Top seeds advance easily, Wisconsin natives still in contention after first day of AVP Milwaukee Open

AVP returns to Milwaukee for first time since 1998; Play resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. at Bradford Beach; Wisconsin natives Bill Kolinske (Big Bend, Wisc.) and Sheila Shaw (Muskego, Wisc.) to play contender’s bracket mid-day matches on Saturday, while three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and silver medalist April Ross start their morning in a winner’s bracket match at 9:10 a.m.

MILWAUKEE, WISC. (July 4, 2014) – The AVP celebrated Independence Day on the shores of Lake Michigan by kicking off the AVP Milwaukee Open as hundreds of fans decked out in red, white and blue crowded the courts at Bradford Beach to get their first look at the nation’s top beach volleyball pros.  Among the crowd on Friday was Anaheim Ducks and former Milwaukee Admiral defenseman Nolan Yonkman.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and teammate April Ross, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist, advanced easily.  As the top-seeded women’s team, they dispatched 16^th-seeded Dana Fiume and Hilary Pavels, 21-8, 21-9 in a tidy 27 minutes.

With the exception of seventh-seeded Heather Hughes and Kaitlin Nielsen – who dropped their first -round match to tenth-seeded Amanda Dowdy and Olympian Nicole Branagh, 19-21, 17-21 - the top teams all defeated their lower seeded challengers to move on in the winner’s bracket on Saturday.

Wisconsin native Sheila Shaw (Muskego/University of Wisconsin) and partner Kathryn Piening, seeded ninth, suffered a loss in their first-round match, falling 13-21, 22-24. Shaw and Piening will face Fiume and Pavels at 12:40 p.m. Saturday in a contender’s bracket match.

The men’s bracket saw few surprises, as top-seeded Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson eased to a 21-13, 21-19 victory over 16^th-seeded Bill Kolinske of Big Bend, Wisc. and Dave McKienzie. Gibb and Patterson moved on in the winner’s bracket and will play again in Saturday’s first match of the day at 9 a.m.  Despite suffering a loss in their first round match, Kolinske and McKienzie remain alive in the double-elimination tournament. Their next match will be at 12:20 p.m. on Saturday.

The final match men’s match of the day proved to be longest and possibly the most exciting as qualifiers Mark Burik and Hudson Bates – seeded 15^th - pushed second-seeded Tri Bourne and John Hyden to a closely contested three-game match, with Bourne/Hyden coming out on top, 19-21, 21-19, 15-12.

Main draw play will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. CT and concludes with Sunday’s women’s final, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., and the men’s final, scheduled for 3 p.m. General admission tickets to the AVP Milwaukee Open are free.

Tournament coverage will be streamed live at www.avp.com/live, starting Saturday at 9 a.m., and Sunday’s tournament finals will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. CT.