sara Hughes and Kirby Burnham9. Stevi Robinson and Eve Ettinger

Oct. 26-28: St. Lucia1. Kathryn Babcock and Traci Weamer, USA2. Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro, Costa Rica3. Kristina Vlcek and Victoria Cowley, Canada

Nov. 16-18: Trinidad & Tobago1. Summer Ross and Emily Day, USA2. Tealle Hunkus and Traci Weamer, USA3. Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro, Costa Rica

Nov. 30-Dec. 2: Aruba1. Tealle Hunkus and Summer Ross, USA2. Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas, Mexico3. Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro, Costa RicaOther U.S. result7. Stevi Robinson and Kirby Burnham

Men’s Results

March 23-25: Grand Cayman1. Roberto Rodriguez and Eric Haddok, Puerto Rico2. Samuel Schachter and Maverick Hatch, Canada3. Joshua Binstock and Martin Reader, CanadaU.S. Result5. Avery Drost and Steven VanderWerp

March 29-April 1 Guatemala1. Roberto Rodriguez and Pablo Guzman, Puerto Rico2. Tony Pray and John Heagy, USA3. Andy Blanco and Erick Garrido, Guatemala

May 18-20 Chiapas, Mexico1. Karel Pina and Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba2. Juan Virgen and Aldo Miramontes, Mexico3. Juan Revuelta and Ricardo Galindo, MexicoU.S. results6. David Smith and Skylar DelSol

May 25-27 Toluca, Mexico1. Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen, Mexico2. Karel Pina and Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba3. Roberto Rodriguez and Erick Haddock, Puerto RicoU.S. results4. David Smith and Skylar DelSol

Sept. 28-30 Chula Vista, Calif.1. Chaim Schalk and Benjamin Saxton, Canada2. Will Montgomery and Tri Bourne, USA3. Cameron Weelan and Michael Plantiga, CanadaOther U.S. results (Only results of first two U.S. teams counted in overall standings)4. Jesse Rambis and Avery Drost6. Jeff Carlson and Tony Ciarelli9. Adam Cabbage and Parker Kalmbach10. Alex Jones and Kyle Stevenson

Oct. 26-28 St. Lucia1. Will Montgomery and Jon Mesko, USA2. Jeffrey Carlson and Tony Ciarelli, USA3. Julian Biscette and Joseph Clercent, St. Lucia

Nov. 16-18 Trinidad & Tobago1. Tony Ciarelli and Will Montgomery, USA2. Gerald Umana and Henry Hernandez, Nicaragua3. Fabien Whitfield and Daniels Williams, Trinidad & TobagoOther U.S. result4. Weston Carico and Curt Toppel

Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Aruba1. Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen, Mexico2. Will Montgomery and Avery Drost, USA3. Julian Biscette and Joseph Clercent, St. LuciaOther U.S. result10. Matt Motter and Derek Olson

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All photos courtesy of NORCECA

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2012 Domestic ResultsJose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series

Florida OpenMay 26-27 in Fort Lauderdale, FlaWomen’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hansen3T. Nicole Branagh and Tyra Turner3T. Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. Brad Keenan and John Mayer3T. Billy Allen and Russ Marchewka3T. Adrian Carambula and Braidy Halv-erson

Belmar OpenJune 23-24 in Belmar, N.J.Women’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira3T. Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson3T. Jennifer Fopma an d Brooke Sweat

Men’s Results1. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson2. Adrian Carambula and Steven Grotowski3T. Matt Olson and Matt Prosser3T. Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge

Chicago OpenJuly 13-15 in Chicago, Ill.Women’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Priscilla Lima and Tyra Turner3T. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat3T. Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira

Men’s Results1. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson2. Avery Drost and Ty Tramblie3T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer3T. Stein Metzger and Mark Williams

Hermosa Beach OpenJuly 20-22 in Hermosa Beach, Calif.Women’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat3T. Priscilla Lima and Tyra Turner3T. Kathryn Piening and Sheila Shaw

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. Brad Keenan and John Mayer

3T. Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge3T. Kevin McColloch and Mike Placek

Milwaukee ShootoutAug. 3-5 in Milwaukee, Wis.Women’s Results1. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat2. Kristen Batt and Raquel Ferreira3T. Priscilla Lima and Tyra Turner3T. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. John Mayer and Matt Prosser3T. Casey Patterson and Ryan Doherty3T. Ty Tramblie and Avery Drost

Manhattan Beach OpenAug. 24-26 in Manhattan Beach, Calif.Women’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat3T. Lauren Fendrick and Rachel Scott3T. Nicole Branagh and Brittany Hoche-var

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson3T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena3T. Billy Allen and Matt Prosser

Hunting Beach National ChampionshipsSept. 21-23 in Huntington Beach, Calif.Women’s Results1. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik2. Lauren Fendrick and Rachel Scott3T. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat3T. Brooke Hanson and Tyra Turner

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal3T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer3T. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson

The National Volleyball League (NVL)

NVL PreaknessMay 17-19 in Baltimore, Md.Women’s Results1. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross2. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik3T. Jessica Gysin and Priscilla Lima3T. Christal Engle and Raquel Ferreira

Jenny Kropp, left and Whitney Pavlik (IMG photo)

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Men’s Results1. Ryan Doherty and Casey Patterson2. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers3T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer3T. Bill Allen and Russ Marchewka

NVL Best of the BeachSept. 13-15 in Las Vegas, Nev.Women’s Results1. April Ross2. Jenny Kropp3T. Raquel Ferreira3T. Brooke Sweat

Men’s Results1. Jake Gibb2. Matt Fuerbringer3T. Phil Dalhausser3T. Nick Lucena

Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP)

AVP Cincinnati OpenAug. 30-Sept. 2 in Cincinnati, OhioWomen’s Results1. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross2. Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh Jennings3T. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik3T. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat

Men’s Results1. John Hyden and Sean Scott2. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena3T. Phil Dalahausser and Todd Rogers3T. Brad Keenan and John Mayer

2012 Domestic ResultsRyan Mariano, left, goes for a roll shot. (IMG photo) AVP Championships

Sept. 7-9 in Santa Barbara, Calif.Women’s Results1. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross2. Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh Jennings3T. Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik3T. Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat

Men’s Results1. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal2. Brad Keenan and John Mayer3T. John Hyden and Sean Scott3T. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena

John Hyden dives for the ball. (IMG photo)

Sean Rosenthal, left, and Jake Gibb (IMG photo)

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Lauren Fendrick

Hometown: Carlsbad, Calif. Resides: Carlsbad, Calif.

College: UCLABirth Year: 1982

Height: 6-1

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – In the final FIVB event of the season, competed with Nicole Branagh and finished fourth at the Bangsaen Thailand Open. Team won $5,600. Fendrick and Branagh defeated No. 2 seeded Jennifer Kessy and April Ross and No. 3 seeded Ekaterina Khomya-kova and Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia before losing to Kessy and Ross in the semifinals... Competed in nine FIVB World Tour events with Brooke Niles (formerly Hanson), but could not overtake Jennifer Kessy and April Ross for the second spot on the U.S. Olympic Team... The pair's best finish was ninth in Berlin... The team won $17,950 for the season. 2011 – Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles began the year by winning the first NORCECA event in the Cayman Islands. The duo then advanced from the country quota and quali-fier to reach the semifinals in the FIVB season opener in Brasilia, where they finished fourth... They finished fourth again in their next event Shanghai for their best international finishes of the season... The pair earned $50,875... They are the third-ranked U.S. team on the FIVB World Tour and 10th over-all... The pair finished the season in third place among U.S. teams trying to qualify for the Olympic Games. 2010 – Fendrick opened the season with Ashley Ivy before partnering with Brooke Niles around mid-season… Fendrick and Ivy competed in six FIVB events with their best finish a 13th in Seoul, Korea. As a team they won $8,625… Fendrick and Ivy competed in six FIVB events with their best finish ninth in Sanya, China. The pair won $9,075. 2009 – Fendrick and Ashley Ivy competed in nine FIVB World Tour events. Their best finish was fourth place in Phuket, Thailand… They won $21,550 and finished the season ranked 61st. 2008 – Fendrick and Ashley Ivy competed in three FIVB World Tour events. Their best finish was fifth in Phuket, Thailand. They won $11,250 and finished the season ranked 92nd… Fendrick and Ivy also competed in two FIVB Challenger and Sat-ellite events and won both. They won a total of $3,500… Fendrick and Keegan Featherstone finished 13th at the World University Championship in Hamburg, Germany. 2007 – Fendrick and partner Claire D’Amore com-peted in one FIVB Challenger and Satellite event and finished 17th.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished second at Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series events in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (with Brooke Niles) and Hun-tington Beach, Calif. (with Rachel Scott)... Finished third at Jose Cuervo events in Belmar, N.J. (with Brooke Niles) and Manhattan Beach, Calif. (with Rachel Scott). Also finished fifth with Niles in Hermosa Beach, Calif... Fendrick and her partners won $16,000 for the season. 2011 – Fendrick and Brooke Niles won the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series event in Mi-ami and finished third in Hermosa Beach... They won a Corona Light Wide Open event in Cincinnati... They finished second at the NVL event in Miami and finished 2011 with 29,625 in domestic winnings. 2010 – Fen-drick played seven AVP events before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13… Fen-drick played five AVP events with Ashley Ivy with their best finish two fifth places in San-ta Barbara, Calif., and Belmar, N.Y. The pair

won $9,900… Fendrick played two AVP tournaments with a fifth place in the final event in Long Beach, Calif., their best finish. The pair won $3,600. 2009 – Fendrick and Ashley Ivy competed in 12 AVP events, finishing fifth three times in Panama City, Fla., Brooklyn, N.Y., and San Francisco. The team won $28,455… Fendrick also played in two AVP Hot Winter Nights events, finishing first in Portland, Ore., and winning $6,250. 2008 – Played in 12 AVP events, one with Angela Knopf and the rest with Paula Roca. Fendrick and Paula placed fifth at the events in Santa Barbara at Manhat-tan Beach… Lauren’s teams won a total of $31,650. 2007 – Competed in 13 AVP events with four different partners… Her best finishes were three sevenths, once with Brittany Hochevar in Glendale, Ariz. (5/10-13) and two with Tammy Leibl (Chicago on 8/2-5 and Manhattan Beach on 8/9-11). Her teams finished with total winnings of $20,538. 2006 – After a year off from the tour, Fendrick competed in 11 events with five different partners. Best finish was seventh in Manhattan Beach with Tatiana Minello. Her teams finished with total winnings of $9,125. 2004 – Competed in 10 AVP events with four different partners, including future Olympian Nicole Branagh… Best finish was ninth in Hermosa Beach (7/22-24) with Branagh. Fendrick’s teams finished with total winnings of $5,580.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: Attended UCLA from 1999-2002… Played vol-leyball and softball her freshman year and was a relief pitcher as UCLA made it to the NCAA championship game where it lost… Pac 10 All Fresh-man Team… Honorable mention All-Pac 10 as a sophomore-senior… Aca-demic All-American as a sophomore-senior… Served as one of three team captains her senior year.

OTHER VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS: Started playing volleyball in 1997 and played outside hitter with Strictly Volleyball in Vista, Calif. … Fendrick was a three-sport (volleyball, basketball, softball) athlete at Carlsbad High School and was the North County Times Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 1998-99 with a 4.74 GPA on a 4.0 scale… First-team volley-ball All-American and Fab 50 player… First-team All-CIF and All-Avocado League… In the summer of 1998, Fendrick was the kill leader while play-ing on the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team... Has competed professionally indoors in Puerto Rico and Turkey.

PERSONAL: Born Lauren Marie Fendrick in 1982 in San Diego, Calif. … Parents are Leo Fendrick (deceased) and Merle Fendrick… Attended Carlsbad High School from 1995-99… Graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 2003 with a degree in communication studies… Received her law degree from USC and has passed the bar exam… Favorite food is Thai… Favorite books are by Robert Jordan… Favorite movie is Anchorman… Favorite TV Show is How I Met Your Mother… Favorite musician is Re-gina Spektor… Favorite team is the Padres… Most admired person is her

mother because she is “the most patient, loving person I know.”

PARTNERS: 2012 – Nicole Branagh, Brooke Niles (formerly Hanson), Rachel Scott. 2011 – Brooke Niles. 2010 – Brooke Niles, Ashley Ivy. 2009 – Ashley Ivy. 2008 – Paula Roca, Angela Knopf. 2007 – Holly McPeak, Tammy Leible, Paula Roca, Britta-ny Hochevar. 2006 – Heather Lowe, Tatiana Minello, Pat Keller, Ann Windes, Diane Pas-cua. 2004 – Paula Roca, Nicole Branagh, Ashley Bowles, Daven Allison. 2003 – Da-nalee Bragado-Corso, Julie Romias, Maka-lani Hovey.FIVB

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Brooke Niles

Hometown: Woodland Hills, Calif. Resides: Ventura, Calif.

College: UC-Santa BarbaraBirth Year: 1981

Height: 5-8

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Competed in nine FIVB World Tour events with Lauren Frendrick, but could not overtake Jennifer Kessy and April Ross for the second spot on the U.S. Olympic Team... The pair's best finish was ninth in Berlin... The team won $17,950 for the season and was ranked 29th on the FIVB World Tour. 2011 – Niles and Lauren Fendrick began the year by winning the first NORCECA event in the Cay-man Islands. The duo then advanced from the country quota and qualifier to reach the semifinals in the FIVB season opener in Brasilia, where they finished fourth... They finished fourth again in their next event Shanghai for their best international finishes of the season... The pair earned $50,875... They finished the season as the third-ranked U.S. team on the FIVB World Tour and 10th overall... The pair finished the season in third place among U.S. teams trying to qualify for the Olympic Games. 2010 – Niles and Lisa Rutledge started the year in Brasilia as the 25th-seeded qualifier team, and finished with a career best fifth place. Midseason, Fendrick partnered with Lauren Fendrick. The pair played six FIVB tournaments together, with a best of ninth in Sanya. 2009 – Niles partnered with Lisa Rutledge, and played two FIVB events but did not make the main draw in either tournament. 2008 – Niles missed the entire AVP season with an injury, but played in an FIVB qualifier in October with Angie Akers.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished second with Lauren Fendrick at the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Finished third with Fendrick in Belmar, N.J., and placed third with Tyra Turner in Huntington Beach, Calif. Finished fifth with Turner in both AVP events in 2012… Finished fifth at NVL Best of the Beach event… Niles’ teams won $19,500 for the year and Niles finished season ranked 10th in the USAV Beach Player Rankings. 2011 – Finished first with Lauren Fendrick at the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series event in Miami, the AVP event in Hunting-ton Beach and the Wide Open event in Cincinnati… Finished second with Fendrick in NVL event in Miami… Finished third at the Pro Beach Series tourney in Hermosa Beach… Niles and Fendrick won $29,625 for the sea-son. 2010 – Competed in seven AVP tournaments before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13… Her best finish was fifth in Long Beach, Calif., with Lauren Fendrick on July 24-25. She competed in the first five events with Lisa Rutledge before switching to Fendrick. Hanson and her partners won $13,100. 2009 – Competed in 15 AVP tournaments, 14 with Lisa Rutledge and the King of the Beach. Finished second in San Diego and third in Houston, Huntington Beach, Atlanta, Manhattan Beach and Ma-son, Ohio. Hanson and Rutledge won $60,165 for the season and Hanson was ranked ninth on the tour, her highest ranking ever. 2008 – Missed the domestic season due to injury. 2007 – Competed in 17 AVP events, 15 with Angie Akers,

one with Jennifer Fopma and one King of the Beach event. Best finish was second in Chicago. Niles and Akers placed third in Mason, Ohio and fourth in San Francisco. Niles’ teams won $49,325 and Hanson was ranked 16th. 2006 – Competed in 14 AVP tournaments with various partners. Best finish was seventh in Huntington Beach, Calif., with Sarah Straton. Niles’ teams won $14,325 and she was ranked 25th. 2002-05 – Niles played in her first AVP event in 2002 with Brooke Rundle and did not get out of the qualifica-tion bracket. She played in 2003 with Courtney Guerra and did not get out of the qualification bracket in five events… She and Guerra finally qualified in 2004 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She and Guerra played in 10 AVP events that year and finished ninth in Hermosa Beach and Santa Barbara. They won $4,742 and Niles was ranked 31st. In 2005, Niles switched partners mid-year from Courtney Guerra to Sarah Straton and finished fifth at Manhattan Beach and Her-mosa Beach.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: Was a four-year letter win-ner at UC-Santa Barbara where she played every position except for middle blocker… Was a third-team All-American her senior year and ranked third nationally in assists in 2002... As an out-side hitter was named the Big West Freshman of the Year in 1999… three times was selected to the all-conference team…Graduated with a degree in law and society… Left the school ranked fifth in career digs, sixth in assists, and eighth in aces.

PERSONAL: Brooke Niles (formerly Hanson) is the third of four kids, with two brothers (Brett, Troy) and one sister (Emily), and has a pit bull (Roxy). Both of her parents, Randy and Tria, played beach volleyball. She served three seasons as an assistant coach at UCSB under her mentor Kathy Greg-ory, who tallied 50 beach volleyball titles. Also serving with her on the staff

was Angela Rock (27 titles).

Partners: 2012 – Lauren Fen-drick, Tyra Turner. 2011 – Lauren Fendrick. 2010 – Lisa Rutledge, Fendrick. 2009 – Rutledge. 2008 – Angie Akers. 2007 – Akers, Jennifer Fompa. 2006 – Logan Tom, Akers. 2005 – Sarah Stra-ton, Courtney Guerra. 2003 – Courtney Guerra. 2004 – Courtney Guerra. 2002 – Brooke Rundle.

Honors: AVP Best Defensive Player in 2009

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Jennifer Kessy

Hometown: San Luis Obispo, Calif. Resides: San Clemente, Calif.

College: Southern California (USC)Birth Year: 1977

Height: 6-0

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished season ranked fourth on the FIVB World Tour. Team earnings for Kessy and Ross were $138,200... Finished season with first international victory of the year at the Bansaen Thailand Open. Kessy and Ross won $15,000 for the victory... One week after winning the Olympic silver medal, Kessy and April Ross finished fifth at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland… Kessy and Ross won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in London, losing to U.S. com-patriots Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the gold medal match, 21-16, 21-16 (8/8). Kessy and Ross advanced to the gold medal match by upset-ting top-seeded Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva in the semi-finals, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12. Kessy and Ross went 3-0 in pool play and won both their first- and second-round, single-elimination matches in straight sets. As a team, Kessy and Ross finished second among all women’s beach teams at the Olympics in aces with 23 on 315 attempts in seven matches (17 sets). They finished second in attacks with 209 kills on 359 attempts for a success percentage of .58. Kessy was fifth among all players in scoring with 124 points on 103 kills, 12 blocks and nine aces. Kessy was 10th in blocks with 12 in 17 sets… Kessy and Ross won their medal of the season prior to the Olympic Games at the Rome Grand Slam, finishing third… They secured their slot in the Olympic Games with a fifth-place finish at the Bei-jing Grand Slam, earning enough points to beat Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles....They placed fifth in four other tournaments (Shanghai, Moscow, Gstaad and Berlin. 2011 – In the FIVB season opener in Brasilia, Kessy and Ross overcame a first-round loss to win a bronze medal, while in Shanghai the duo rebounded from a second-round loss to win a silver medal... They claimed two more bronze medals at Myslowice and Beijing before taking fifth at the World Championship...the duo earned their only first-place finish of the year at Stravanger, but added two more silver medals at the Mazuri Open and the Phuket Thailand Open before the season ended. 2010 – Kes-sy and Ross competed in 15 FIVB World Tour events in 2010, winning two (Shanghai, China and the Grand Slam in Rome, Italy) and capturing one sec-ond place (the Grand Slam in Moscow, Russia) and two thirds (Seoul, Korea and Sanya, China)... Jennifer was named the Most Outstand-ing Player of the event in Shanghai... The team had two fourth-place finishes and three fifths. They won a total of $106,675. 2009 – Kessy and Ross won the FIVB World Championship in Stavanger, Norway (6/25-7/4). The pair went 8-0 and lost only two sets, de-feating Brazil's Juli-ana Felisberta Silva

and Larissa Franca in the final. Jen led all players in hitting with a 0.593 hitting percentage... They also won the FIVB World Tour events in Marseille, France (7/20-26) and Phuket, Thailand (11/3-8). Kessy was named the MVP of both events. The team also gathered four second-place finishes and two thirds in 10 events to rank third and win $139,100. 2008 – Kessy and Ross competed in 12 international events, winning $87,300. The team finished the 2008 FIVB Beach World Tour in impressive fashion, winning the season's final two events. In the final three events of the year, Jen and April totaled two wins (Thailand and China) and a runner-up showing (Dubai)... In Dubai (Oct. 5-10), the pair reached the finals before falling to fellow Americans Kerri Walsh and Nicole Branagh... The pair went a perfect 6-0 in Thailand (Nov. 4-9) to capture the gold medal, this time defeating Branagh and partner Tyra Turner in the final... The squad shook off a third-round loss in China (Nov. 11-16) to come all the way back and reach the finals. Kessy and Ross swept China's Ying Huang and Zhang Xi for their second straight gold. 2007 – Kessy and Ross competed in eight FIVB international tour-naments. They won the event in Stavanger, Norway, becoming the lowest seeded team (29th) ever to win an FIVB event. They fought through three rounds of qualifying and lost their first two pool play matches. They also finished second once and totaled $53,050. 2006 – Kessy played in eight FIVB events with Nancy Mason and Rachel Wacholder, but did not reach the podium. She won $15,100 with her partners. 2005 – Played in eight FIVB events with Holly McPeak and Nancy Mason. Her best finish was a fourth with Mason in Acapulco, Mexico. Their winnings totaled $30,875. 2004 – Played in two FIVB tournaments with Barb Fontana but they did not make it through qualifying. 2002 – Played in one FIVB event with Cary Wendell, but they did not make it through qualifying. 2001 – Won an FIVB Challenger tournament with Heather Lowe. She competed in an FIVB World Tour event with Angie Simpson, but did not make it through qualifying. 2000 – Jennifer and Angie Simpson competed in one FIVB Challenger tournament and two World Tour events, but did not medal.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Following the Olympic Games, Kessy and Ross won the AVP events in Cincinnati and Santa Barbara, Calif., win-ning $33,750... Kessy and Ross also won the NVL events in Baltimore and Las Vegas. 2011 – Kessy and Ross won the Hermosa Beach Open (9/23-25)and placed third at the Miami Open (9/16-28) on the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Tour… They placed third at the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball in Cin-cinnati (9/1-4)… They won the National Volleyball League event in Miami (9/10-11) 2010 – Kessy and Ross opened the season with a third-place finish in Fort Lauderdale and a fifth in Santa Barbara before winning its next

four AVP Tour stops before the AVP ceased operations on Aug. 13. They won $47,750… The pair finished the season with a victory at the Cin-cinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Players Championship on Sept. 3-5 in Cincin-nati, Ohio. 2009 – Kessy and Ross won their first AVP title in Houston (5/15-17) and went on to win four more. They also had five second-FIVB

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place finishes and two thirds, winning a total of $141,050. They finished third in the race for the Crocs Cup... Kessy also won the Queen of the Beach title in Las Vegas (9/17-19), playing in the final with Tyra Turner... Kessy played in five AVP Hot Winter Nights events, winning one and tak-ing second three times. 2008 – Kessy and Ross played in 13 AVP sum-mer events and took five second-place finishes and six thirds. They won a total of $125,250. Jen won the Queen of the Beach tournament in Glendale, Ariz. (9/25-27), playing with Kerri Walsh in the final. Kessy played in seven AVP Hot Winter Nights events, winning one, with one second and two thirds. 2007 – Playing for the first time as a team, Kessy and Ross opened the season with a second-place fin-ish in Miami. They played in 16 summer AVP events, taking second two times and third four times. In Hermosa Beach, they defeated Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the winners' bracket. They won a total of $73,525. 2006 – Opened the AVP season playing with Nancy Mason and the team finished second in its first two events. They also had three thirds. Jen teamed with Rachel Wacholder for the final five AVP tournaments and finished with two seconds and three thirds. Kessy and her partners won a total of $76,850. 2005 – Kessy and partner Holly McPeak played in 13 AVP matches and finished second two times and third nine times. They won a total of $80,650 and ended the sea-son ranked third. Kessy was Rachel Wacholder's selection as partner for the final of the Goddess of the Beach tournament. Kessy ended the year ranked second on the Tour in blocks per game (1.03). 2004 – Kessy and partner Barbra Fontana played in 11 AVP matches and had one second place, Jen's best finish on the tour thus far, and three thirds. It was the first season that Jennifer reached the AVP podium and she finished the season with her best ranking ever at ninth. The team won a total of $32,912.50. 2003

– Kessy and partner Jenny Pavley competed in seven AVP events with their best finish at sev-enth (twice). They won a total of $6,900. 2002 – Kessy and partner Heather Lowe competed in six AVP events and had two ninth-place fin-ishes. They won a total of $3,680. 2001 - Jennifer made her AVP debut in 2000 and played in four events, finishing ninth three times.

OTHER VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS: Played for USC 1995-98 and was named All-District in 1997, All-American in 1998 and earned All-PAC 10 selection 1995-1998... Was a member of the U.S. Junior Nation-al Team... Played profes-sionally for the Chicago Thunder in 2002 and in Puerto Rico in 2003.

PERSONAL: Born Jen-nifer Anne Kessy in 1977

in San Clemente, Calif. ... Parents are Ronald and Charlotte Kessy... Jen-nifer's younger brothers are Ryan and Travis Kessy... Jennifer went to Dana Hills High School in Dana Point, Calif., where she competed in both swim-ming and volleyball... She graduated from USC in 2000 with a degree in history... Enjoys golfing, water skiing, surfing, bocce ball, cooking, home improvement and riding her beach cruzer... Her role models are her parents.

PARTNERS: 2012 – April Ross. 2011 – April Ross. 2010 – April Ross. 2009 – April Ross. 2008 – April Ross. 2007 – April Ross. 2006 – Nancy Mason/Rachel Wacholder. 2005 – Holly McPeak. 2004 – Barbra Fontana. 2003 – Jenny Pavley. 2002 – Heather Lowe. 2001 – Jennifer Simpson/Angie Maredith/Heather Lowe

HONORS: 2012 – USA Volleyball Beach Team of the Year (with April Ross). 2009 – USA Volleyball Beach Team of the Year (with April Ross). 2004 – Named AVP Most Improved Player.

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Misty May-Treanor

Hometown: Santa Monica, Calif. Resides: Long Beach, Calif.College: Long Beach State

Birth Year: 1977Height: 6-0

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh became the only beach volleyball team to win three Olympic gold medals when they beat U.S. compatriots Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the gold medal match, 21-16, 21-16 (8/8) at the 2012 Summer Games in London. To reach the gold medal match, Misty and Kerri had to battle the No. 2 seeded team of Xi Zhang and Chen Xue from China in the semifinals. Miaty and Kerri won, 22-20, 22-20. During pool play, Misty and Kerri lost their first set in an Olympic Games to Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger of Aus-tria. Misty and Kerri won the match, 17-21, 21-8, 15-10. As a team, they are 21-0 in Olympic matches going back to Athens and 42-1 in Olympic sets. As a team, Misty and Kerri led all Olympic women’s beach teams in London in blocks with 25 in 15 sets and in digs with 151 on 302 attempts for a .50 success percentage. Misty led all players in digs with 107 on 225 attempts (15 sets) for a .48 success percentage. Misty was second among all players in scoring with 125 points on 120 kills, one block and four aces… Going into the Olympics, Misty and Kerri and Misty won their first gold medal of the season at the Gstaad Grand Slam in Switzerland (7/2-7)… Misty and Kerri earned two ninth-place finishes and one fifth-place fin-ish early in the season... The Olympic-bound duo earned their first podium appearance with a second place in Moscow (6/6-11)... Next, they took fifth at the Rome Grand Slam (6/12-17). 2011 – May-Treanor reunited with Walsh in the FIVB season opener, marking the first time these two played to-gether internationally since the 2008 Beijing Olympics... They earned a sil-ver medal in this reunion match, followed by a fourth-place finish in Sayna, China...Claimed their first gold medal of the year at the Beijing Grand Slam, and found themselves on the medal stand again at the World Champion-ship with a second-place finish...Took first-place two more times during the season at the Moscow Grand Slam and the A1 Grand Slam... Earned two more second-place fin-ishes at the Paf Open and the HP Beach Open. 2010 – Mostly recovered from the Achilles tendon injury she suffered while training for Dancing with the Stars in 2008, Misty formed a new partner-ship with Nicole Branagh as Kerri Walsh took the summer off to have her second child. The team played in nine FIVB World Tour events with a third place in Stavanger, Nor-way their best finish. They also placed fourth in Shanghai, China and Rome, Italy. They earned $47,775 for the sea-son… Misty also traveled to Russia in 2010 as part

of a U.S. State Department sport exchange program. She worked with junior beach volleyball players from both the United States and Russia. 2009 – Af-ter spending most of the summer trying to recover from the ruptured Achil-les tendon she suffered during practice for Dancing with the Stars, Misty and partner Kerri Walsh returned to the sand together for the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil presented by Sanderson Ford in Glendale, Ariz. The United States won the team competition, but Misty and Kerri lost in the final to Brazil's Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca. 2008 – Misty and partner, Kerri Walsh, have won their last 69 FIVB World Tour matches with 10-straight gold medal finishes. Seeded second, the pair won the 2008 Olympic beach volleyball tournament to become the first team to win two beach volleyball Olympic gold medals. The pair finished the tournament with a 7-0 record and did not drop a set. They defeated the top-ranked Chinese team of Wang Jie and Tian Jia, 21-18, 21-18, in the final. Misty was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, finishing third among hit-ters with 107 kills in seven matches and third among diggers with 43 digs in seven matches. The team finished the Olympic Games with a 108-match winning streak... Misty and Kerri had the most Olympic qualifying points of any team in the Games, but were ranked second due to an FIVB rule that allows the host country the top ranking if it has a team in the top six... Kerri underwent shoulder surgery during the offseason and reinjured the shoulder the weekend of May 2 in Huntington Beach, Calif., causing her and Misty to pull out of the early FIVB women's tournaments they had been plan-ning to play. They returned to international play at the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Berlin on June 10-14 and won three straight international tournaments (Berlin; Paris and Stavanger, Norway). Misty was named the Most Outstanding Player of all three events. Winning the three events earned the team $65,250. 2007 – Won seven out of eight interna-tional tournaments and placed third at the other... Won third straight FIVB World Championship (Gstaad, Switzerland) without dropping a set in the tournament... Won $154,750 and finished the season ranked ninth overall, but first in Olympic qualifying points. 2006 – Played in eight tournaments, winning three gold medals, two silver and two bronze... Won $100,700 and finished the season ranked ninth. 2005 – Won second-straight FIVB World Championship... Netted gold medals in six of her seven tournament appear-ances... Finished the season ranked 7th... Earned $131,500 in prize money. 2004 – May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh went 14-0 to win the Olympic

Games in Athens... Won four gold medals in five tournaments... Ended the season ranked 37th... Earned $43,000 in prize money for her efforts. 2003 – Won first FIVB World Championship (Berlin)... Won five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal in eight tournament ap-pearances... Finished the season ranked third... Received $126,000 for her efforts. 2002 – Won the FIVB Tour... Netted five gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal in 11 tour-naments... Ranked 1st for the season... Earned $97,570 in prize money

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throughout the season. 2001 – Earned five medals in nine tournament ap-pearances... Finished 9th in the season ranking... Received $58,500 for her appearances. 2000 – Finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Sydney with partner Holly McPeak... Claimed three gold medals and two silver medals in 11 tournament appearances... Ranked third in the season standings... Claimed $90,000 in prize money. 1999 – Finished ninth in her one tourna-ment of the season... Netted an 82nd season placement... Earned $2,250.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2010 – May-Treanor and partner Nicole Branagh competed in seven AVP Tour events before the AVP ceased opera-tions on Aug. 13. The team had two firsts (Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif.), two seconds (Virginia Beach, Va., and Huntington Beach, Calif.) and two thirds (Santa Barbara, Calif., and Belmar, N.Y.).They also finished fifth once and earned a total of $48,500. 2009 – May-Treanor took the summer off from domestic competition while recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered while practicing for ABC’s Dancing with the Stars following the 2008 Olympic Games. 2008 – Misty and Kerri played in a total of 14 AVP tournaments, winning 12 and taking one second and one third. They won a total of $182,750... Misty and Kerri's total match win streak came to an end at 112 matches at the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout Cincinnati held Aug. 29-31. Misty and Kerri were defeated in the finals by fellow Olympians, Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh. The loss also snapped the gold medalists' streak of 19 straight tournament championships. Until then, Misty and Kerri had not lost a domestic volleyball match since Aug. 16-19, 2007 in Boston when they lost in the AVP final to Branagh and Youngs... Misty and Kerri won the first three AVP events they played in before Kerri reinjured her shoulder the weekend of May 2. They came back the weekend of May 24 to win the AVP event in Louisville, Ky. ... They won a total of 12 AVP events in 2008, with one second and one third. They won a total of $182,750... At the AVP event in Chicago on Aug. 10-13, Misty won her 100th career tournament title in 153 events, the fastest beach volley-ball player to reach that milestone. She is the first female beach volleyball player to win 100 tourneys and the fifth player overall. Going into Beijing she has 102 tournament victories. 2007 – Played in 15 AVP events... Won gold at 13, silver at one and bronze at one... Won $162,250 and finished season ranked first… At the AVP event in Boston, she became the all-time earnings leader. 2006 – Played in 16 AVP events with 13 first-place finishes and three second-places... Won $236,650 and finished season ranked first. 2005 – Played in 14 AVP tournaments, winning 11 and finish-ing second three times... Won $183,250 and finished season ranked 1st. 2004 – Played in 10 AVP tournaments with seven first-place finishes, one second and one third... Won $73,612.50 and finished season ranked 4th. 2003 – Won eight out of eight AVP tournaments... Claimed $71,550 and finished season ranked first. 1999-2002 – Played in 10 domestic tourna-ments (AVP, BVA and USAV) with six podium finishes including three gold medals... Won a total of $44,475.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: 1998 – Led an undefeated team from Long Beach State to a national championship... Shared the award for "Most Valuable Player" of the tournament... Received the Honda Broderick NCAA Athlete-of-the-Year Award... NCCA First-Team All-American. 1997 – NCCA First-Team All-American. 1996 – NCCA First-Team All-American.

PERSONAL: Born Misty May in 1977 in Los Angeles, Calif. ... Daughter of Robert "Butch" May, member of the 1968 U.S. Men's National Volleyball team, and the late Barbara May, a former nationally ranked tennis player... Misty has two brothers; Brack and Scott... Married professional baseball player Matt Treanor in December, 2008... Misty's cousin, Taylor Dent, was on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team for tennis... Interests include eating, golfing and making people laugh... Misty's nickname is Turtle... Majored in kinesiol-

ogy and physical education at Long Beach State University... Competed in track for one year at Long Beach State... Graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995... Named 1995 High School Player of the Year. Played volleyball, soccer and track in high school... Was second in state in high jump her sophomore year of high school... Suffered from an abdominal muscle injury in the months leading up to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens... Has appeared on episodes of CSI: Miami, Wizards of Waverly Place and Go On along with Dancing with the Stars... Enjoys playing with her boxers Gruden and Boogie... Has tattoos to honor her late mother and grandmother... Sprinkled her mother's ashes on the court following her gold-medal victory in Athens and sprinkled more during the 2008 Games in Beijing... Competed on ABC television's Dancing with the Stars in the fall of 2008, but had to withdraw from the competition after rupturing her Achilles tendon during a practice... In 2010, Misty published her autobiography entitled "Misty, Digging Deep in Volleyball and Life"... Also in 2010, Misty's husband Matt Treanor and his M a j o r League B a s e -b a l l t e a m t h e T e x a s R a n g -e r s made it to the W o r l d Series, but lost to the San Francisco Giants, 3-1… Matt Treanor currently plays for the Los An-geles Dodgers… Misty is pursuing her master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif.

PARTNERS: 2012 – Kerri Walsh. 2011 – Kerri Walsh. 2010 – Nicole Branagh. 2009 – Kerri Walsh. 2008 – Kerri Walsh. 2007 – Kerri Walsh. 2006 – Kerri Walsh. 2005 – Kerri Walsh. 2004 – Kerri Walsh. 2003 – Kerri Walsh. 2002 – Kerri Walsh. 2001 – Kerri Walsh, Holly McPeak. 2000 – Holly McPeak. 1999 – Holly McPeak.

HONORS: 2012 – USA Volleyball Female Beach Player of the Year. 2011 – FIVB Best Defensive Player. 2010 – FIVB Sportsperson. 2008 – USA Volley-ball Female Beach Volleyball Player of the Year... Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year... FIVB Co-Player of the Year (with China's Xi Zhang), FIVB top defensive and offensive player of the year and co-sportsperson-of-the-year with Walsh... AVP Best Offensive Player, Best Defensive Player (defender) and Most Valuable Player. AVP Team of the Year with Walsh. 2007 – USA Volleyball Female Beach Volleyball Player of the Year... FIVB Sportswoman of the Year and Best Offensive Player (with Kerri Walsh). FIVB Best Defen-sive Player... AVP Crocs Cup Champion and Team of the Year (with Kerri Walsh)... AVP Most Valuable Player, Best Defensive Player and Best Offen-sive Player. 2006 – AVP Crocs Cup Champion and Team of the Year (with Kerri Walsh)... AVP Most Valuable Player, Best Defensive Player and Best Offensive Player. 2005 – FIVB Most Outstanding Player, Best Setter and Best Offensive Player... AVP Team of the Year (with Kerri Walsh)... AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player. 2004 – Named Most Outstand-ing Player of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament… AVP Best Offensive Player. AVP Team of the Year (with Kerri Walsh). 2003 – AVP Team of the Year (with Kerri Walsh). 2002 – FIVB Tour Champion (with Kerri Walsh). 2000 – BVA Rookie of the Year.

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April Ross

Hometown: Costa Mesa, Calif. Resides: Newport Beach, Calif.

College: Southern California (USC)Birth Year: 1982

Height: 6-1

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished season in fourth place on the FIVB World Tour. Team earnings for Ross and Kessy were $138,200...Finished season with first international victory of the year at the Bansaen Thailand Open. Ross and Kessy won $15,000 for the victory... One week after winning the Olympic silver medal, Ross and Jennifer Kessy finished fifth at the FIVB Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland… Ross and partner Kessy won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in London, losing to U.S. compatriots Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the gold medal match, 21-16, 21-16 (8/8). Ross and Kessy advanced to the gold medal match by upsetting top-seeded Larissa França and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva in the semifinals, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12. Ross and Kessy went 3-0 in pool play and won both their first- and second-round, single-elimination matches in straight sets. As a team, Ross and Kessy finished second among all women’s beach teams at the Olympics in aces with 23 on 315 attempts in seven matches (17 sets). They finished second in attacks with 209 kills on 359 attempts for a success percentage of .58. Ross finished tied for second among all players in scoring with 125 points on 106 kills, five blocks and 14 aces. Ross led all players in attacks with 106 kills on 171 attempts for a success percentage of .62. Ross was second among all players in aces with 14 on 175 attempts. She was clocked with the fastest serve of the Olympic tournament at 81 km per hour… Ross and Kessy won their first medal of the season prior to the Olympic Games at the Rome Grand Slam, finishing third… The team opened the season with a 9th-place finish in the Brasilia Open... Ross and Kessy secured their slot on the U.S. Olympic Team with a fifth-place finish at the Beijing Grand Slam (5/7-12). With the finish, they had enough points to beat Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles for the second slot... Ross and Kessy placed fifth in four other FIVB tournaments (Shanghai, Moscow, Gstaad and Berlin). 2011 – In the FIVB season opener in Brasilia, Ross and Jen Kessy overcame a first-round loss to win a bronze medal, while in Shanghai the duo rebounded from a second-round loss to win a silver medal... They claimed two more bronze med-als at Myslowice Open and the Bei-jing Grand Slam before taking fifth at the World Cham-pionship...the duo earned their only first-place finish of the year at Stravan-ger, but added two more silver medals at the Mazuri Open and the Phuket Thai-land Open before the season ended. 2010 – Ross and Jennifer Kessy com-peted in 15 FIVB

World Tour events in 2010, winning two (Shanghai, China and the Grand Slam in Rome, Italy) and capturing one second place (the Grand Slam in Moscow, Russia) and two thirds (Seoul, Korea and Sanya, China)... Ross was named the Most Outstanding Player of the event in Rome. She also had the fastest serve at the events in Shanghai (82.2 km/h) and Rome (80.1 km/h)... The team had two fourth-place finishes and three fifths. They won a total of $106,675. 2009 – Ross and Jennifer Kessy won the FIVB World Championship in Stavanger, Norway (6/25-7/4). The pair went 8-0 and lost only two sets, defeating Brazil's Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca in the final. Ross was named the event's MVP. She led all play-ers in aces with an average of 1.44 per set... Ross and Kessy also won SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in Marseille, France and Phuket, Thailand. The team had four second-place finishes and two thirds and finished the season in third place for World Tour ranking points. As a team they earned $139,100. 2008 – Ross and Jennifer Kessy competed in 12 international events, winning $87,300 and just missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team as Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs finished ahead of them. Ross and Kessy finished the 2008 FIVB Beach World Tour in impressive fashion, win-ning the season's final two events – (Thailand and China) and finishing second in Dubai... In Dubai (Oct. 5-10), the pair reached the finals before falling to fellow Americans Kerri Walsh and Nicole Branagh... The pair went a perfect 6-0 in Thailand (Nov. 4-9) to capture the gold medal, this time defeating Branagh and partner Tyra Turner in the final. April was named the Most Outstanding Player... The squad got over a third-round loss in China (Nov. 11-16) to come all the way back and reach the finals. Ross and Kessy swept China's Ying Huang and Zhang Xi for their second straight gold. The pair finished the season with $87,300 in international earnings. In Berlin, April recorded the FIVB's second fastest serve in 2008 (85.7 km/hr). 2007 – Ross and Kessy competed in eight FIVB international tournaments. They won the event in Stavanger, Norway, becoming the lowest seeded team (29th) ever to win an FIVB event. They fought through three rounds of quali-fying and lost their first two pool play matches. They also finished second once and totaled $53,050. 2006 – Played in two FIVB World Tour events. Playing with Barbra Fontana in Mexico, April lost in the country qualifier to Dianne DeNecochea and Holly McPeak. Playing in Thailand with Nancy Mason, she finished 17th, earning $1,500.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Following the Olympic Games, Ross and Kessy won the AVP events in Cincinnati and Santa Barbara, Calif.,

winning $33,750... Ross and Kessy also won the NVL events in Baltimore and Las Vegas. 2011 – Ross and Kessy took second place at the VISA FIVB Beach Volleyball In-ternational and third at the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball...Earned another third-place finish at the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Se-ries to end the sea-son. 2010 – Ross and Kessy opened the season with a third-place finish in FIVB

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Fort Lauderdale and a fifth in Santa Barbara before winning its next four AVP Tour stops before the AVP ceased operations on Aug. 13. They won $47,750… The pair finished the season with a victory at the Cincinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Players Championship on Sept. 3-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio, defeating Rachel Scott and Elaine Youngs in the final and winning $5,000. 2009 – Ross and Kessy won their first AVP title in Houston (5/15-17) and went on to win three more. They also had four second-place finishes and two thirds, winning a total of $117,850… In Chicago, April and Jen became just the sixth team world-wide to surpass the $1 million mark in career earnings as a partner-ship... April also played in five AVP Hot Winter Nights events, winning two and placing second in two. 2008 – Ross and Kessy played in 13 AVP summer events and took five second-place finishes and six thirds. They won a total of $125,250… Ross played in six AVP Hot Winter Nights events, winning four and finish-ing third twice. 2007 – Playing for the first time as a team, Ross and Kessy opened the season with a second-place finish in Miami. They played in 16 summer AVP events, taking second two times and third four times. In Hermosa Beach, they defeated Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the winners’ bracket. They won a total of $73,525. 2006 – Playing with Keao Burdine, Ross played in 13 AVP events, with their best finish two ninth places. Combined, they won $6,287.50.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: Left USC as one of the best all-around players in program history... Named the 2003 Pac-10 Player of the Year (her senior season), earned four All-America selections, including first team accolades in 2002 and 2003 and was USC's first-ever National Freshman of the Year when she earned the Volleyball magazine accolades in 2000 (in addition to Pac-10 Freshman of the Year)... In 2000 and 2002, Was named the NCAA Regional MVP and was selected to NCAA Championship All-Tournament teams in 2002 and 2003… Led the team in kills, kills per game and points in each of her four seasons... Led the team in digs and digs per game prior to the introduction of the libero position in 2002... In four years she started

every single match... Played all but three single sets... As a senior, was the team co-captain and go-to player. Led USC to the 2003 NCAA Champion-ship... Started in all 35 matches and led the team in kills, service aces and points... Won the 2003-04 Honda volleyball award. OTHER VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS: Ross attended Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach, Calif. ... Competed in indoor volleyball (four years), basketball (three years) and track and field (four years)... Was the

1999 Gatorade Circle of Champions National Player of the Year, a "Fab 50" selection and was also an honor roll student all four years... Was a member of the U.S. Women’s Junior National Team. She was on the USA A2 Wom-en's National Phase 1 Team in 2002, and the Women's National Team in 2003 PERSONAL: Born April E. Ross in 1982 in Cos-ta Mesa, Calif. Father's name is Glen. Ross's mother, Margie, died in 2001... Stepmother's name is Lynda. Has one sister, Amy, three step-

brothers - Tommy, Jimmy and Weston - and one step-sister - Mindy... Ross married fellow beach volleyball player Brad Keenan in November, 2010... Graduated from USC in 2005 with a degree in international marketing... Enjoys reading, shopping, miniature golf, yoga and camping... Musically, she likes everything from Akon to the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Her role model is her mother for the strength she exhibited throughout her life. PARTNERS: 2012 – Jennifer Kessy. 2011 – Jennifer Kessy. 2010 – Jen-nifer Kessy. 2009 – Jennifer Kessy. 2008 – Jennifer Kessy. 2007 – Jen-nifer Kessy. 2006 – Keao Burdine. HONORS: 2012 – USA Volleyball Beach Team of the Year (with Kessy)... FIVB Best Server. 2009 – USA Volleyball Female Beach Player of the Year, USA Volleyball Beach Team of the Year (with Kessy), FIVB Best Offensive Player, FIVB Best Hitter. 2007 – AVP Most Improved Player; FIVB Rookie of the Year. 2006 – AVP Rookie of the Year.

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Kerri Walsh Jennings

Hometown: Saratoga, Calif. Resides: Hermosa Beach, Calif.

College: Stanford Birth Year: 1978

Height: 6-3

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Walsh Jennings and partner Misty May-Treanor finished the season ranked 11th on the FIVB World Tour. Walsh and her partners earned $59,650 for their international finishes… One week after winning the Olympic gold medal, Walsh Jennings compet-ed at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland with Nicole Branagh where they finished tied for ninth… Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor became the only beach volleyball team to win three Olympic gold medals when they beat U.S. compatriots Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the gold medal match, 21-16, 21-16 (8/8) at the 2012 Summer Games. In the semifinals, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor defeated the No. 2 seeded team of Xi Zhang and Chen Xue from China, 22-20, 22-20. In pool play, Kerri and Misty lost their first set in an Olympic Games to Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria. Kerri and Misty won the match, 17-21, 21-8, 15-10. As a team, Kerri and Misty are 21-0 in Olympic matches going back to Athens and 42-1 in Olympic sets. Kerri and Misty led all Olympic women’s beach teams in London in blocks with 25 in 15 sets and in digs with 151 on 302 attempts for a .50 success percentage. Kerri led all players in blocks with 24 in 15 sets for an average of 1.6 per set. Was eighth among all play-ers in scoring with 104 points on 69 kills, 24 blocks and 11 aces. After the Olympics, Kerri announced she had been pregnant throughout… Going into the Olympics, Kerri and Misty won their first gold medal of the season at the Gstaad Grand Slam in Switzerland… Kerri and Misty earned two ninth-place finishes and one fifth-place finish early in the season... The Olympic-bound duo earned their first podium appearance with a second place in Moscow... Next, they took fifth at the Rome Grand Slam. 2011 – Kerri Walsh Jennings reunited with Misty May-Treanor in the FIVB season opener in Brazil, marking the first time they had played together internationally since the 2008 Beijing Olympics... They earned a silver medal in Brazil, followed by a fourth-place finish in Sayna, China... Claimed their first gold medal of the year at the Beijing Grand Slam and took sec-ond at the World Championship in Rome... Took first place two more times during the season at the Moscow Grand Slam and the A1 Grand Slam... Earned two more second-place finishes at the Paf Open and the HP Beach Open... Walsh Jennings has tallied 42 first-place finishes internationally during her beach career. 2010 – Kerri Walsh Jennings took off the majority of the summer after giving birth to her second child, Sundance, in May. She partnered with Nicole Branagh for the final two FIVB events of the season. The pair finished fifth in Sanya, China (10/27-31) and won the Phuket Thailand Open (11/3-7), tak-ing a $15,000 prize. They lost their second match in Phuket and had to win five consolation matches to make it into the semifinals... Also in Phuket, Kerri won her 39th FIVB title, giv-ing her sole possession of the lead she had shared with Misty May-Treanor. 2009 – Walsh Jennings did not compete in any FIVB World Tour tournaments in 2009. After giving birth to her son in May, Walsh Jennings and partner Misty May-Treanor returned to the sand together in September for the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil in Glendale, Ariz. The United States won the team competition, but Kerri and Misty lost in the final

to Brazil's Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca. 2008 – Kerri played her final FIVB tournament of the season in Dubai with Nicole Branagh. Al-though Kerri was pregnant, she and Nicole won the event without dropping a set. They defeated U.S. teammates Jen Kessy and April Ross in the final… Kerri and Misty won their last 69 FIVB World Tour matches with 10-straight gold medal finishes. Seeded second, the pair won the 2008 Olympic beach volleyball tournament to become the first team to win two beach volleyball Olympic gold medals. The pair finished the tournament with a 7-0 record and did not drop a set. They defeated the top-ranked Chinese team of Wang Jie and Tian Jia, 21-18, 21-18, in the final. The team finished the Olympic Games with a 108-match winning streak... Kerri and Misty had the most Olympic qualifying points of any team in the Games, but were ranked sec-ond due to an FIVB rule that allows the host country the top ranking if it has a team in the top six... Kerri underwent shoulder surgery during the offsea-son and reinjured the shoulder the weekend of May 2 in Huntington Beach, Calif., causing her and Misty to pull out of the early FIVB women's tourna-ments they had been planning to play. They returned to international play at the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Berlin on June 10-14 and won three straight international tournaments (Berlin; Paris and Stavanger, Norway). Winning the three events earned the team $65,250. 2007 – Kerri and Misty won seven out of eight international tournaments and placed third at the other… The team won its third straight FIVB World Champion-ship (Gstaad, Switzerland) without dropping a set in the tournament… Won $154,750 and finished the season ranked ninth overall, but first in Olympic qualifying points. 2006 – Played in eight tournaments, winning three gold medals, two silver and two bronze… Won $100,700 and finished the sea-son ranked ninth. 2005 – Netted six gold medals in seven tournament ap-pearances… Won a second FIVB World Championship (Berlin, Germany)… Finished the season ranked 7th… Earned $131,500 in prize money. 2004 – Kerri and Misty went 7-0, winning 14 sets, to win the Olympic Games in Athens… Won four gold medals in five FIVB events… Received $91,000... Played part of the season with Rachel Wacholder while Misty May recovered from an abdominal strain. 2003 – Won the FIVB World Championship (Rio

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de Janeiro, Brazil)… Claimed five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal in eight tournaments…Finished the season ranked 3rd…Earned $126,000 for her tournament appearances. 2002 – Won the FIVB Tour…Netted five gold medals, three silver medals in a bronze medal in 11 events…Finished the season ranked 1st…Received $97,570 in prize money. 2001 – Played in nine tournaments winning one gold, three silver and one bronze medal…Finished the season ranked 7th overall… Earned $60,500 in prize money. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished second at AVP events in Cincinnati and Santa Barbara with Nicole Branagh. 2011 – Paired with Jessica Gysin for the NVL Miami Beach Open, and finished in ninth place. 2010 – After a summer maternity leave, Walsh Jennings announced that she would compete on the AVP Tour with Brooke Hanson. However the AVP ceased operations on Aug. 13. The two did compete together at the "Cin-cinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Players Championship", where they finished seventh. 2009 – Walsh Jennings returned from her maternity break to pair with Rachel Wacholder, who had also been on maternity leave, for the AVP event in Hermosa Beach (8/6-8). The team finished fifth. They went on to compete in three more events together with their best finish a third in San Francisco (8/14-16). Walsh joined Holly McPeak for the AVP tourney in Chi-cago, where the team placed fifth. Walsh Jennings and her partners won a total of $25,465 for the season. 2008 – Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor played in a total of 14 AVP tournaments, winning 12 and taking one second and one third. They won a total of $182,750... Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor’s total match win streak came to an end at 112 matches at the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout Cincinnati held Aug. 29-31. Misty and Kerri were de-feated in the finals by fellow Olympians, Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh. The loss also snapped the gold medalists' streak of 19 straight tournament championships. Until then, Misty and Kerri had not lost a domestic volleyball match since Aug. 16-19, 2007 in Boston when they lost in the AVP final to Branagh and Youngs... Misty and Kerri won the first three AVP events they played in before Kerri reinjured her shoulder the weekend of May 2. They came back the weekend of May 24 to win the AVP event in Louisville, Ky. ... They won a total of 12 AVP events in 2008, with one second and one third. They won a total of $182,750... At the AVP event in Chicago on Aug. 10-13, Misty won her 100th career tournament title in 153 events, the fast-est beach volleyball player to reach that milestone. She is the first female beach volleyball player to win 100 tourneys and the fifth player overall. Go-ing into Beijing she has 102 tournament victories. 2007 – Played in 15 AVP events… Won gold at 13, silver at one and bronze at one… Won $162,250 and finished season ranked first. 2006 – Played in 16 AVP events with 13 first-place finishes and three second-places… Won $236,650 and finished season ranked 1st. 2005 – Played in 14 AVP tournaments, winning 11 and finishing second three times… Won $183,250 and finished season ranked 1st. 2004 – Played in 11 AVP tournaments with seven first-place finishes, three seconds and one third… Won $90,862.50 and finished sea-son ranked 1st. 2003 – Won eight out of eight AVP tournaments… Claimed $71,550.00 and finished season ranked 1st. 2001 – Won one out of two Beach Volleyball America tournaments… Won $4,375.

OTHER VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS: 2000 – Played in her first Olympic Games with the U.S. Women’s National Team (indoor). The U.S. Women finished fourth.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: 1999 – NCAA First Team All-American. 1998 – NCAA First Team All-American. 1997 – Led Stanford University to the na-tional championship… NCAA First Team All-American.1996 – Led Stanford University to the national championship… NCAA First Team All-American.

PERSONAL: Born Kerri Lee Walsh in 1978, in Santa Clara, Calif. ... Daughter of Tim and Mar-gie Walsh… Tim played minor league baseball with the Oakland A’s organization and also played semi-pro basketball… Margie was a volleyball MVP at Santa Clara… Has an older brother, Marte, two younger sisters, Kelli and KC… Marte played basket-ball at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, while Kelli played volleyball at Santa Clara. KC was a setter at Oregon State… Walsh married Casey Jennings, a top U.S. men’s beach volleyball player, in 2005… Gave birth to the couple’s first child, a boy named Joseph Mi-chael Jennings, in May of 2009… Gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy named Sundance Thomas, in May of 2010... On Sept. 24, 2012, Walsh announced she was pregnant again and had been pregnant throughout the Olympic Games in London... Graduated from Stanford University in 2001 with a degree in American studies… Graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School (San Jose, Calif.) in 1996…. When she was a sophomore in high school, asked Misty May for her autograph… In 2009, Walsh Jennings and partner Misty May-Treanor competed against NBA player Shaquille O’Neal and Todd Rogers for the “reality” television program “Shaq vs.”… Kerri has also worked as a commentator for NBC… Kerri founded the Chase the Stars Foundation in 2004 "to support the notion that every child should have the opportunity to chase their dream." The organization supports pro-grams that "improve the well-being, health, and quality of children's lives.” In 2009, she was nominated for a Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Athlete... In 2011, she became a member of the USA Vol-leyball Board of Directors. PARTNERS: 2012 – Misty May-Treanor... Nicole Branagh. 2011 – Misty May-Treanor... Jessica Gysin. 2010 – Nicole Branagh. 2009 – Rachel Wa-cholder... Misty May-Treanor... Holly McPeak. 2008 – Misty May-Treanor... Nicole Branagh. 2007 – Misty May-Treanor. 2006 – Misty May-Treanor. 2005 – Misty May-Treanor. 2004 – Misty May… Rachel Wacholder. 2003 – Misty May. 2002 – Misty May. 2001 – Misty May.

HONORS: 2012 – FIVB Most Outstanding… FIVB Best Blocker… FIVB Best Hitter… FIVB Sportsperson of the year. 2011 – FIVB Best Block... FIVB Most Inspirational. 2008 – FIVB Best Blocker and Sportsperson of the Year… AVP Best Defensive Player, Crocs Cup Champion (with Misty May-Treanor) and Team of the Year (with Misty May-Treanor). 2007 – Twenty wins (domestic and international combined) tied her with May-Treanor for the most wins in a single season… Named FIVB Sportswoman of the Year and Best Offensive Player with Misty May-Treanor. Kerri alone was named Best Hitter and Best Blocker… AVP Team of the Year and Crocs Cup Cham-pion (with Misty May-Treanor). 2006 – Walsh became the fourth American woman to surpass $1 million in career earnings, accomplishing the feat in Chicago… FIVB Best Blocker, Best Hitter and Sportswoman of the Year… AVP Team of the Year and Crocs Cup Champion (with Misty May-Treanor). 2005 – FIVB Best Blocker, Best Hitter and Sportsperson of the Year… AVP Team of the Year (with Misty May-Treanor). 2004 – AVP Most Valuable Player… AVP Team of the Year (with Misty May). 2003 – AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player… AVP Team of the Year (with Misty May).

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Phil Dalhausser

Hometown: Ormond Beach, Fla.Resides: Ventura, Calif.College: Central Florida

Birth Year: 1980Height: 6-9

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Dalhausser and Todd Rogers finished the season in third place on the FIVB SWATCH World Tour... One week after the Olympic Games, they won the bronze medal at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland (8/14-19)… Dalhausser and Rogers finished tied for ninth at the Olympic Games in London. They went 3-0 in pool play before losing in the first round of single elimination to the Italian team of Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, 21-17, 21-19. Dalhausser finished the Olympic tournament tied for first among all players in attacks with 42 kills on 64 attempts in four matches (nine sets) for a success per-centage of .66. As a team, Dalhausser and Rogers were third among all teams in aces with 12 in four matches (nine sets). Dalhausser had nine aces on 81 attempts and finished third among all Olympic players… In their final tournament before London, Phil and Todd finished fourth at Klagenfurt, Austria (7/17-22), after having to forfeit the bronze medal match to Gibb and Rosenthal due to injury... Dalhausser and Rogers began the season with wins at the Brasilia Open (4/17-22 in Brazil) and Shanghai Open (5/1-6 in China)… Team finished tied for 17th in Beijing (5/8-13) before earning the bronze in Prague (5/22-27)... The team took fourth place in Gstaad (7/3-8) and ninth in Berlin (7/10-14) after being eliminated by U.S. team-mates Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. 2011 – Dalhausser and Rogers es-tablished a new FIVB record for consecutive match wins – 40 straight until the gold medal match in Prague where they lost to Brazil's Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego... After the team finished second in Prague, they com-peted in Beijing where Dalhausser suffered a sprained ankle and the pair had to forfeit in the third round to finish tied for fifth... The team finished ninth at the World Championships in Rome and fifth at the Grand Slam in Stavanger before returning to the podium with a silver medal in Gstaad... Dalhausser and Rogers medaled in their final five events, including victories in Quebec and Stare Jablonki, Poland... In Aland, Finland, Phil and Todd had to forfeit the gold medal match after Todd suffered a knee injury that later required surgery... The team finished the season in second place in the FIVB World Tour rankings and win-ning $144,200. They finished the season in first in the rank-ings for Olympic qualifica-tion... Won their first two FIVB events of the season in Brazil and China. 2010 – Dalhauss-er and Rogers became the first American men’s team to win the SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship since the early 1990s when Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos were the top international team when the season overlapped two years

(1992-1993). Dalhausser and Rogers also established a record for win-nings by a men’s team in a single-season with US$387,700 in earnings… Phil and Todd were named the FIVB’s Team of the Year after capturing nine SWATCH FIVB World Tour titles in 2010, including Grand Slam gold medals in Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Gstaad), Austria (Klagenfurt) and Poland (Stare Jablonki) along with second- and third-place finishes at major events in Russia (Moscow) and Norway (Stavanger), respectively… Dalhausser and Rogers won their 500th match as a team when they defeated Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands on July 31 while play-ing at the FIVB event in Klagenfurt, Austria… The team ended the season with a 23-match winning streak and it won 75 of 86 matches in 2010... The only SWATCH FIVB tournament where Dalhausser and Rogers did not medal was the May event in Shanghai, China, where they finished fourth… Dalhausser and Rogers came through the contender's bracket to win the season opener in Brasilia, becoming the first American team to win a title in Brazil since 1996... Dalhausser dominated the FIVB postseason awards (see below). 2009 – Dalhausser and Rogers won the men's title at the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil in Glendale, Ariz., which pitted top U.S. beach teams against top teams from Brazil... Dalhausser and Rogersplayed in five FIVB international tournaments and won two (Marseille, France and Klagenfurt, Austria). In Marseille, Dalhausser and Rogers ended the record 25-match winning streak by Germany's Julius Brink and Jonas Recker-mann. Dalhausser was also named the tournament's most outstanding player... Dalhausser and Rogers finished third at the FIVB World Champion-ships in Stavanger, Norway. Dalhausser led all players in hitting percentage with 68 kills on 90 attacks with nine errors for a 0.656 percentage. He was second among all players in aces with an average of 0.88 per set. He was third among all players in blocks with an average of 2.19 per set... The team won $72,950 internationally for the season and was ranked ninth. 2008 – Dalhausser was named most outstanding player of the Olympic beach vol-leyball tournament after he and Todd Rogers won the gold medal in Beijing. Dalhausser was the leading server and blocker of the tournament, finishing with 14 aces and 42 blocks in seven matches. Dalhausser and Rogers went 6-1 at the Olympic tournament after losing their opening match to Latvia's 23rd-ranked Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs. Dalhausser and Rogers had the most Olympic qualifying points of any team in the Games, but were ranked second due to an FIVB rule that allows the host coun-

try the top ranking if it has a team in the top six... Dal-hausser and Rogers played in six FIVB World Tour events in 2008 as they worked to secure Olympic qualifica-tion and won the last three Grand Slam events (in Paris, France; Stavanger, Norway; Moscow, Russia)... They fin-ished second in one event (Berlin, Germany) and third in two (Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy; Adelaide, Australia)... Dalhausser was named the Most Outstanding Player of the events in Stavanger and Moscow. The team has won $94,000. 2007 – Dalhausser and Rogerson won the first FIVB world championship for a U.S. men's beach team in Gstaad, Switzerland... Com-

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peted in six tournaments winning one gold medal, one silver and one bronze. Won $68,250. 2006 – Played in six tournaments with one first-place finish, one second and one third. Won $49,350. 2005 – Netted one top 10 finish in three tournament ap-pearances... Improved to 78th for the end of season ranking... Earned $11,250. 2004 – Made his debut by finishing 25th in his first tournament... Finished the season ranked 163rd... Received $1,000 in prize money. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Dalhausser and Todd Rog-ers finished third at the AVP event in Cincinnati and fifth at the AVP in Santa Barabara, Calif. ... at the NVL Preakness and took second place. Dalhausser placed third at the FIVB Best of the Beach event in Las Vegas. 2011 – While Rogers was recovering from knee surgery, Dalhausser competed at the NVL event in Miami with former partner Nick Lucena. The team finished first and won $10,000, defeating Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in the final. 2010 – Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to the final of the AVP season opener in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but the final was canceled due to rain and so they finished tied for second with Nick Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer… Other than Fort Lauderdale, Dalhausser and Rogers won all five of the AVP tournaments in which they competed on 2010 before the AVP ceased operations on Aug. 13… The pair won all 34 matches and lost only six sets. They won $59,750 for the season… Dalhausser and Rogers ended the domestic season by playing in the "Cincinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Players Championship" on Sept. 3-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lost to Sean Scott and John Hyden in the final. 2009 – Dalhausser and Rogers won nine of 15 AVP tournaments with four second-place finishes and one third. Phil also won his first King of the Beach title. The team won $195,170 and finished as the top-ranked men's AVP team. 2008 – Dal-hausser and Rogers won 11 out of 15 AVP tournaments with two second-place finishes and two thirds. They won $186,000. They finished third at AVP Cuervo. 2007 – Dalhausser and Rogers played in 17 AVP tournaments with 10 first-place finishes, two seconds, four thirds and one fourth. Won $207,750 and finished season ranked first. 2006 – Dalhausser and Rogers played in 16 AVP tournaments and finished first nine times with one sec-ond-place finish and four thirds. Finished in the top-10 in all 16 tourneys. Won $163,975 and finished season ranked third. 2005 – Dalhausser and Rogers played in 14 AVP tournaments with one first-place finish, one sec-ond and two thirds. Finished in the top-10 12 times and won $50,037.50. Finished season ranked 13th. 2004 – Played in 10 AVP tournaments with one third-place finish and six top-10 placings. Won $10,647.50 and fin-ished season ranked 21st. 2003 – Played in six AVP tournaments with no

top-10 placings. Won $780.COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: 1996 – Named "Most Valu-able Player.”

PERSONAL: Born Philip Pe-ter Dalhausser in 1980, in Baden, Aargau, Switzerland... Parents are Peter and Mari-anne Dalhausser... Has one brother, Mark... Phil married beach volleyball player Jen-nifer Corral in 2011... Re-ceived a degree in business administration from University of Central Florida... Graduated from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1998... Played tennis for three years, baseball for two years and volleyball for one year in high school... Hobbies include Xbox, fantasy sports, tennis and volley pong... Would be "sitting behind a computer crunching numbers" if he was not playing volleyball... After college, worked for a concrete company and then worked a short time for a firm that painted stripes on Florida

highways... Lists his dad as the person he most admires because he has endured "many serious illnesses"... Dalhausser credits partner Todd Rog-ers (who was an assistant volleyball coach at UC Santa Barbara) with mak-ing him a better player... Favorite TV show is SportsCenter... Phil's nickname on the AVP tour was the Thin Beast… In June of 2012, prior to the Olympic Games, Phil was hospitalized and treated for blood clots in his shoulder and arm. PARTNERS: 2012 –Todd Rogers. 2011 – Todd Rogers. 2010 – Todd Rog-ers. 2009 – Todd Rogers. 2008 –Todd Rogers. 2007 – Todd Rogers. 2006 – Todd Rogers. 2005 – Nick Lucena (FIVB with Todd Rogers). 2004 – Nick Lucena (FIVB with Adam Roberts). 2003 – Nick Lucena... Justin Phipps. HONORS: 2011 – USA Volleyball Beach Male Athlete of the Year...FIVB Best Setter. 2010 – FIVB Most Outstanding Player… FIVB Best Blocker… FIVB Best Offensive Player… FIVB Best Hitter… FIVB Best Setter… FIVB Team of the Year (Todd Rogers)… FIVB Tour Champion (Todd Rogers). 2009 – USA Volleyball Male Beach Athlete of the Year, FIVB Best Offensive Player, FIVB Best Hitter, FIVB Best Setter, AVP Most Valuable Player... AVP Best Defensive Player... AVP Best Offensive Player... Crocs Cup Champion (with Todd Rogers)... Team of the Year (with Todd Rogers). 2008 – FIVB Sportsperson of the Year... Best Hitter... Best Offensive Player... Best Blocker... AVP Most Valuable Player... Best Offensive Player... Best De-fensive Player... Crocs Cup Champion (with Todd Rogers)... Team of the Year (with Todd Rogers). 2007 – FIVB Best Blocker and Best Hitter... AVP Team of the Year and Crocs Cup Champion (with Todd Rogers)... AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player. 2006 – FIVB Most Improved Player... AVP Best Offensive Player. 2005 – AVP Best Offensive Player.

FIVB

FIVB

78

Matt Fuerbringer

Hometown: Costa Mesa, Calif.Resides: Costa Mesa, Calif.

College: Stanford Birth Year: 1974

Height: 6-8

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena opened the season with a second-place finish at the FIVB World Tour stop in Brazil... How-ever the team did not reach the podium in their next 10 FIVB events and finished third among the three U.S. beach teams competing for two Olympic slots... The team finished fourth at the Grand Slam in Rome, where Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal won the tournament and won the second Olympic qualification slot... Fuerbringer and Lucena won $60,000 for the season and were ranked seventh on the FIVB World Tour. 2011 – Matt competed on the FIVB World Tour with partner Nick Lucena in 14 events... Their best finishes were a second in Quebec and a fourth in Ada-gir, Morocco... Their combined winnings were $54,275... They finished the season ranked ninth on the World Tour... They went into 2012 as the second-ranked U.S. men's team in Olympic qualifying points, leading Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal by 60 points. 2010 – Matt competed on the FIVB World Tour with Nick Lucena in nine events. Their best finish was second at the Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria (7/27-8/1) where they lost to compatriots Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the final. The pair placed third in the final event in The Hague, Netherlands (8/24-29). The team finished the season with $49,775 in winnings. 2009 – Matt competed in nine FIVB World Tour events, eight with Casey Jennings and the final one with John Mayer… Matt’s best finish was second with Casey Jennings in Myslowice, Poland… Matt and Casey Jennings finished fifth at the FIVB World Championship in Stavanger, Norway (6/26-7/5)… Matt’s teams won $35,200 and finished the season ranked 31st. 2008 – Matt and Casey Jennings made a strong run at Olympic qualification, competing in eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour events. Their best finish was third in Zagreb, Croatia (5/20-25)… Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal ended up securing the second Olympic slot (behind Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers) at the event in Moscow… Matt and Casey earned $35,350 and finished the season ranked 33rd. 2007 – Matt competed in five FIVB World Tour events, four with Sean Scott and one with Casey Jennings… His best finish was 17th, which he achieved three times; twice with Sean Scott and once with Casey Jennings… His teams won $7,550 and finished the season ranked 100th. 2006 – Matt competed in five FIVB World Tour events with Casey Jennings… Their best finish was 13th in Gstaad, Switzerland… They won $3,250 and finished the season ranked 117th. 2004 – Competed in six SWATCH FIVB World Tour events with three different partners, Casey Jennings, Canyon Ceman and Stein Metzger… His best finish was ninth in Gstaad with Canyon Ceman… His teams earned $4,375 and finished the season ranked 99th. 2003 – Matt competed in six SWATCH FIVB World Tour events with Casey Jennings… Their best finish was ninth in Marseille, France… The won $9,750 and finished the season ranked 64th. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Fuerbringer competed in four domestic tour-naments with Lucena, finishing second at the AVP event in Cincinnati and third at AVP Santa Barbara. They were also third at the Manhattan Beach Open and fifth at the Huntington Beach Open... Fuerbringer placed second at the NVL Best of the Beach event in Las Vegas... Fuerbringer and Lucena won $17,250 for the season. 2011 – Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena competed in two Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Se-ries events, finishing second in Miami and third in Hermosa Beach... They finished third at the Corona Light Wide Open event in Cincinnati and finished the season with $12,175 in domestic winnings. 2010 – Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena competed in seven AVP events before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13... They finished first at Virginina Beach, tied for second in Fort Lauderdale (their final against Dalhausser and Rogers was not played due to rain) and third in Huntington Beach... Their com-bined winnings totaled $28,475. 2009 – Competed in 13 AVP events with different partners. He finished third in Ocean City with Casey Jennings. Fuerbringer and his partners won $30,240. He finished the season ranked 23rd. 2008 – Competed in 13 AVP events with Casey Jennings. The team won in San Diego and finished sec-ond in Hermosa Beach. They finished third five times. The team won $69,725. 2007 – Competed in 17 AVP events with Sean Scott and Casey Jennings. Won the final

event of the year in San Francisco with Jennings… Finished second in Boston with Jennings… Placed third in Dallas and Tampa with Scott… Finished third in Mason with Jennings. Fuerbringer and his partners won $74,062. Fuerbringer finished the season ranked 10th. 2006 – Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings competed in 15 AVP events. The team won at Seaside Heights, N.J. They finished third six times. They won $67,825 and Fuerbringer was ranked seventh. 2005 – Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings competed in 13 AVP events. The won in San Diego and Hermosa Beach… They finished second in Belmar, N.J…. They finished third in Austin, Boulder, Colo., and Chicago. Fuerbringer finished fourth at the King of the Beach tournament in Las Vegas… The team won $70,450 and Fuerbringer finished ranked sixth. 2004 – Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings competed in 12 events, winning in Belmar, N.J., and finishing second in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Manhattan Beach, Calif. 2003 – Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings competed in nine AVP events. They finished sec-ond four times and third once. They won $28,290 and Fuer-bringer finished ranked fifth. COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: Fuerbringer was a four-time AVCA All-American, Fresh-man of the Year, Outstand-ing Senior Athlete and was a member of the 1997 NCAA National Championship team. His final block sealed the first NCAA title for Stanford, on a team that included Mike Lam-bert and Andy Witt OTHER VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS: Fuerbringer attended Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, Calif., where he played volleyball and basketball… Helped Estancia to win the state basketball championship in 1991… Was the Pacific Coast League Male Athlete of the Year in 1992, All-CIF first team in 1991 and ’92 and All-CIF in volleyball in ’92… He graduated from Estancia in 1992 and went to Stan-ford University, graduating in 1997 with a degree in American studies… Fuerbringer spent five years playing indoors in Spain. PERSONAL: Born Matthew Otto Fuerbringer in 1974 in Toronto, Canada… Parents are Peter and Jo Ann Fuerbringer… Has a sister named Samantha Stark… Married to Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer, who helped Long Beach State to three NCAA Division I semifinal appearances between 1990 and 1994, and played professionally both indoor and on the beach and went on to coach for the Mizuno Volleyball Club. In 2010 she was named an assistant coach for the UCLA women’s volleyball team… Matt and Joy have a daughter named Charlie, born in 2006, and a son named Mateo… Joy’s brother, David McKienzie, played on the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team… Speaks fluent Spanish… Enjoys surfing, coaching and listening to music… In 2009, the Fuerbringers opened The MAC Athletic Club, a 18,000 square foot facility in Carson Calif. It has three volleyball courts, a 2000 square foot weight room, Mizuno apparel store and a cafe. PARTNERS: 2012 – Nick Lucena. 2011 – Nick Lucena. 2010 – Nick Lucena. 2009 – John Mayer, Billy Allen, Reid Priddy, Casey Jennings, Stein Metzger. 2008 – Casey Jennings. 2007 – Casey Jennings, Sean Scott. 2006 – Casey Jennings. 2005 – Casey Jennings. 2004 – Stein Metzger, Canyon Ceman, Casey Jennings. 2003 – Casey Jennings. 2002 – Brandon Taliaferro. 2001 – David Swatik, Paul Baxter, Mark Williams, Mark Lyles. 2000 – Jason Ring, Casey Jennings, Reid Priddy. 1999 – Alika Williams.

HONORS: 2003 – AVP Rookie of the Year.

FIVB

79

Jake Gibb

Hometown: Bountiful, UtahResides: Costa Mesa, Calif.

College: Utah Birth Year: 1980

Height: 6-7

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Named USA Volleyball Male Beach Vol-leyball Player of the Year... Jake Gibb and partner Sean Rosenthal finished the sea-son as the FIVB SWATCH World Tour champions with 5,280 points. They finished 100 points ahead of the second-place Brazilian team of Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego… Gibb and Rosenthal finished fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games. They went 2-1 in pool play, but still won their pool to advance. In the first round of single elimination, Gibb and Rosenthal defeated Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev, 21-14, 22-20. In the quarterfinals, they fell to Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11. Gibb was 19th among all Olympic play-ers (second among Americans) with 75 points on 62 kills, 12 blocks and one ace in five matches (11 sets)… Gibb and Rosenthal opened the season at Brazil with a ninth-place finish... Their next two tournaments they earned a fifth-place finish at the Silesia Open and took silver at the Shanghai Grand Slam... Gibb and Rosenthal finished in fourth place at Beijing, playing in their second semifinal match of the year... Their ninth-place finish at Prague gave them a slight advantage over fellow U.S. teammates Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena in the race to qualify for the second roster spot on the U.S. Olympic men's beach team... Gibb and Rosenthal clinched their spot on the Olympic team when they reached the semifinals of the Rome Grand Slam, then won their first Grand Slam gold medal... The win marked the highest career finish for the duo on the FIVB World Tour... At the next Grand Slam in Gstaad, they earned the second career first-place finish... Gibb and Rosenthal took silver in Berlin and bronze in their final match before London in Klagenfurt. 2011 – Gibb and Rosenthal opened the season with a 17th-place finish in Brazil... In Shanghai, China, they played their first FIVB semifinal match since 2009, and won a silver medal... The semifinal appearance ended a 15-event streak of not playing in a semifinal match... The pair finished 17th at the World Championship, but bounced back and placed third at Quebec... Finished the season in a close race with fellow U.S. teammates Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena for the second spot on the U.S. Olympic beach team. 2010 – Jake and partner Sean Rosenthal competed in 10 FIVB events, finishing fifth four times (Prague Open [6/15-20] and FIVB Grand Slams in Gstaad [7/6-11], Klagenfurt [7/27-8/1] and Stare Jablonki [8/3-8])… They also finished ninth three times and 17th three times. The team finished with total win-nings of $40,850. 2009 – Jake and Sean played six FIVB international tournaments, with their best finish a third at Myslowice, Poland (5/26-31). They won $24,972... While Sean was injured, Jake partnered with Matt Olsen for the AVP Crocs Tour World Challenge - USA vs. Brazil in Glendale, Ariz. (9/25-27). The U.S. team de-feated Brazil. Jake and Matt went 1-3. 2008 – Jake and Sean, ranked seventh, finished the 2008 Olympic Games tied for fifth after losing to Brazil's third-seeded Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego, 21-18, 21-16, in the quarterfinals. They finished 4-1. Gibb was eighth among all blockers with 19 blocks in five matches... Jake and Sean competed in eight FIVB events in 2008 as part of the Olympic qualifying process. They won the SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in Prague (May 6-11) but did not reach another podium... They secured the United States' second Olympic berth at the match in Moscow (July 1-6). Although Jake and Sean finished 17th, they accumulated enough points to stay ahead of Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings. Jake and Sean have earned $42,650 on the FIVB tour this year. 2007 – Jake and Sean played in six international events, with fifth being their best finish. They won $26,950; 2006 – Jake and Sean played in six international events, winning one and finishing second twice. They won $53,225; 2005 – Jake and Stein Metzger played in seven FIVB tournaments, finishing second once and third twice. They won $48,375. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Following the Olympic Games, Gibb played in five domestic tournaments, four with Sean Rosenthal. Won the NVL event in Santa Barbara and was second at Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series event in Huntington Beach. Finished fifth at AVP Cincinnati and Jose Cuervo Manhattan Beach.. Won the NVL Best of the Beach tournament, playing the final match with Nick Lucena. 2011

– Gibb and Sean Rosenthal finished in second place at the NVL Miami Beach event, and earned a third-place finish at the Miami Pro Beach tournament...The duo took second place at the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series Hermosa Beach Open. 2010 – Gibb and partner Sean Rosenthal played in six AVP events before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13. Their best finish was second in Santa Barbara (4/29-5/2)… They finished third at Huntington Beach (6/3-6) and long Beach (7/24-25)… They won a total of $22,850… Gibb finished the season partnered with Casey Jennings at the "Cincinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Players Championship" on Sept. 3-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they finished third. 2009 – Gibb and Sean Rosenthal played in 14 summer AVP tournaments and won one, gaining their first Manhat-tan Beach Open title as a team (Jake won with Stein Metzger in 2005). The pair also had for second-places and five thirds, good for $101,190. They finished the season ranked fifth. 2008 – Gibb and Rosenthal played in 12 summer AVP events and won three of them with three second places and two thirds. They won $96,500. They also won three out of seven Hot Winter Nights tournaments, good for $24,500... They won the AVP Cuervo Tournament and pocketed $12,500. 2007 – Gibb and Sean Rosenthal played 17 AVP events, win-ning two, finishing second seven times and finish-ing third twice. They won $108,900. 2006 – Gibb and Rosenthal played 16 AVP events, winning one - the very first event they played together - finishing second five times and finishing third once. They won $95,650. 2005 – Gibb and Stein Metzger played in 14 AVP events, winning four to lead the tour, finishing second three times and placing third five times. They won $110,950. 2004 – Gibb and Adam Jewell played in 11 tournaments, winning one, finishing second twice and finishing third four times. They won $46,145. 2003 – Gibb played eight AVP events with Ty Loomis and Adam Jewell. He finished third one time with Jewell. His partnerships won him $8,675. 2000-02 – Gibb and Mike Daniel played 14 events but did not reach the top 10. They won a total of $825. PERSONAL: Born Jacob Spiker Gibb in 1980, in Bountiful, Utah... Parents are Lawrence and Saundra Gibb... Jake and his twin brother Coleman are the youngest of 11 children (six boys, five girls)... Gibb's wife's name is Jane. They were married in 2000... They have one son, Crosby, who was born in 2011 while Gibb was on the road competing... Gibb attended Bountiful High School... He graduated from Utah in 2002 with a business degree... His hobbies are playing golf and basketball... Gibb didn't start playing volleyball until he turned 21 and formed a beach volleyball team with Coleman... Gibb likes to listen to Jack Johnson... His favorite movie is American Beauty... His favorite TV show is Curb Your Enthusiasm... Gibb's father is his role model... In 2010, Jake found out he had testicular cancer from a USADA drug test. The cancer was removed via surgery and no further treatment was necessary. Jake is a two-time cancer survivor as he has a scar on his shoulder left from a bout with skin cancer in 2004. PARTNERS: 2012 – Sean Rosenthal. 2011 – Sean Rosenthal. 2010 – Sean Rosenthal. 2009 – Sean Rosenthal. 2008 – Sean Rosenthal. 2007 – Sean Rosen-thal. 2006 – Sean Rosenthal. 2005 – Stein Metzger. 2004 – Adam Jewell. 2003 – Adam Jewell/Ty Loomis. 2002 – Mike Daniel. 2001 – Mike Daniel. 2000 – Mike Daniel. HONORS: 2012 – USA Volleyball Male Beach Athlete of the Year. 2005 – AVP Most Valuable Player; AVP Team of the Year with Stein Metzger; FIVB Top Rookie. 2004 – AVP Most Improved Player.

FIVB

80

Casey Jennings

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nev.Resides: Hermosa Beach, Calif.

College: BYU Birth Year: 1975

Height: 6-2

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Played in five FIVB World Tour events with Bill Strickland... The team's best finish was 25th in Gstaad, Swit-zerland. 2011 – Played in 10 FIVB World Tour events, most with Kevin Wong... The team's best finish was fifth in Klagenfurt, Austria (8/2-7) and seventh in Agadir, Morocco (10/4-9)... Also played one tournament each with Curt Toppel and Casey Patterson... Jennings and his partners earned $20,250 for the season. 2010 – Casey played the final two FIVB events of the season with Kevin Wong. The team had to play in the qualification round to advance to the main draw of both tournaments… The team placed ninth in Aland, Finland, and won the final event in The Hague, Netherlands, for Casey’s first FIVB victory… The team won $18,000 together… Casey began the season partnering with Brad Keenan… The pair competed in 10 FIVB events with their best finish a fourth at the Grand Slam in Moscow (6/8-14)… They also had three ninth-place finishes in Brasilia, Shanghai and Gstaad… The team earned a total of $32,050. 2009 – Won an FIVB silver medal in Poland with Fuerbringer in Jennings’ first title match of his career… The duo finished the FIVB tour with three ninth-place finishes in Grand Slam events… They won a total of $33,800. 2008 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in eight FIVB events in an attempt to qualify for the Olympics… Their best finish was third in Zagreb, Croatia… They finished third among the U.S. teams, but only the top two advanced to the Olympic Games in Beijing… Casey and Matt won a total of $35,350. 2007– Jennings played in one FIVB event with partner Matt Fuerbringer and finished 17th. 2006 – Played in five FIVB World Tour events with partner Matt Fuerbringer. The pair had its top finish at 13th. 2004 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played together in two FIVB World events. 2003 – Had a season best of ninth place throughout six FIVB events with partner Fuerbringer. 2002 – Had three different partners in four FIVB appearances. Jennings paired with Brad Torsone at two events and Chip McCaw and Carl Henkel, both with one event each. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Finished seventh at Hermosa Beach Open (Pro Beach Series) with Bill Strickland (7/22-24)... Placed ninth at Chi-cago and Manhattan Beach with Strickland... Placed 13th at AVP in Cincinnati with Bill Strickland (8/30-9/2). 2011 – Won the Hermosa Beach Open (Pro Beach Series) with Brazil's Pedro Salgado (9/23-25)... Finished seventh at the Wide Open event in Hermosa with Scott Lane (8/20-21) and seventh at the NVL event in Miami with Canada's Ben Saxton ((/10-11)... Placed ninth at NVL in Malibu with Andrew Fuller (7/23-24). 2010 – Casey and Jake Gibb placed third at the Cincinnati Pro Beach Volley-ball Players Championship on Sept. 3-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio… Casey and Brad Keenan competed in six AVP events be-fore the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13… Their best finish was third in Her-mosa Beach (7/16-18)… They also had three fifth-place finishes in Huntington Beach, Calif. (6/3-6), Belmar, N.J. (6/25-27) and Long Beach, Calif. (7/24-25). 2009 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in eight AVP Tour events with their best finish a third in Ocean City, Md. (6/18-21). They also finished fifth in Houston (5/15-17) and Manhattan

Beach (7/16-19). They won a total of $23,115… Casey competed in five AVP Hot Winter Nights events, winning two and finishing second in the other three for total winnings of $15,625. 2008 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in 11 events on the AVP Tour. The team won one event in San Diego (8/1-3) and finished second in Hermosa Beach (6/5-8). They also had five third-place finishes: Miami (4/10-13), Dallas (4/17-20), Huntington Beach (5/1-3), Ma-son, Ohio (8/29-31) and Manhattan Beach (9/17-21). They won a total of $68,425... The team finished third in the AVP Cuervo tournament on May 4 in Huntington Beach… Casey also played in seven AVP Hot Winter Night events, winning three and finishing with $22,250 in winnings. 2007 – Casey finished the AVP tour with Matt Fuerbringer. The team played in seven events, winning in San Francisco (9/14-16), finishing second in Boston (8/16-18) and placing third in Mason, Ohio (8/30-9/1). As a team they won a total of $41,350… Casey played in the first 10 AVP Tour events with Mark Williams. The pair placed third in Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, S.C. As a team they won a total of $25,724. 2006 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in 15 AVP tour events. They won the event in Seaside Heights, N.J. (6/29-7/2) and finished third six times. They won a total of $66,825. 2005 – Casey and Matt Fuer-bringer played in 13 AVP tour events as a team. They won the events in San Diego (6/10-12) and Hermosa Beach (7/21-23). The team finished second at Belmar, N.J. (7/8-10) and third in Austin (4/29-5/1), Boulder (8/26-28) and Chicago (9/1-3)… They won $68,200 as a team. 2004 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in 11 AVP tour events as a team, winning the tournament in Belmar, N.J. (7/8-11) and placing second in Fort Lauderdale (4/2-4) and Manhattan Beach (6/4-6). They won a total of $34,205. 2003 – Casey and Matt Fuerbringer played in nine AVP tour events, finishing second four times: Fort Lauderdale (4/4-6), Hermosa Beach (6/6-8), San Diego (6/13-15) and Belmar, N.J. (7/25-27). They also finished third at Manhattan Beach (8/7-10). They won a total of $28,290. 2002 – Casey played in six AVP tour events with four different partners. He finished third in Chicago with Carl Henkel. He also had seventh- and ninth-place finishes with Brad Torsone. His teams won a total of $7,255. COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: Attended Orange Coast College and Golden West College… Later transferred to BYU… Graduated from BYU in 2001 with a degree in Sociology… Played four years of collegiate volleyball… Helped lead BYU to the 1999 NCAA National Championship… Named to the Mountain West Honorable Mention team for his play PERSONAL: Born Casey Thomas Jennings in 1975 in Reno, Nev. … Par-ents are Michael Jennings and Julie Jennings … He is the youngest of five brothers Chandler, Troy, Jason and Joey … Has two sisters Kellli and KC … Married U.S. beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh in 2005... The couple has two sons, Joseph born in 2009, and Sundance, born in 2010... Casey attended Clark High School from 1989-93… Played both soccer and vol-leyball in high school… Was named All-State during his high school career… Hobbies include snowboarding, music, making home movies and golfing…

Favorite television show is Seinfeld… Favorite movies are Cool Hand Luke and True Romance… Role models are his “friends and family because they are true to speed." PARTNERS: 2012 – Bill Strickland. 2011 – Kevin Wong, Curt Toppel, Casey Patterson. 2010 – Kevin Wong, Brad Keenan. 2009 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2008 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2007 – Matt Fuer-bringer, Mark Williams. 2006 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2004 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2003 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2002 – Brad Torsone, Chip McCaw, Carl Henkel.FIVB

81

Nick Lucena

Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Resides: Santa Barbara, Calif.

College: Florida State Birth Year: 1979

Height: 6-1

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer opened the season with a second-place finish at the FIVB World Tour stop in Brazil... However the team did not reach the podium in their next 10 FIVB events and finished third among the three U.S. beach teams competing for two Olympic slots... The team finished fourth at the Grand Slam in Rome, where Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal won the tournament and won the second Olympic qualification slot... Fuerbringer and Lucena won $60,000 for the season. 2011 – Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer competed in 14 FIVB World Tour events... Their best finishes were a second in Quebec and a fourth in Adagir, Morocco... Their combined winnings were $54,275... They finished the season ranked ninth on the World Tour... They went into 2012 as the second-ranked U.S. men's team in Olympic qualifying points, leading Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal by 60 points. 2010 – Nick formed a new partnership with Matt Fuerbringer and the two competed in nine events on the FIVB World Tour. Their best finish was second at the Grand Slam in Kla-genfurt, Austria (7/27-8/1) where they lost to compatriots Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the final. The pair placed third in the final event in The Hague, Netherlands (8/24-29). They finished the season with $49,775 in winnings. 2009 – Partnered with Brad Keenan and played four FIVB events. The pair finished in the top half of two of the events and placed 17th in the World Championships in Stavanger. 2008 – Lucena played two FIVB events and made the quota finish with partner Sean Scott in one of the tourna-ments. 2007 – Nick and partner Sean Scott played in one FIVB event but did not make the country quota. 2005 – Finished 25th in two Grand Slams with partner Dalhausser in his first two FIVB events. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Lu-cena and Matt Fuerbringer competed in four domes-tic tournaments, finishing second at the AVP event in Cincinnati and third at AVP Santa Barbara. They were also third at the Manhattan Beach Open and fifth at the Huntington Beach Open... Lucena placed third at the NVL Best of the Beach event in Las Vegas... Lucena and Fuerbringer won $17,250 for the season. 2011 – Fuerbringer and Nick Lu-cena competed in two Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Series events, finishing second in Miami and third in Hermosa Beach... They finished third at the Corona Light Wide

Open event in Cincinnati and finished the season with $12,175 in domestic winnings. 2010 – Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer competed in seven AVP events before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13... They won at Virginia Beach, tied for second in Fort Lauderdale (their final against Dalhausser and Rogers was not played due to rain) and third in Huntington Beach... Their combined winnings totaled $28,475 and Lucena was ranked seventh. 2009 – Lucena and Brad Keenan played in 13 AVP events… Their best fin-ish was second in Muskegon. They also placed third in five events. They won a combined $58,725 and Lucena was ranked 11th. 2008 – Lucena and Sean Scott competed in 18 AVP events… The finished second six times, including Manhattan Beach where they lost to Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the final… They also finished third five times… They won a com-bined total of $121,262 and Lucena finished the season ranked third. 2007 – Lucena began the season partnered with Bill Strickland and competed in 10 AVP events. Their best finish was fifth in Huntington Beach… Lucena switched to Mark Williams for the final seven events. The pair finished third in Chicago, but did not reach another podium. Lucena and his partners won a combined $38,187 and Lucena finished the season ranked 18th. 2006 – Lucena competed in 16 AVP events with Mark Williams, George Roumain and Sean Rooney. His best finish was fifth, which he reached four times… Lucena and his partners won a combined $31,525 and Lucena was ranked 13th. 2005 – Lucena and Phil Dalhausser competed in 13 AVP events and won the event in Austin… They finished second in Manhattan Beach, losing to Jake Gibb and Stein Metzger in the final… They finished third two times and won a combined $49,538. Lucena was ranked 13th. 2004 – Lucena competed in nine events with Phil Dalhausser and one with Chad Turner. Lucena’s best finish was third in Hermosa Beach with Dalhausser. Lucena and his partners won a combined $10,310 and Lucena finished the sea-son ranked 21st. 2001-03 – Lucena competed in seven domestic events, mostly with Dalhausser, and did not reach the podium.

PERSONAL: Born Nicholas Lucena in 1979… Lucena has three broth-ers and a sister who played soccer at Florida Atlantic University … He at-tended Florida State University and graduated with a degree in sports man-agement… Favorite band is Sparta… Favorite movie is the Karate Kid…

Favorite television show is Seinfeld … Favorite meal are burritos… His role model is his dad. PARTNERS: 2012 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2011 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2010 – Matt Fuerbringer. 2009 – Brad Keenan. 2008 – Sean Scott. 2007 – Mark Williams, Bill Strickland. 2006 – Sean Rooney, Fred Souza, George Roumain, Mark Williams. 2005 – Phil Dalhausser. 2004 – Phil Dalhausser. 2003 – Phil Dalhausser, Derek Zimmerman. HONORS: 2008 – AVP Best Defensive Player (De-fender), AVP Most Improved Player.

FIVB

82

Todd Rogers

Hometown: Santa Barbara, Calif.Resides: Solvang, Calif.

College: UC Santa Barbara Birth Year: 1973

Height: 6-2

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Todd Rogers and partner Phil Dalhausser finished the season in third place on the FIVB SWATCH World Tour. In their final FIVB event of the season, one week after the Olympic Games, they won the bronze medal at the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland (8/14-19)… Rogers and Dalhausser finished tied for ninth at the Olympic Games in London. They went 3-0 in pool play before losing in the first round of single elimination to the Italian team of Nicolai Paolo and Daniele Lupo, 21-17, 21-19. Rpgers was tied for eighth among all men’s Olympic beach players in digs with 56 in four matches (nine sets) and a success percentage of .50… Rogers and Dalhausser began the sea-son with wins at the Brasilia Open (4/17-22 in Brazil) and Shanghai Open (5/1-6 in China)… … Team finished tied for 17th in Beijing (5/8-13) before earning the bronze in Prague (5/22-27)... The team took fourth place in Gstaad (7/3-8) and ninth in Berlin (7/10-14) after being eliminated by U.S. teammates Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal... In their final tournament be-fore London, Phil and Todd finished fourth at Klagenfurt, Austria (7/17-22), after having to forfeit the bronze medal match to Gibb and Rosenthal due to injury. 2011 – Rogers and Phil Dalhausser began the year with two gold medals, and in the process established a new FIVB record for consecutive match wins - 40 straight until the gold medal match in Prague where they lost to Brazil's Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego... After the team finished second in Prague, they competed in Beijing where Dalhausser suffered a sprained ankle and the pair had to forfeit in the third round to finish tied for fifth... The team finished ninth at the World Championships in Rome and fifth at the Grand Slam in Stavanger before returning to the podium with a silver medal in Gstaad... Rogers and Dalhausser medaled in their final five events, including victories in Quebec and Stare Jablonki, Poland... In Aland, Finland, Rogers and Dalhausser had to forfeit the gold medal match after Rogers suffered a knee injury that ended up requiring surgery... The team finished the season in second place in the FIVB World Tour rankings and winning $144,200. They finished the season ranked first in the FIVB beach technical rankings and first in the rankings for Olympic qualification. 2010 – Rogers and Phil Dalhausser became the first American men’s team to win the SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship since the early 1990s when Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos were the top international team when the season overlapped two years (1992-1993). Rogers and Dalhausser also established a record for winnings by a men’s team in a single-season with US$387,700 in earn-ings… Rogers and Dal-hausser were named the FIVB’s Team of the Year af-

ter capturing nine SWATCH FIVB World Tour titles in 2010, including Grand Slam gold medals in Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Gstaad), Austria (Klagenfurt) and Poland (Stare Jablonki) along with second- and third-place finishes at major events in Russia (Moscow) and Norway (Stavanger), respectively… Rogers and Dalhausser won their 500th match as a team when they de-feated Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands on July 31 while playing at the FIVB event in Klagenfurt, Austria… The team ended the season with a 23-match winning streak and it won 75 of 86 matches in 2010... The only SWATCH FIVB tournament where Rogers and Dalhausser did not medal was the May event in Shanghai, China, where they finished fourth… Rogers and Dalhausser came through the contender's bracket to win the season opener in Brasilia, becoming the first American team to win a title in Brazil since 1996. 2009 – Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won the men's title at the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil in Glendale, Ariz., which pitted top U.S. beach teams against top teams from Brazil... Rogers and Dalhausser played in five FIVB international tournaments and won two (Marseille, France and Klagenfurt, Austria). In Marseille, Rogers and Dal-hausser ended the record 25-match winning streak by Germany's Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann. Rogers and Dalhausser finished third at the FIVB World Championships in Stavanger, Norway. Todd was third among all players in digs with 59 digs in 16 sets (3.69). The team won $72,950 internationally for the season and is ranked ninth. 2008 – Rogers and Phil Dalhausser became the third U.S. men's team to win an Olympic gold med-al in Beijing. Rogers and Dalhausser went 6-1 at the Olympic tournament after losing their opening match to Latvia's 23rd-ranked Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs. Rogers tied for first among all hitters with 125 kills in seven matches. He was second among diggers with 43. Rogers and Dalhausser had the most Olympic qualifying points of any team in the Games, but were ranked second due to an FIVB rule that allows the host country the top ranking if it has a team in the top six... Phil and Todd played in six FIVB World Tour events in 2008 as they worked to secure Olympic qualification and won the last three Grand Slam events (in Paris, France; Stavanger, Norway; Moscow, Russia)... They finished second in one event (Berlin, Germany) and third in two (Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy; Adelaide, Aus-tralia)... Rogers was named the Most Outstanding Player in Paris, France... The team has won $94,000. 2007 – Rogers and Dalhausser won the first world championship for a U.S. men's beach team in Gstaad, Switzerland... Competed in six FIVB tournaments winning one gold medal, one silver and one bronze. Won $68,250. 2006 – Rogers and Dalhausser played in six tournaments with one first-place finish, one second and one third. Won $49,350.

2005 – Rogers and Dal-hausser played in seven tournaments finishing in the top 10 six times... Fin-ished the season ranked 27th... Earned $38,325 in prize money. 2004 – Just missed quali-fying for the 2004 Olym-pics, finishing as the third-ranked U.S. team in the two-year process. Rogers and Scott were the fourth-highest ranked team worldwide to not qualify for the Olympics (due to coun-try quotas)... Appeared in 11 tournaments... Ranked 21st for the season... FIVB

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Earned $39,075. 2003 – Played in eight tournaments finishing in the top 10 six times... Finished the season ranked 32nd...Received $22,750. 2002 - Played in seven tournaments... Ended the season ranked 43rd...Received $13,013. 2001 – Played in nine tournaments finishing in the top 10 four times... Finished the season with a 26th ranking...Earned $21,750. 2000 – Won one gold medal in tour tournament appearances... Ranked 56th for the season... Received $20,500. 1999 – Made one tournament appearance... Finished the season ranked 341st. 1997 – Made his debut by finishing 9th in his only tournament... Ranked 80th for the season... Earned $3,100.

DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Placed second with Phil Dalhausser at the NVL Preakness... Placed third with Dalhausser at the AVP event in Cincinnati. 2010 – Rogers and Dalhausser advanced to the final of the AVP season opener in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but the final was canceled due to rain and so they finished tied for second with Nick Lucena and Matt Fuer-bringer… Other than Fort Lauderdale, Rogers and Dalhausser won all five of the AVP tournaments in which they competed on 2010 before the AVP ceased operations on Aug. 13… The pair won all 34 matches and lost only six sets. They won $59,750 for the season… Rogers and Dalhausser ended the domestic season by playing in the "Cincinnati Pro Beach Volleyball Play-ers Championship" on Sept. 3-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lost to Sean Scott and John Hyden in the final. 2009 – Rogers and Dalhausser won nine of 15 AVP tournaments with four second-place finishes and one third. The team won $195,170 and finished as the top-ranked men's AVP team. 2008 – Phil and Todd won 11 out of 15 AVP tournaments with two second-place finishes and two thirds. They won $186,000. They finished third at AVP Cuervo. 2008 – Rogers and Dalhausser competed in 15 AVP tourna-ments, winning 11, including Manhattan Beach, finishing second twice and third once. They won a combined $180,000 and Todd finished the season ranked first. 2007 – Played in 17 AVP tournaments with 10 first-place fin-ishes, including Manhattan Beach, two seconds, four thirds and one fourth. Won $207,750 and finished season ranked first. 2006 – Played in 16 AVP tournaments and finished first nine times with one second-place finish and four thirds. Finished in the top-10 in all 16 tourneys. Won $163,975 and finished season ranked 3rd. 2005 – Played in 13 AVP tournaments with three first-place finishes, two second place and one third. Had a total of 11 top-10 finishes. Won $81,150 and finished season ranked 9th. 2004 – Played in eight AVP tournaments with one gold medal, two silver and three bronze. Finished in top-10 in seven out of eight tourneys. Won $33,612.50 and finished season ranked 15th. 2003 – Played in eight AVP tournaments with one second- and one third- place finish. Finished in top 10 in all eight. Won $16,257.50 and finished season ranked 16th. 2002 – Played in six AVP tournaments with five top-10 finishes. Won a total of $10,200 and fin-ished season ranked 15th. 2001 – Played in four AVP events winning one gold and one silver. Played in two Beach Volleyball America events, winning one gold and one silver. Won a total of $31, 410. 2000 – Played in 11 AVP tournaments, finishing first two times and second two times. Also won one USAV tournament. Won a total of $54,375. 1995-1999 – Played in 60 domestic (AVP and USAV) tournaments, winning two, finishing second three times and placing third four times. Won a total of $143,349.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: 1996 – All American. 1995 – All American

PERSONAL: Todd Jonathan Rogers, born in 1973 in Santa Barbara, Calif. ... Parents are David and Heidi Rogers... Todd has a brother named Dean... Todd is married to Melissa Masonheimer Rogers... They have one daugh-ter (Hannah) and one son (Nate)... Todd's nickname is "The Professor"... Received a degree in religious studies with a minor in coaching from UC Santa Barbara in 1996... Still ranks second at Santa Barbara in career digs with 783... Was the assistant men's volleyball coach at UCSB from 2000 to

2005... Graduated from San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1991. Beach volleyball player Dax Holdren was Rogers' teammate at San Marcos. They went on to play together from 1997-2001... Was twice named best athlete in high school... Also enjoys reading, surfing, soccer and hiking... Built a beach volleyball court in his backyard.

PARTNERS: 2012 – Phil Dalhausser. 2011 – Phil Dalhausser. 2010 – Phil Dalhausser. 2009 – Phil Dalhausser. 2008 – Phil Dalhausser. 2007 – Phil Dalhausser. 2006 – Phil Dalhausser. 2005 – Phil Dalhausser, Sean Scott. 2004 – Sean Scott. 2003 – Sean Scott. 2002 – Sean Scott. 2001 – Sean Scott, Dax Holdren. 2000 – Dax Holdren, Stein Metzger. 1999 – Dax Hold-ren. 1997 – Dax Holdren.

HONORS: 2010 – FIVB Best Defensive Player. FIVB Team of the Year (Phil Dalhausser)… FIVB Tour Champion (Phil Dalhausser). 2009 – Crocs Cup Champion (with Dalhausser). AVP Team of the Year (with Dalhausser). 2008 – FIVB Defensive Player. FIVB Most Inspirational Player. AVP Defensive Player. AVP Crocs Cup Champion (with Dalhausser). AVP Team of the Year (with Dalhausser). 2007 – USA Volleyball Male Beach Volleyball Player of the Year... AVP Team of the Year and Crocs Cup Champion (with Dalhausser) and AVP Best Defensive Player. 2006 – AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Defensive Player. 2005 – Named FIVB Best Setter... AVP Best Defensive Player. 2004 – Named Best Defensive Player by the AVP. 1997 – AVP Rookie of the Year.

FIVB

84

Sean Rosenthal

Hometown: Redondo Beach, Calif.Resides: Redondo Beach, Calif.

College: None Birth Year: 1980

Height: 6-3

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Rosenthal and Jake Gibb finished the season as the FIVB SWATCH World Tour champions with 5,280 points. They fin-ished 100 points ahead of the second-place Brazilian team of Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego… Gibb and Rosenthal finished fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games. They went 2-1 in pool play, but still won their pool to advance. In the first round of single elimination, Gibb and Rosenthal defeated Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev, 21-14, 22-20. In the quarterfinals, they fell to Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11. Gibb and Rosenthal finished fifth among all teams in digs with 95 in five matches played for a success percentage of .53. Rosenthal had the majority of those digs with 70 and a success percentage of .48. Rosenthal was 16th among all scorers (and the leading U.S. scorer) in the Olympics with 81 points on 75 kills, three blocks and three aces in five matches (11 sets)… Rosenthal and Gibb opened the season at Brazil with a ninth-place finish... Their next two tournaments they earned a fifth-place finish at the Silesia Open and took silver in Shanghai... Rosenthal and Gibb finished fourth in Beijing, playing in their second semifinal match of the year... Their ninth-place finish at Prague gave them a slight advantage over fellow U.S. teammates Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena in the race to qualify for the second roster spot on the Olympic U.S. men's beach team... Rosenthal and Gibb clinched their spot on the U.S. Olympic team with the points they earned by reaching the semifinals of the Rome Grand Slam. Then they went on to win the tournament, getting their first Grand Slam victory... The win marked the highest career finish for the duo on the FIVB World Tour... They earned their second career FIVB Grand Slam gold medal in Gstaad, Switzerland... Gibb and Rosenthal took silver in Berlin and bronze in Klagenfurt before heading straight to London for the Olympic Games. 2011 – Rosenthal and Gibb took 17th place at Brazil to open the season... At the next stop on the tour, they played in their first semifinal match since 2009, and walked away with a silver medal... The duo went on to finish 17th at the World Championships, but bounced back and placed third at Quebec...They finished the season in a close race with U.S. teammates Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena for the second spot on the U.S. Olympic beach team. 2010 – Rosen-thal and Gibb competed in 10 FIVB events, finishing fifth four times (Prague Open [6/15-20] and FIVB Grand Slams in Gstaad [7/6-11], Klagenfurt [7/27-8/1] and Stare Jablonki [8/3-8])… They also finished ninth three times and 17th three times. The team finished with total winnings of $40,850 and a main draw match record of 27-20. 2009 – Sean and partner Jake Gibb competed in six FIVB World Tour events, with their best fin-ish a third place in Myslowice, Poland. They placed ninth at the World Championship. They won $24,975. 2008 – Rosenthal and Gibb finished the 2008 Olympic Games tied for fifth after losing to Brazil's third-seeded Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego, 21-18, 21-16, in the quarterfinals. They finished with a record of 4-1. Rosenthal was fourth among all diggers in the tournament with 38 digs in five matches. He was 12th among hitters with 73 kills... Rosenthal and Gibb competed in eight FIVB events in 2008 as part of the Olympic qualifying process. They won the SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in

Prague (May 6-11) but did not reach another podium. They secured the United States' second Olympic berth at the match in Moscow (July 1-6). Although Rosen-thal and Gibb finished 17th, they accumulated enough points to stay ahead of Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings. Jake and Sean have earned $42,650 on the FIVB tour this year. 2007 – Rosenthal and Gibb played in six international events, with fifth being their best finish. They won $26,950; 2006 – Sean and Jake played in six international events, winning one and finishing second twice. They won $53,225; DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Prior to the final domestic tournament of the season in Huntington Beach, Rosenthal announced that he would play with Phil Dalhausser in 2013. Rosenthal and Gibb went on to finish second in Huntington... Rosenthal surpassed $1 million in career earnings in 2012... Rosenthal and Gibb won the AVP tournament in Santa Barbara and finished fifth at AVP Cincinnati and Jose Cuervo in Manhattan Beach. 2011 – Rosenthal and Gibb finished in second place at the NVL Miami Beach tournament, and earned a third-place finish at the Miami Pro Beach tournament... The duo took second place at the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series Hermosa Beach Open. 2010 – Rosenthal and Gibb played in six AVP events before the tour ceased operations on Aug. 13. Their best finish was second in Santa Barbara (4/29-5/2)… They finished third at Huntington Beach (6/3-6) and Long Beach (7/24-25)… They won a total of $22,850. 2009 – Rosen-thal and Gibb played in 14 summer AVP tournaments and won one, gaining their first Manhattan Beach Open title as a team (Gibb won with Stein Metzger in 2005). The pair also had for second-places and five thirds, good for $101,190. They fin-ished the season ranked fifth. 2008 – Rosenthal and Gibb played in 12 summer AVP events and won three of them with three second places and two thirds. They won $96,500. They also won three out of seven Hot Winter Nights tournaments, good for $24,500… They won the AVP Cuervo Tournament and pocketed $12,500. 2007 – Rosenthal and Gibb played 17 AVP events, winning two, finishing second seven times and finishing third twice. They won $108,900. 2006 – Sean and Jake played 16 AVP events, winning one – the very first event they played together – finishing second five times and finishing third once. They won $95,650. 2005 – Rosenthal and Larry Witt played 14 AVP tournaments, finishing second once and third four times. They won $59,200. 2004 – Rosenthal and Larry Witt played in 12 tournaments, winning one, finishing second twice and finishing third once. They won $31,410. 2003 – Rosenthal and Larry Witt played in nine AVP events, winning one and finishing third twice. They won $22,895. 2000-02 – Rosenthal and a vari-ety of partners played 20 events but did not reach the podium. Combined, they won $12,720. 1997 – Rosenthal was 16 when he made his AVP debut with Dale Smith.

PERSONAL: Born Sean Michael Rosenthal in 1980 in Torrance, Calif. ... Mother's name is Laura Hurlburt... Sean has five brothers and one sister... Sean attended Redondo Beach Union High School and graduated in 1998... He did not play organized volley-ball, but grew up playing beach volleyball... Enjoys playing all sports, especially golf and basketball.... He has a local legion of fans in the South Bay, known as "Rosie's Raiders."... He trains regularly in Hermosa Beach... Sean's nickname is Superman… Sean had surgery to repair ligaments in his right wrist at the end of the 2009 season. PARTNERS: 2012 – Jake Gibb. 2011 – Jake Gibb. 2010 – Jake Gibb. 2009 – Jake Gibb. 2008 – Jake Gibb. 2007 – Jake Gibb. 2006 – Jake Gibb. 2005 – Larry Witt. 2004 – Larry Witt. 2003 – Larry Witt. 2002 – Mark Williams. 2001 – Casey Jennings/Jeff Carlucci/Mark Williams. 2000 – Jeff Carlucci. HONORS: 2007 – AVP Best Defensive Player. 2006 – FIVB Top Rookie. 2002 – AVP Best Server.FIVB

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2012 USAV Beach Player RankingsRanking Name Hometown No. of Events Points1 Gibb, Jake Costa Mesa, CA 10 3960.01 Rosenthal, Sean Corona Del Mar, CA 10 3960.03 Dalhausser, Phil Ventura, CA 10 3200.04 Rogers, Todd Solvang, CA 10 3180.05 Fuerbringer, Matt Redondo Beach, CA 10 2845.06 Lucena, Nick Santa Barbara, CA 10 2820.07 Hyden, John Sherman Oaks, CA 9 1990.08 Keenan, Brad Costa Mesa, CA 10 1960.08 Mayer, John Culver City, CA 10 1960.010 Patterson, Casey Huntington Bch, CA 10 1875.011 Doherty, Ryan Huntington Bch, CA 10 1779.012 Scott, Sean Redondo Beach, CA 7 1740.013 Allen, Billy Venice, CA 10 1350.014 Carambula, Adrian Miami Beach, FL 10 1265.015 Ratledge, Ed Huntington Bch, CA 10 1260.016 Prosser, Matt Encinitas, CA 10 1256.017 Mariano, Ryan Flagstaff, AZ 10 1222.018 Drost, Avery Hawthorne, CA 10 1040.019 Halverson, Braidy Redondo Beach, CA 9 984.020 Williams, Mark Australia 8 961.021 Metzger, Stein Manhattan Bch, CA 7 937.022 Strickland, Bill Malibu, CA 10 935.023 Marchewka, Russ Santa Ana, CA 10 910.024 Grotowski, Steve Boynton Beach, FL 10 909.025 Montgomery, Will Santa Barbara, CA 10 870.026 Mesko, Jon Manhattan Bch, CA 10 869.027 Olson, Matt Carlsbad, CA 10 828.028 Roberts, Adam Myrtle Beach, SC 10 815.029 Binstock, Josh Richmond Hill, ON 10 796.029 Reader, Martin Courtenay 10 796.031 Rambis, Jesse Manhattan Bch, CA 9 790.532 Engle, Evan Mar Vista, CA 10 781.033 McColloch, Kevin Encinitas, CA 7 776.034 Belov, Andrey Leningrad 10 751.035 Garrido, Erick 9 690.036 Dykstra, Joey Redondo Beach, CA 10 684.037 Camacho, Dana Los Angeles, CA 10 672.038 Jennings, Casey Hermosa Beach, CA 10 671.039 VanderWerp, Steven Grand Haven, MI 10 669.040 McGuire, Andrew Manhattan Bch, CA 10 659.041 Placek, Mike Cardiff, CA 6 656.042 Loomis, Ty Corona Del Mar, CA 7 635.043 Mallin, Drew Boca Raton, FL 10 615.044 Van Zwieten, Mark Pompano Beach, FL 10 584.045 Saxton, Ben Calgary 10 577.045 Smith, David Lakewood, CO 10 577.047 Palm, Dave Pompano Beach, FL 10 552.048 Tramblie, Ty Newport Beach, CA 4 550.049 Carlson, Jeffrey Newport Beach, CA 8 538.050 DelSol, Skylar Lone Tree, CO 7 522.051 Van Zwieten, Steve Coconut Creek, FL 10 521.052 Maciel, Joao Myrtle Beach, SC 6 515.053 Burik, Mark Glendale, NY 10 514.054 Bates, Hudson Midlothian, VA 10 504.055 Ciarelli, Antonio Huntington Bch, CA 5 502.556 Macias, C.J. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 6 486.057 Motter, Matt Encinitas, CA 10 478.057 Olson, Derek San Diego, CA 10 478.059 Baxter, Paul Venice, CA 5 475.059 Brazao, Pedro Huntington Bch, CA 5 475.061 Cabbage, Adam Torrance, CA 10 441.062 Wheelan, Cameron 4 435.063 Bourne, Tri Aiea, HI 9 430.5

Ranking Name Hometown No. of Events Points1 Kessy, Jennifer San Clemente, CA 10 3440.01 Ross, April Costa Mesa, CA 10 3440.03 Walsh, Kerri Manhattan Bh, CA 10 3230.04 May-Treanor, Misty Long Beach, CA 7 2490.05 Kropp, Jenny Hollyglen, CA 10 2435.06 Pavlik, Whitney Laguna Hills, CA 10 2360.07 Sweat, Brooke Hermosa Beach, CA 10 2040.08 Fopma, Jennifer Bellflower, CA 10 1940.09 Fendrick, Lauren Hermosa Beach, CA 10 1920.010 Hanson, Brooke Ventura, CA 10 1775.011 Branagh, Nicole Torrance, CA 9 1720.012 Ferreira, Raquel Los Angeles, CA 10 1555.013 Turner, Tyra Fort Myers Beach, FL 8 1475.014 Hunkus, Tealle El Segundo, CA 10 1401.015 Batt, Kristen Venice, FL 10 1365.016 Engle, Christal Mar Vista, CA 10 1331.017 Day, Emily Torrance, CA 10 1285.018 Piening, Kathryn Chicago, IL 10 1260.019 Hochevar, Brittany Hermosa Beach, CA 10 1210.019 Hughes, Heather Fallbrook, CA 10 1210.021 Lima, Priscilla Redondo Beach, CA 8 1145.022 Weamer, Traci Corona del Mar, CA 10 1089.023 Ross, Summer Carlsbad, CA 10 990.024 Akers, Angie Redondo Beach, CA 10 955.025 Van Zwieten, Kendra Coconut Creek, FL 10 949.026 Pazo, Olaya Miami, FL 10 937.027 Gysin, Jessica Manhattan Beach, CA 10 935.028 Beck, Morgan Hermosa Beach, CA 10 925.029 Wallin, Megan Sarasota, FL 10 916.030 Moriarty, Michelle Los Angeles, CA 10 894.031 Scott, Rachel Redondo Beach, CA 6 890.032 Snyder, Jennifer Lawndale, CA 10 847.033 Candelas, Bibiana Los Angeles, CA 8 830.034 Harris, Chara Sarasota, FL 10 816.035 Bansley, Heather Toronto 9 785.035 Maloney, Elizabeth Etobicoke, ON 9 785.037 White, Tanya Hawthorne, CA 10 758.038 Shaw, Sheila Muskego, WI 9 749.039 Sather, Kaitlin Hermosa Beach, CA 10 735.040 Skarra-Gallagher, Aurora Hermosa Beach, CA 10 624.041 Mereszczak, Laryssa El Segundo, CA 10 621.042 Schumacher, Kelly Playa del Rey, CA 10 613.543 Broder, Jamie Vancouver, B. C. 10 595.044 Peterson, Andrea Redondo Beach, CA 10 586.045 Winkler, Kathrin Huntington Bch, CA 10 584.046 Lowe, Heather Redondo Beach, CA 10 561.047 Coverdale, Mariko Torrance, CA 9 557.047 Hayes, Chelsea Hermosa Beach, CA 9 557.049 Day, Sarah Corona del Mar, CA 10 554.050 Keith, Tarin Hermosa Beach, CA 10 532.0 51 Valjas, Kristina Toronto 10 517.052 Gray, Erin Orland Park, IL 6 502.053 Morin, Traci Los Alamitos, CA 10 484.054 Copenhagen, Diane Los Angeles, CA 5 443.055 Tiegs, Brittany Stuart, FL 7 411.056 Schatz, Johanna Redondo Beach, CA 10 408.057 DiCello, Kim San Diego, CA 10 403.058 Grotowski, Capri Boynton Beach, FL 9 396.059 Virsilaite, Rasa LaGrange, IL 7 392.060 Rutledge, Lisa San Diego, CA 8 361.061 Jameson, Katie Huntington Bh, CA 7 346.062 Wiggins, Amanda San Diego, CA 9 331.563 Kalish, Alison Pompano Beach, FL 10 326.0

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2012 FIVB World Tour RankingsRank. Team, Country, Points1. Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 5,2802. Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 5,1803. Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 4,1204T. Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 3,9204T. Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 3,9206. Marcio Araujo/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 3,7607. Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 3,6408. Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik, Germany, 3,2409. Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 2,92010. Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Italy, 2,78011. Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 2,66012. Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 2,48013T. Emiel Boersma/Daan Spijkers, Netherlands, 2,28013T. Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif, Germany, 2,28015. Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 2,08016. Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 1,98017. Sebastian Chevallier/Sascha Heyer, Switzerland, 1,86018. Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 1,82019. Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, Kazakhstan, 1,78020. David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 1,72421T. Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 1,66021T. Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 1,66023T. Jon Stiekema/Christiaan Varenhorst, Netherlands, 1,64024. Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz, Poland, 1,58025. Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 1,52026. Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, 1,40427. Patrick Heuscher/Jefferson Bellaguarda, Switzerland, 1,34028. Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, 1,12029. Martin Laciga/Jonas Weingart, Switzerland, 1,06030T. Thiago Santos Barbosa/Rhooney de Oliveira Ferramenta, Brazil, 1,04030T. Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 1,04032. Iver Horrem/Geir Eithun, Norway, 96433. Renato Gomes/Jorge Terceiro, Georgia, 76034. Yury Bogatov/Serguei Prokopiev, Russia, 70435. Matteo Ingrosso/Paolo Ingrosso, Italy, 67836. Andy Cès/Kevin Cès, France, 67637. Alexander Huber./Robin Seidl, Austria, 66838. Steffan Gunnarsson/Hannes Brinkborg, Sweden, 66039. Ben Saxton/Christian Redmann, Canada, 64840. Jian Li/Shun Zhou, China, 528 41. Yaroslav Koshkarev/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, 52042T. Josh Binstock/Martin Reader, Canada, 49842T. Dmitri Barsouk/Yury Bogatov, Russia, 49844. Markus Böckermann/Mischa Urbatzka, Germany, 48845. Thiago Barbosa/Bruno Schmidt, Brazil, 48046. Igor Hernandez/Jesus Fañe, Venezuela, 45847T. Harley Silva/Evandro Oliveira, Brazil, 45047T. Raul Mesa/Inocencio Lario, Spain, 45049. Daniel Müllner/ Jörg Wutzl, Austria, 44250. Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland, 43851. Serguei Prokopiev/Konstantin Semenov, Russia, 42452. Brad Keenan/John Mayer, USA, 364

Rank. Team, Country, Points1. Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 5,3202. Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 5,2403. Maria Antonelli/Talita Rocha, Brazil, 4,5004. Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 4,3605. Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 3,9206. Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 3,7607. Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 3,4608. Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 3,3409. Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 3,24010. Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 3,16011T. Ekaterina Khomyakova/Evgeniya Ukolova, Russia, 3,00011T. Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, United States, 3,00013T. Katrien Gielen/Liesbeth Mouha, Belgium, 2,58013T. Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel, Netherlands, 2,58015. Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, Spain, 2,50016. Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 2,20017. Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley, Australia, 2,18018T. Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 2,16018T. Anastasia Vasina/Anna Vozakova, Russia, 2,16020. Vasiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 2,04021. Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 1,90022. Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany, 1,84023. Liliane Maestrini/Angela Vieira, Brazil, 1,70024. Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 1,68025. Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas Figueiredo, Brazil, 1,59826. Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 1,29027. Sara Montagnolli/Barbara Hansel, Austria, 1,28028. Heather Bansley/Elizabeth Maloney, Canada, 1,24029. Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Hanson, United States, 1,20030. Dominika Nestarkova/Natalia Dubovcova, Slovakia, 1,19831. Gioria Daniela/Giulia Momoli, Italy, 1,18032. Tanja Goricanec/Muriel Graessli, Switzerland, 1,06433. Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland, 1,02434. Maria Clara Rufino/Liliane Maestrini, Brazil, 84035. Geeske Banck/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany, 78036. Joana Heidrich/Romana Kayser, Switzerland, 72437. Barbora Hermannova/Martina Bonnerova, Czech Republic, 66638. Irina Tsimbalova/Tatyana Mashkova, Kazakhstan, 62439. Jolien Sinnema/Marloes Wesselink, Netherlands, 62040T. Angie Akers/Brittany Hochevar, United States, 60040T. Jana Köhler/Anni Schumacher, Germany, 60042. Bieneck-Großner, Germany, 52243. Van der Vlist-Mooren, Netherlands, 50044. Elwin-Iatika, Vanuatu, 47245. Stiekema-Braakman, Netherlands, 42446T. Lauren Fendrick/Nicole Branagh, USA, 42046T. Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, MEX, 42048. Urata-Take, Japan, 40849. Broder/Valjas, Canada, 37650. Denise Johns/Lucy Boulton, Great Britain, 36851T. Nicole Branagh/Kerri Walsh, USA, 32051T. Prokopeva-Popova, Russia, 320

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All-Time Olympic ResultsAtlanta 1996 Olympic Games

Men's Gold Medal – Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes USA def. Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh USA, 12-8, 12-5 (62 minutes); Bronze Medal – John Child/Mark Heese CAN def. Joao Brenha/Luis Maia POR, 12-5, 12-8 (77).

Other Results – 5T: Carl Henkel/Sinjin Smith USA, Javier Bosma/Sixto Jimenez ESP; 7T: Jan Kvalheim/Bjorn Maaseide NOR, Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rossell CUB; 9T. Roberto Lopes/Franco Neto BRA, Ze Marco de Melo/Emanuel Rego BRA, Jorg Ahmann/Axel Hager GER, Julien Prosser/Lee Zahner AUS; 14T: Martin Conde/Eduardo Martinez ARG, Jean-Philippe Jodard/Christian Penigaud FRA, Andrea Ghiurghi/Nicola Grigola ITA, Marek Pakosta/Michal Palinek CZE; 17T: Michel Everaert/Sander Mulder NED, Miguel Prieto/Jose Yuste ESP, Glenn Hamilton/Reid Hamilton NZL, Eddie Drakich/Marc Dunn CAN, Avo Keel/Kaido Kreen EST, Shoji Setoyama/Kazuyuki Takao JPN, Tom Englen/Fredrik Petersson SWE, Markoji Markoji/Muc-hammad Nurmufid INA.

Women's Gold Medal – Sandra Pires/Jackie Silva, BRA def. Monica Rodrigues/Adriana Samuel, BRA, 12-11, 12-6 (69); Bronze Medal – Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst, AUS def. Bar-bra Fontana/Linda Hanley USA, 12-11, 12-7 (111).

Other Results – 5T: Holly McPeak/Nancy Reno USA, Sachiko Fujita/Yukiko Takahashi JPN; 7T: Beate Buhler/Danja Musch GER, Liane Fenwick/Anita Springs AUS; T9. Gail Castro Kehl/Deb Richardson USA, Yuki Ishizaka/Peko Nakano JPN, Audrey Cooper/Amanda Glover GBR, Merita Berntsen/Ragni Hestad NOR; 13T: Annamaria Solazzi/Consuelo Turetta ITA, Debora Schoon-Kadijk/Lisette van de Ven NED, Eta Kaize/Timy Yudhani Rahayu INA, Brigitte Lesage/Anabelle Prawerman FRA; 17T: Velia Eguiluz/Mayra Huerta MEX, Barb Broen Ouellette/Margo Malowney CAN.

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games

Men's Gold Medal – Dain Blanton/Eric Fonoimoana USA def. Zé Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos BRA, 12-11,12-9 (101 minutes); Bronze Medal – Jorg Ahmann/Axel Hager GER def. Joao Brenha/Luis Maia POR, 12-9,12-6 (70).

Other Results – 5T: Rob Heidger/Kevin Wong USA, Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga SUI, John Child/Mark Heese CAN, Javier Bosma/Fabio Diez ESP; 9T: Julien Prosser/Lee Zahner AUS, Jose Loiola/Emanuel Rego BRA, Martin Conde/Eduardo Martinez ARG, Vegard Hoidalen/Jorre Kjemperud NOR, Sergey Ermishin/Mikhail Kouchnerev RUS, Nikolas Berger/Oliver Stamm AUT, Jody Holden/Conrad Leinemann CAN, Juan Rodriguez Ibarra/Joel Sotelo MEX; 17T: Martin Lebl/Michal Palinek CZE, Matthew Grinlaubs/Josh Slack AUS; 19T: Mariano Baracetti/Jose Salema ARG, Jan Kvalheim/Bjorn Maaseide NOR, Oliver Oetke/Andreas Scheuerpflug GER, Jean-Philippe Jodard/Christian Penigaud FRA, Maurizio Pimponi/Andrea Raffaelli ITA, Bjorn Berg/Simon Dahl SWE.

Women's Gold Medal – Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst AUS def. Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar BRA, 12-11, 12-10 (75); Bronze Medal – Sandra PiresAdriana Samuel BRA def. Mika Saiki/Yukiko Takahashi JPN, 12-4, 12-6 (53).

Other Results – 5T: Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan USA, Misty May/Holly McPeak USA, Tania Gooley/Pauline Manser AUS, Laura Bruschini/Anamaria Solazzi ITA; 9T: Ulrike Schmidt/Gudi Staub GER, Maike Friedrichsen/Danja Musch GER, Ron Chi/Zi Xiong CHN, Cris-tina Pereira/Maria Jose Schuller POR, Eva Celbova/Sona Novakova CZE, Anabelle Prawer-man/Cecile Rigaux FRA, Daniela Gatelli/Lucilla Perrotta ITA, Dalixia Fernandez/Tamara Larrea CUB; 17T: Vasso Karadassiou/Efi Sfyri GRE, Lina Yanchulova/Petia Yanchulova BUL, Rebekka Kadijk/Debora Schoon-Kadijk NED, Jia Tian/Jingkun Zhang CHN, Yuki Ishizaka/Rii Seike JPN, Martina Hudcova/Tereza/Tobiasova CZE, Annette Huygens-Tholen/Sarah Straton AUS, Teresa Galindo/Hilda Gaxiola MEX.

Athens 2004 Olympic Games

Men's Gold Medal – Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos BRA def. Javier Bosma/Pablo Herrera ESP, 21-16, 21-15 (43 minutes); Bronze Medal – Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel SUI def. Julien Prosser/Mark Williams AUS, 19-21, 21-17, 15-13 (61).

Other Results – 5T: Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger USA, Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga SUI, Chris-toph Dieckmann/Andreas Scheuerpflug GER, John Child/Mark Heese CAN; 9T: Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran BRA, Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann GER, Mariano Baracetti/Mar-tin Conde ARG, Begard Hoidalen/Jorre Kjemperud NOR, Andrew Schacht/Jashua Slack AUS, Bjorn Berg/Simon Dahl SWE, Joao Brenha/Miguel Maia POR, Colin Pocock/Gershon Rorich RSA; 17T: Nikolas Berger/Florian Gosch AUT, Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rossell CUB; 19T: Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard USA, Pavlos Beligratis/Thanassis Michalopoulos GRE, Ramon Hernan-

dez Raul Papaleo/You Wenhui PUR, Peter Gartmayer/Robert Nowotny AUT, Stephane Canet/Mathieu Hamel FRA, Iver Horrem/Bjorn Maaseide NOR.

Women's Gold Medal – Misty May/Kerri Walsh USA def. Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar BRA, 21-17, 21-11 (42); Bronze Medal – Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs USA def. Natalie Cook/Nicole Sanderson AUS, 21-18, 15-21, 15-9 (71)

Other Results – 5T: Ana Paula Connelly/Sandra Pires BRA, Okka Rau/Stephanie Pohl GER, Daniela Gattelli/Lucilla Perrotta ITA, Guylaine Dumont/Annie Martin CAN; 9T: Vasso Karadas-siou/Effrosyni Sfyri GRE, Tian Jia/Wang Fei CHN, Susanne Lahme/Danja Musch GER, Dalixia Fernandez/Tamara Larrea CUB, Eva Celbova/Sona Novakova CZE, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Efthalia Koutroumanidou GRE, Summer Lochowicz/Kerri Pottharst AUS, Tzvetelina Yanchulova/Petia Yanchulova BUL; 17T: Kathrine Maaseide/Susanne Glesnes NOR, Ryoko Tokuno/Chiaki Ku-suhara JPN; 19T. Nicole Schnyder/Simone Kuhn SUI, Rebekka Kadijk/Marrit Leenstra NED, Wang Lu/You Wenhui CHN, Mayra Garcia/Hilda Gaxiola MEX, Nila Hakedal/Ingrid Torlen NOR, Leigh Ann Naidoo/Julia Willand RSA.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Men's Gold Medal – Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers USA def. Marcio Araujo and Fábio Luiz Magalhães BRA, 23-21, 17-21, 15-4 (67); Bronze Medal – Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, BRA def. Jorge Terceiro/Renato Gomes GEO, 21-15, 21-10 (36).

Other Results – 5T: Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal USA, Gosch/Horst AUT, Nummerdor/Schuil NED, Klemperer/Koreng GER; 9T: Schacht/Slack AUS, Doppler/Gartmayer AUT, Xu/Wu CHN, Herrera/Mesa ESP, Asahi/Shiratori JPN, Samoilovs/Plavins LAT, Barsouk/Kolodinsky RUS, Laciga M./Schnider SUI; 17T: Boersma E./Ronnes NED, Heyer/Heuscher SUI; 19T: Fernandes/Morais ANG, Conde/Baracetti ARG, Kais Kr./Vesik EST, Brink/Dieckmann Ch. GER, Lione/Amore ITA, Kjemperud/Skarlund NOR.

Women's Gold Medal – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh USA def. Jia Tian/Jie Wang CHN, 21-18, 21-18 (42); Bronze Medal – Chen Xue/Xi Zhang CHN def. Renata Ribieiro/Talita Rocha BRA, 21-19, 21-17 (39)

Other Results – 5T: Nicole Branagh/Elaine Youngs USA, Barnett/Cook AUS, Schwaiger/Schwaiger, AUT, Ana Paula/Larissa, BRA; 9T: Van Breedam/Mouha BEL, Esteves Ribalta-M. Crespo CUB, Fernandez Grasset/Larrea Peraza CUB, Goller/Ludwig GER, Pohl/Rau GER, Koutroumanidou/Tsiartsiani GRE, Maaseide/Glesnes NOR, Nila/Ingrid NOR; 17T: Saka/Rtvelo GEO, Candelas/Garcia MEX; 19T: Karantasiou/Arvaniti GRE, Teru Saiki/Kusuhara JPN, Kadijk R./Mooren NED, Augoustides/Nel RSA, Uryadova/Shiryaeva RUS, Kuhn/Schwer SUI.

London 2012 Olympic Games

Men’s Gold Medal – Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann GER def. Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego BRA, 21-23, 21-16, 14-16 (61 minutes); Bronze Medal – Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins LAT def. Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil NED, 19-21, 21-19, 15-11 (55)

Other Results – 5T: Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal USA, Pedro Cunha/Ricardo Santos BRA, Nicolai Paolo/Daniele Lupo ITA, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel POL; 9T: Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers USA, Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira ESP, Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik GER, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins LAT, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr NOR, Konstan-tin Semenov/Serguei Prokopiev RUS, Patrick Heuscher/Jefferson Bellaguarda SUI, Sascha Heyer/Sebastian Chevallier SUI; 17T: Martin Reader/Josh Binstock CAN, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala CZE; 19T: Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst AUT, Linyin Xu/Penggen Wu CHN, Steven Grotowski/John Garcia-Thompson GBR, Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori JPN, Grant Gold-schmidt/Freedom Chiya RSA, Jesus Villafañe/Igor Hernandez VEN

Women’s Gold Medal – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh USA def. Jennifer Kessy/April Ross USA, 21-16, 21-16 (36); Bronze Medal – Larissa Franca/Juliana Felisberta Da Silva BRA def. Xi Zhang/Chen Xue CHN, 11-21, 21-19, 15-12 (52)

Other Results – 5T: Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger AUT, Marketa Slukova/Kristyna Kolocova CZE, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig GER, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti ITA; 9T: Talita Da Rocha Antunes/Maria Antonelli BRA, Liliana Fernandez Steiner/Elsa Baquerizo McMillan ESP, Kartrin Hoktwick/Ilka Semmler GER, Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel NED, Mar-leen Van Iersel/Sanne Keizer NED, Evgenia Ukolova/Ekaterina Khomyakova RUS, Anastasia Vasina/Anna Vozakova RUS, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr SUI; 17T: Hana Klapalova/Lenka Hajeckova CZE, Shauna Mullin/Zara Dampney GBR, 19T: Ana Gallay/Maria Zonta ARG, Natalia Cook/Tamsin Hinchley AUS, Becchara Palmer/Louise Bawden AUS, Marie-Andrée Lessard/Annie Martin CAN, Vasiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani GRE, Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert MRI

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USA Beach Volleyball Fact Sheet

Location: Hermosa Beach, Calif.Managing Director, Beach Programs: Dave WilliamsDirector, Beach Programs: Ali Wood-LambersonManager, Beach Events: Jonpaul RoepkeCoordinator, Beach Programs: Amber ScottCoordinator, Beach High Performance: Patricia Daugherty

Major 2012 Beach Volleyball International EventsFIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour (various countries)NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour (various countries)FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth World Championships (July 11-14, Cyprus)FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior World Championships (Aug. 29-Sept. 2, Canada)World University Championships (Sept. 12-16 in Maceio, Brazil)

Other EventsUSAV Beach High Performance tryoouts (various locations)USAV Beach Collegiate Challenge (April 14-15, Hermosa Beach, Calif.)USA Beach Junior Tour (various locations)USAV Beach High Performance Championships (July 19-22, Hermosa Beach, Calif.)Beach Coaching Accreditation

Beach Events Sanctioned by USA VolleyballJose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball SeriesNational Volleyball League (various cities)

Mission: USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body (NGB) for all disciplines of volleyball in the United States and is officially recognized by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). As mandated by the Amateur Sports Act, USA Volleyball is responsible for the growth of the sport in America at the grassroots and most elite levels. USA Volleyball is the parent organization of the USA National Teams.

About USA Volleyball: Founded in 1928, USA Volleyball is a Colorado incorporated non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) as the National Governing Body for the sport of Volleyball in the United States. USA Volleyball is responsible for both the Olympic disciplines of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. USA Volleyball has over 275,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,300 clubs nationwide. With an annual budget in excess of $17 million dollars, USA Volleyball supports the USA men’s and women’s senior national team programs, youth and junior national teams, national championship events, coaching education and certification programs, grassroots development, and programs for the disabled and Paralympic Teams. USA Volleyball has a rich tradition of success as evidenced by winning an Olympic medal in every Olympic Games since 1984 and capturing numerous World Cup, World Championship and Continental Championship titles. USA Volleyball is committed to and works toward opportunity for all to participate. It is an advocate for all Americans endeavoring to assure universal access to opportunities at all levels of the game. For more information please visit www.usavolleyball.org.

Other: USA Volleyball consists of 40 regional volleyball associations which manage grassroots playing opportunities for the USA Volleyball membership and is affiliated with 36 member organizations (i.e. NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, YMCA) that provide playing opportunities at a variety of levels.

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200 Pier Ave., Ste. 134Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Phone: 310-975-3930USAVolleyball.org