 Lausanne, Switzerland, August 23, 2010 - The last men's event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar will be the featured attraction as the international players return to a "beach" setting in The Netherlands starting Tuesday with Country Quota playoff matches leading to the medal rounds this coming Sunday in The Hague.
With the US$380,00 Milner Open being the last of 14 men's events on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the women's 15-stop circuit will conclude at the end of October and the first of November with stops in China (Sanya, October 26-31) and Thailand (Phuket, November 2-7). The international Beach Volleyball tour will have visited 17 sites in 14 countries over an eight-month period in 2010 with $6.83-million in prize money.
The next to last European event this past week on the Finnish island of Åland proved to be one of the season's most exciting tournaments where one of the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions validated their point's title with the other Beach Volleyball pair finishing second after clinching their crown earlier in the competition co-hosted by the Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Associations.
Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca secured their fifth SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship in the past six years this past Wednesday in Åland as the Brazilians advanced to Saturday's finale where they were upset by China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in the gold medal match 18-21, 21-12 and 15-12 in 55 minutes.
The Åland women's finale was the third-straight title meeting between the two teams as Juliana and Larissa had won the previous two gold medal matches in Poland (Stare Jablonki) and Norway (Kristiansand). With seven gold medals in 2010, Juliana and Larissa became the SWATCH FIVB World Tour's all-time leader in team titles with 36 breaking the previous record set in 2008 by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States.
Following the women's title match, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers continued to confirm their status as the No. 1 men's Beach Volleyball team in the world as the American Olympic champions out-lasted Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil 24-22, 10-21 and 15-13 in the 59-minute men's finale in Åland. It was Dalhausser and Rogers' fourth-straight three-set win over the Brazilians in 2010 as the Americans had defeated Marcio Araujo and Ricardo in the Polish and Norwegian semi-finals the previous two weeks.
In becoming the first United States team to win a SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship since the 1992-93 season, Dalhausser and Rogers also set an international record of nine gold medals in a season to break the previous mark of eight titles set by Juliana and Larissa during the 2009 campaign. The previous best for a men's FIVB team was seven gold medals in a season by three different Brazilian pairs.
Dalhausser advanced to the semi-finals in all 12 of their SWATCH starts in 2010 with US$387,700 in winnings to best the previous men's winnings record for a season of $355,000 set by Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos in 2006. Juliana and Larissa hold the record for most earnings in a season with $409,750 during the 2005 campaign.
A forfeit to a Portuguese team at the Austrian Grand Slam prevented Dalhausser and Rogers from bettering the record for consecutive match wins as the Americans have won 30 of their last 31 FIVB matches, including their last 23-straight. The men's mark of 25-straight wins was set by German world champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in 2009.
With the SWATCH FIVB World Tour returning to The Hague for the second-straight year after The Netherlands had hosted the 2008 youth world championships for players under the age of 19, the Milner Open's defending champions are Juliana and Larissa in the women's division and Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil.
The Brazilian women's swept the Milner Open podium in 2009 with Juliana and Larissa defeating Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes in the gold medal match with Vivian Cunha and Angela Vieira placing third. The men's finale had Nummerdor and Schuil defeating Spain's Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera in the title match with Alison Cerutti and Harley Marques placing third.
2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Men's Leaders (through August 22)
Men's Team Rank, points
1, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 6,960*
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 5,100
3, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 4,420
4, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 4,120
5, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 3,840
6, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 3,780
7, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 3,480
8, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 3,440
9, Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 3,340
10, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 3,260
11, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 3,040
12, Pedro Cunha/Thiago Santos Barbosa, Brazil, 2,980
13, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 2,840
14, Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst, Austria, 2,560
15, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Martin Laciga, Switzerland, 2,320
16, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 2,280
17, Casey Jennings/Brad Keenan, United States, 2,200
18, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 2,060
19, Renato "Geor" Gomes/Jorge "Gia" Terceiro, Georgia, 1,920
20, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 1,900
20, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 1,900
22, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 1,780
23, Igor Kolodinsky/Yaroslav Koshkarev, Russia, 1,680
24, Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 1,664
*clinched SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship based on a team’s best 10 finishes.
Men's Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings
1, Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States, 12, 8, $387,700
2, Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, Brazil, 11, 0, $175,200
3, Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu, China, 12, 2, $153,050
4, Adrian Gavira Collado/Pablo Herrera, Spain, 12, 0, $144,700
5, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany, 8, 0, $132,300
6, David Klemperer/Eric Koreng, Germany, 9, 1, $129,600
7, Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos, Brazil, 10, 0, $122,050
8, Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil, 9, 1, $109,300
9, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, Poland, 11, 0, $101,800
10, Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 13, 0, $96,300
11, Matt Fuerbringer/Nick Lucena, United States, 8, 0, $84,550
12, Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States, 10, 0, $81,700
13, Pedro Cunha/Thiago Santos Barbosa, Brazil, 10, 0, $80,150
14, Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr, Norway, 11, 0, $74,000
15, Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst, Austria, 10, 0, $66,600
16, Jefferson Bellaguarda/Martin Laciga, Switzerland, 11, 0, $64,400
17, Casey Jennings/Brad Keenan, United States, 10, 0, $64,100
18, Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins, Latvia, 6, 0, $54,700
19, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins, Latvia, 11, 0, $53,300
20, Renato "Geor" Gomes/Jorge "Gia" Terceiro, Georgia, 13, 0, $51,900
21, Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala, Czech Republic, 9, 0, $51,800
22, Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil, Netherlands, 7, 0, $51,350
23, Jason Lochhead/Kirk Pitman, New Zealand, 12, 0, $45,600
24, Igor Kolodinsky/Yaroslav Koshkarev, Russia, 5, 0, $45,500
2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Women’s Leaders (through August 21)
Women's Team Rank, points
1, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 7,200*
2, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 5,700
3, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 5,540
4, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 5,280
5, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 4,520
6, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 3,740
7, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 3,220
8, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 3,140
9, Nicole Branagh/Misty May-Treanor, United States, 3,060
10, Angie Akers/Tyra Turner, United States, 2,920
11, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 2,740
12, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 2,660
13, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 2,400
14, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 2,340
14, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 2,340
16, Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 2,280
17, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 2,260
18, Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins/Cristine "Saka" Santanna, Georgia, 2,240
19, Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 1,880
20, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 1,760
21, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 1,740
22, Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgium, 1,680
23, Ekaterina Khomyakova/Anastasia Vasina, Russia, 1,450
24, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 1,440
*clinched SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship based on a team’s best 11 finishes.
Women’s Team Rank, events, titles, US earnings
1, Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca, Brazil, 11, 7, $342,200
2, Chen Xue/Xi Zhang, China, 12, 2, $211,700
3, Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes, Brazil, 12, 1, $202,300
4, Jennifer Kessy/April Ross, United States, 12, 2, $191,300
5, Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig, Germany, 10, 0, $152,400
6, Carolina Salgado/Maria Clara Salgado, Brazil, 12, 0, $108,200
7, Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria, 10, 0, $95,400
8, Barbara Hansel/Sara Montagnolli, Austria, 10, 0, $92,800
9, Nicole Branagh/Misty May-Treanor, United States, 8, 0, $91,300
10, Angie Akers/Tyra Turner, United States, 10, 0, $84,550
11, Simone Kuhn/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland, 9, 0, $69,300
12, Vassiliki Arvaniti/Maria Tsiartsiani, Greece, 11, 0, $66,650
13, Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova, Czech Republic, 8, 0, $64,800
14, Emilia Nystrom/Erika Nystrom, Finland, 11, 0, $63,300
15, Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel, Netherlands, 9, 0, $62,600
16, Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic, 9, 0, $62,600
17, Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler, Germany, 9, 0, $60,850
18, Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins/Cristine "Saka" Santanna, Georgia, 12, 0, $58,300
19, Bibiana Candelas/Mayra Garcia, Mexico, 9, 0, $49,900
20, Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer, Australia, 11, 0, $49,600
21, Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgium, 10, 0, $47,700
22, Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti, Italy, 9, 0, $47,000
23, Vivian Cunha/Taiana Lima, Brazil, 8, 0, $44,950
24, Ekaterina Khomyakova/Anastasia Vasina, Russia, 9, 0, $39,700 |