COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 31, 2012) – With a victory over Venezuela on Thursday, the U.S. women's team of Summer Ross and Sara Hughes reached the third round of the FIVB SWATCH Junior (under-21) World Championships in Halifax, Canada.
Both U.S. men's teams competing in Halifax have also advanced to the second round.
Meanwhile the U.S. women's No. 2 team of Kirby Burnham (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jace Pardon (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), seeded No. 26, ended the tournament tied for 17th after losing in the first round of single-elimination on Friday.
Burnham and Pardon fell to Mexico's Maura Martinez and Claudia Rios, 21-11, 20-22, 15-12 in 48 minutes.
The No. 1 U.S. women's team of Ross (San Diego, Calif.) and Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded No. 3, took an easy second-round victory over No. 20 Guadalupe Paola and Gina Pahola, 21-6, 21-15.
In unofficial statistics, Ross finished with 19 kills and two aces. Hughes added five attacks and two aces. Venezuela finished with 14 kills and one ace. Neither team had any blocks. Paola and Pahola finish with a record of 1-3. Ross and Hughes are undefeated at 4-0.
Ross and Hughes advanced to Saturday's quarterfinals where they will play Germany's No. 23 Sandra Seyfferth and Anika Krebs at 10:10 a.m. PT. The match can be seen live Laola1.tv.
In the first set on Friday, Ross and Hughes jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind the serve of Hughes who had two aces in the run. Ross added three kills. With the U.S. leading 14-5, Venezuela's serve went out and the U.S. scored the next five points behind the serve of Ross, who had an ace, to reach set point. Venezuela scored once more on a kill before Ross ended it with a cross-court attack.
The U.S. led 5-2 at the first side change of the second set as Hughes and Ross each scored on two kills. With the U.S. leading 14-6, Venezuela scored three straight points on two kills and a U.S. error to pull to within five at 14-9. The U.S. came back with a 4-0 run as Ross had two kills and an ace and Hughes added an attack. The U.S. reached match point at 20-13. Venezuela scored on a kill and U.S. error before Ross ended it with an attack.
In the men's bracket, the No. 1 team of Alex Jones (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Kyle Stevenson (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), seeded No. 9, lost its final pool play match on Friday to Germany's No. 8 Dominik Stork and Fabian Schmidt, 21-14, 16-21, 15-13 in 47 minutes.
Jones and Stevenson advanced from pool play with a 1-2 record and came back to win in the first round of single elimination, 21-17, 21-17 in 36 minutes over No. 17 Mateo Iwanowski and Lisandro Rouzic of Argentina.
Jones and Stevenson will play Canada's No. 6 Dallas Keith and Garrett May (4-0) in Saturday's second round at 7:40 a.m. PT. The match can be seen live Laola1.tv.
The No. 2 U.S. men's team of Weston Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif.), seeded No. 19, went 2-0 in a three-team pool and advanced straight to Saturday's second round. They will face No. 13 Ondrej Benes and Ondrej Perusic of Czech Republic (3-0) at 7 a.m.
B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org
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