Walsh Jennings, Ross To Play in Semifinals of Long Beach Volleyball Tournament

LONG BEACH, CA — Olympic bronze medalists Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross will face fifth-seeded Chantal Laboreur and Julia Sude of Germany on Saturday in a semifinal match of the $800,000 World Series of Beach Volleyball on Alamitos Beach in Long Beach.

The other semifinal will match seventh-seeded Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo of Spain against 13th-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Ilke Semmler of Germany.

The semifinal winners will advance to Sunday's final while the losers will play for third place.

The men will play their quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday. Top-seeded Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena will face fellow 2016 Olympians Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain, who are seeded sixth.

"We're going to have to play good, solid volleyball, handle their serve," said Dalhausser, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist. "They're a good serving team."

Dalhausser and Lucena defeated Gavira and Herrera, 13-21, 21-19, 15-13, in a semifinal of last year's tournament, their only previous meeting on the FIVB World Tour. FIVB is volleyball's international governing body.

Both teams had their Olympics ended by eventual gold medalists Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt of Brazil. Dalhausser and Lucena lost 21-14, 12-21, 15-9, in the quarterfinals and Gavira and Herrera, 24-22, 21-13, in the round of 16.

In Friday's play, Walsh Jennings and Ross, who are seeded first, defeated fellow Americans Summer Ross and Lane Carico, 21-15, 19-21, 15-8, in the round of 16, and 2016 U.S. Olympians Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat, 21- 14, 21-18, in the quarterfinals.

Fernandez and Baquerizo defeated the second-seeded Brazilian duo of Larissa and Talita, 21-17, 21-18, in a quarterfinal. Larissa and Talita were seeded second. They lost to Walsh Jennings and Ross in the Olympic bronze medal match.

USC seniors Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes lost to Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart of Switzerland, 21-19, 27-25, in a first-round match.

Dalhausser and Lucena defeated 14th-seeded Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter of Canada, 21-14, 21-15, in their lone match Friday.

"I thought we played with a lot of energy," Lucena said after the round of 16 match that lasted 36 minutes. "I felt better than the previous two days."

An electronic dance music concert will follow Saturday's play. General admission is free. More information on the tournament is available at wsobv.com.

— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock