Three American Teams Reach Medal Rounds After Elimination Play At FIVB/AVP Cincinnati Open

MASON, Ohio - May 20, 2016 - PRLog -- Eight teams from six countries, including three American duos, are still standing after four days of electrifying beach volleyball competition at the FIVB/AVP Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Representing the red, white and blue in the medal rounds will be Kerri Walsh Jennings & April Ross, Phil Dalhausser & Nick Lucena and John Mayer & Ryan Doherty.

The medal line-up features three American Olympians including three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Walsh Jennings, Olympic Gold Medalist Dalhausser and Olympic Silver Medalist Ross.

Walsh Jennings/Ross came to Cincinnati with two goals: earn points in the their 12^th Olympic Qualifying event to meet the eligibility requirements for selection to the Olympic Games and win their 9^th FIVB tournament together. They accomplished the first when they played their first game here two days ago. The second will come with two more wins on Saturday.

As the top seed in the women's draw, Walsh Jennings/Ross's appearance in the medal rounds comes as no surprise since as a pair, they have earned eight gold, two silver and two bronze medals in 11 previous FIVB events. The same cannot be said on the men's side of the draw where fellow top seeds and Americans, Jake Gibb & Casey Patterson lost in the quarterfinals to another American pair, #10 seeds Doherty/Mayer. While Doherty/Mayer have been dominating the AVP tour, notching seven semifinal appearances and one championship in eight tournaments since the beginning of 2015, this is the first time they have reached an FIVB medal round after eight prior attempts.

In the other half of the men's draw, the event's #2 seeds, Dalhausser/Lucena held form and have a shot at adding another medal to their already impressive haul of four gold and four silver medals from twelve other FIVB outings.

The American teams who are officially eligible for the Games in Rio de Janeiro, and their rankings in the Olympic qualification system, are Walsh Jennings/Ross (6^th on Olympic list, 1st seed in Tournament), Lauren Fendrick & Brooke Sweat (13^th and 3^rd) women and Gibb/Casey Patterson (6^th and 1^st), Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (8^th and 2^nd) and John Hyden & Tri Bourne (T13 and 4th) on the men's side.

Four international men's teams currently ranked within Olympic qualifying range on the FIVB's Provisional Olympic Ranking list also played Friday but only one, Josh Binstock & Sam Schachter (CAN) moved on to the medal round. Of the four foreign women's teams playing in Cincinnati who are ranked on the same list, just one, Liliana Fernandez & Elsa Baquerizo (ESP) reached tomorrow's medal rounds.

The women's finals will be televised live on NBC Saturday, May 21 beginning at 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT. The men's finals will be taped live on Saturday and broadcast Sunday, May 22 on NBCSN at 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT. All other matches will be streamed live on the AVP's web site. (http://avp.com/event/avp-cincinnati-open-part-of-fivb-wor...)

The FIVB/AVP Cincinnati Open is the only American-based Olympic qualifying event on the global FIVB World Tour in 2016. The 15 highest-ranking teams as of June 13 will each be eligible for selection to the American Olympic Team (with the limit of two gender-specific spots per country).

General admission is free for the AVP/FIVB Cincinnati Open, the third stop on the eight-city AVP Tour. Premium ticket packages are available for fans who want to enjoy the tournament in style at http://avp.com/event/avp-cincinnati-open-part-of-fivb-world-tour/ .

Forty-one men's teams from 18 countries and 38 women's teams from 15 countries traveled to the powerhouse tournament intent on reaching the main draw, earning part of the $150,000 purse and chasing valuable Olympic qualifying points.

Saturday's Schedule For the FIVB/AVP Semifinal and Medal Matches are:

10:00am Women's Semifinal #1

11:00am Women's Semifinal #2

1:30pm Women's Bronze Medal Match

3:00pm Women's Gold Medal Match

4:30pm Men's Semifinal #1

5:30pm Men's Semifinal #2

6:30pm Awards Ceremony For Women

8:00pm Men's Bronze Medal Match

9:30pm Men's Gold Medal Match

10:30pm Awards Ceremony for Men

Results and brackets from Friday's elimination play for men, which featured six American teams, can be found here (http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/World...):

Results and brackets from Friday's elimination round for women, which featured six American teams, can be found here (http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2016/event/Results.asp?TournCode=WCIN2016&Phase=2):

The AVP thanks its partners: Barefoot, Jaybird, Samuel Adams, Smartypants Vitamins and Datto for their support of the AVP Cincinnati Open.

ABOUT THE AVP:

The AVP, entering its 33^rd season, is the premiere American professional beach volleyball tour and exclusive U.S. beach volleyball home of the nation's top male and female athletes, including those who have won gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic Games. Under the ownership of Donald Sun since 2012, the AVP held seven tournaments across the U.S. in 2014, eight in 2015 and is scheduled for eight throughout 2016.