B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 8, 2011) – Four U.S. beach volleyball teams were undefeated after the first day of play on Friday at the NORCECA Circuit event in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

On the women’s side, the USA-1 team of Jenny Kropp (Grand Island, Neb.) and Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) easily defeated Marcela Avalos and Dina Romero of El Salvador, 21-8, 21-5, in their lone match of the day.

The USA-2 team of Jennifer Snyder (Glendale, Ariz.) and Erin Gray (Orland Park, Ill.) won both their pool play matches on Friday. First, the pair beat Costa Rica’s Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro, 21-15, 25-23, in a battle. Then they topped Guatemalans Maria Jose Orellana and Anna L. Ramirez, 21-15, 21-15.

Top-seeded Puerto Ricans Yarleen Santiago and Dariam Acevedo also grabbed two victories on the first day.

In men’s play, the USA-1 team of Mike Bruning (Tucson, Ariz.) and Jason Wight (West Springfield, Va.) won pool play matches over Guatemala-2 (Julio Recinos and Rodrigo Gonzalez), 21-6, 21-16, and Canada-2 (Samuel Schachter and Maverick Hatch), 24-22, 21-17.

The USA-2 pairing of Stevo VanderWerp (Grand Haven, Mich.) and Matt McKinney (Santa Ynez, Calif.) needed three sets to beat Dominicans Yewddy Perez and German Recio, 16-21, 21-18, 15-8. VanderWerp and McKinney then topped Costa Rica’s Raul Sandoval and Julio Alvarez, 21-12, 21-11.

Juan Virgen and Aldo Miramontes of Mexico also won their first two pool play matches on Friday.

Pool play will continue on Saturday morning before moving on to the first round in the afternoon. The medal matches will be played on Sunday.

For complete results, visit the NORCECA web site.

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