The World’s Top Beach Volleyball Players Head to U.S. for the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball that will be Televised on NBC, NBC Sports Network and NBC Universal
El Segundo, Calif. (PRWEB) July 11, 2013 -- Pro Beach Volleyball stars and Olympians including U.S. Gold Medalists Kerri Walsh Jennings, Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser and Silver Medalists April Ross and Jennifer Kessy among the featured athletes to participate in the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball July 22-28 in Long Beach, Calif. The event will feature 10 Olympic medalists from the U.S., Germany, Brazil and Latvia among the 128 professional players attending from 16 different countries.
The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball features the first Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) sanctioned Grand Slam tournament in the United States since 2003, and will include the inaugural World Series Cup, a special competition that will feature the top U.S. men’s and women’s teams competing against the best teams from around the world. NBC, NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports Network will provide 23 hours of programming of the competitions, including telecasts of the men’s and women’s Grand Slam finals and World Series Cup Finals.
“The U.S. has been a dominating force in the growth of beach volleyball around the world and I am so excited for the fans of the sport to have an opportunity to see the highest level of competition return to the U.S. after 10 years,” said Leonard Armato, the creator and producer of the event.”
Leading the way on the men’s side, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Phil Dalhauser (Ventura, Calif.) and Sean Rosenthal (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will be the top seeded men’s team in the tournament. They will be joined by three other U.S. teams in the main draw including Casey Patterson (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and 2012 Olympian Jake Gibb (Costa Mesa, Calif), the No. 5 ranked team in the world, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Todd Rogers (Solvang, Calif.) and his partner Ryan Doherty (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Stafford Slick (Hermosa Beach, Calif)
Brazil, Germany and Latvia will each field three teams in the Main Draw. Featured teams include 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Julius Brink of Germany with his partner Jonas Reckermann, the 2012 Silver Medalist team from Brazil Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, along with the Bronze Medalist from Latvia Martins Plavins and his partner Janis Peda. Janins Smedins, who partnered with Plavins to win bronze in London, is now playing with Aleksandrs Samoilvs. The duo is the second ranked team in the world. Pedro Solberg Salgado and Bruno Oscar Schmidt from Brazil are the No. 1 ranked FIVB team and will compete in Long Beach along with Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands, who just captured the World Championships in Poland.
On the women’s side, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), who is making her U.S. debut after recently giving birth to her third child, will be partnering with Whitney Plavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and University of California Irvine graduate. They will be joined by the number 1 seeded wormen’s team, 2012 Olympic Silver Medalists April Ross (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.). The duo is the top ranked U.S. women’s team on the FIVB World Tour at No. 12 and have played in five FIVB World Tour events, finishing second once and placing fourth in two other events including the World Championships.
The two other US women’s teams in the main draw include Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brittany Hochevar (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) who just placed fifth at the World Championship along with Jennifer Fopma (Bellflower, Calif.) and Brooke Sweat (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)
On the international side, the top ranked women’s team of Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima of Brazil, are setting the pace having captured three Grand Slam events on the FIVB World Tour in 2013. They will be joined by The Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink who took home first in Argentina, Maria Clara Salgado Rufino and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil who have three top three finishes this year, Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger, who have two top five finishes and Germany’s Ilka Semmler and Katrin Holtwick, who have two top five results to round out the top five ranked teams in the world.
The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball is the first time a professional beach volleyball tournament will combine a music festival and lifestyle event at one event.
The event will take place on the beach adjacent to Marina Green Park on Shoreline Drive. While the event is free to the pubic, donations are being encouraged to the American Red Cross. A limited number of VIP seats will be available each day for $50 that includes premium courtside seats and lunch for the matches and all evening concerts on the day of the ticket. A six-day discounted VIP package is available for $240. VIP tickets can be purchased on line at wsobv.com.
Coverage begins Thursday, July 25 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network with women’s Grand Slam quarterfinal competitions, and will continue through the weekend. The World Series Cup Women’s Finals will air Saturday, July 27 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC, with the Men’s Finals airing Sunday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC. In addition to programming on NBC and NBC Sports Network, Universal Sports Network will also provide more than 13 hours of coverage of the event.
NBC Sports Group, the FIVB, USA Volleyball and Management Plus Enterprises are partnering on the event, which will offer more than $500,000 in total prize money. In addition to title sponsor ASICS, Sabra, Nestea, Bud Light, Paul Mitchell, Barefoot Wine, ZICO Pure Premium Coconut Water, TrueCar, Tommy Bahama, Mikasa, and Arrowhead have also signed on as sponsors.
More information on the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball is available at:
Website: wsobv.com
Facebook:facebook.com/wsobv
Twitter: @wsobv
Ann Victor, V&R Communications, (310) 598-5883, [email protected]
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