Walsh Jennings, Ross remain undefeated as competition continues
in the AVP Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center
in Mason, Ohio
Play resumes Saturday at 9 a.m.; Ohio native Tealle Hunkus (Girard) stays alive in contenders’ bracket; Cincinnati native Kelly Schumacher eliminated on Friday
MASON, Ohio (August 29, 2014) – The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour marked its return Friday to the tri-state area with a full day of excitement as play kicked off in the AVP Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. The tournament opened to an enthusiastic crowd that welcomed the nation’s top beach volleyball players back to the world-class venue.
The top-seeded team of three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross – a 2012 Olympic silver medalist advanced easily through Friday’s play, making quick work of 16th-seeded Caitlin Ledoux and Irene Pollock, 21-12, 21-15. Walsh Jennings and Ross extend their perfect record on the AVP Tour this season to 22-0. They will be the first on the sand again on Saturday, with their first match of the day scheduled for 9 a.m.
Women’s defending Cincinnati Open champions Emily Day and Summer Ross also won their lone match Friday. As the third-seeded team in the tournament, Day and Ross faced 14th seeds Aurora Davis and Cincinnati native Kelly Schumacher – who won their way into the main draw by way of Thursday’s qualifier. The defending champions won in just 37 minutes, 21-17, 21-14.
Girard, Ohio native Tealle Hunkus and teammate Kendra Van Zwieten dropped their first match on Friday to Lane Carico and Kim DiCello, 18-21, 15-21 but fought back in their second match of the day in the contender’s bracket, upsetting fifth-seeded Whitney Pavlik and Heather Hughes, 18-21, 21-19, 16-14. Hunkus and Van Zwieten are scheduled to play their next match Saturday at 1:25 p.m.
Friday proved to be the end of the road for Schumacher and Davis, who were knocked out of the double-elimination tournament after a 21-18,21-18 loss to Olympian Nicole Branagh and Amanda Dowdy.
A pair of upsets were delivered on the men’s side as the 12th-seeded Avery Drost and Derek Olson defeated Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers and partner Theo Brunner, 15-21, 24-22, 22-20, in the longest contest of the day (1 hour, 13 minutes.) Also suffering a loss in their opening match Friday were Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal, seeded second. They fell, 21-15, 12-21, 15-12 to 14th-seeded Will Montgomery and Ed Ratledge.
Rogers and Brunner remain alive in the contenders’ bracket, while Dalhausser and Rosenthal were eliminated after forfeiting their second match of the day due to an abdominal injury suffered by Dalhausser.
The defending men’s champions of the Cincinnati Open – second-seeded Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson – made their Friday match look easy, defeating youngsters Hawk Hatcher and Clay Paullin, 21-12, 21-12.
Main draw play will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. and concludes with Sunday’s women’s final, scheduled for 1 p.m., and the men’s final, scheduled for 2 p.m. Tickets for the AVP Cincinnati Open are still available for purchase at www.avp.com or at the gate.
Tournament coverage will be streamed live at www.avp.com/live, starting Saturday at 9 a.m., and Sunday’s tournament finals will air tape delayed Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
Updated main-draw brackets can be found here:
The AVP and its leadership gives special thanks to smart USA, Barefoot, Paul Mitchell, HyperX, the City of Mason and UC Health for their support of the AVP Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, Mason, Ohio.
