Hahana Beach to Play Host to the Country’s Top Beach Volleyball Players

CINCINNATI (Aug. 29, 2011) --- The 2011 beach volleyball champions will be crowned this week during the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball, presented by Corona Light, as the top U.S. beach volleyball players from across the United States converge on the sands of Hahana Beach in Cincinnati, September 2, 3 and 4. A total of 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams will vie for part of $150,000 in prize money with $22,500 going to each of the men’s and women’s championship teams.

                  Going into the open weekend 14 men’s and 14 women’s teams will have qualified for the 2011 U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball (qualification process information can be found at www.usopenbeachvolleyball.com). Winners from each of the Corona Light Wide Open (CLWO) Tour events have earned spots in the field of play, while the winners of this week’s Manhattan Beach Open, taking place in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Aug. 26-28, will round out the 14^th men’s and women’s teams.

                  Before U.S. Open play begins, a qualifying event will take place at the Hahana Beach venue on Thursday, Sept. 1 to determine the final two men’s and women’s team to make the final fields of 16. More information on the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball can be found at www.usopenbeachvolleyball.com.

                  The U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball launched in 2007 as a collaborative effort between volleyball legend Karch Kiraly and The Elevation Group, and is joined in 2011 by ReachUSA. USA Volleyball sanctions the tournament and 2011 will be the first year for the event to take place in Cincinnati. A variety of activities will take place in conjunction with open play. Corona Light will present musician Kelley James on Saturday while Spalding and Dick’s Sporting Goods are offering a free youth clinic by gold medalists Karch Kiraly and Todd Rogers. 

Tournament Headlines:

·       The duo of Sean Scott, from Honolulu, and John Hyden, of San Diego, swept the  2011 CLWO beach volleyball tournaments and festivals schedule, scoring their most recent victory in Hermosa Beach, Calif., on Aug. 21. As one of the top teams, the Scott-Hyden tandem are riding a wave of momentum into this weekend’s tournament and return to Cincinnati where in 2010 they scored the win in the Cincinnati Open.

·       The only thing that may be standing in the way of Scott and Hyden this weekend is Redondo Beach, Calif.’s Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena of Santa Barbara, Calif. Fuerbringer and Lucena are ranked second in USA Volleyball Beach Team Rankings, behind Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers and will start U.S. Open play as the top-seeded team.

·       Ty Loomis, of Corona Del Mar, Calif., and Mark Williams enter the U.S. Open as the one of the only teams to have gotten a game off of Scott and Hyden in CLWO play (North Avenue Beach in Chicago) and hope to pull an upset this weekend. Loomis was a four-time CLWO tour winner in 2010 while his Australian teammate Williams represented his native country in the 2004 Olympics.

·       Matt Prosser of Long Beach, Calif., was one part of the runner-up team during the 2010 U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball. This year he teams with John Mayer, Culver City, Calif., and will try to take the 2011 title.

·       One of the top women’s teams going into U.S. Open play is the duo of Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik. Kropp, from Hawthorne, Calif., and Pavlik, Laguna Beach, Calif., captured two of the 2011 CLWO titles, winning in Seaside Heights, N.J., and the North Avenue Beach event in Chicago. The Kropp-Pavlik team is the sixth-ranked team in USA Volleyball Player Rankings.

·       One of the teams to score a win over Kropp and Pavlik during the 2011 CLWO tour is the pairing of Brittany Hochevar, Hermosa Beach, Calif., and Lisa Rutledge, San Diego. Hochevar and Rutledge, ranked 13^th and 14^th respectively, topped Kropp and Pavlik earlier this year during the CLWO event in Siesta Key, Fla., in June.

·       The U.S. Open Women’s Title could be forced to go through the country’s second-ranked team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross. Kessy, San Clemente, Calif., and Ross, Costa Mesa, Calif., are ranked second behind the top-ranked volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor and will be the top-seeded team next weekend. Kessy and Ross return to Hahana Beach as the 2010 winners of the Cincinnati Open.

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Media Contact:

Penny Copen Fender at O:704.632.2003/M: 704.728.7596 Email: pcopen-fender@elevationgrp.com

Charlie Severe at 513.794.4120