Volleyball…Beijing 2008

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Rieke Brink-Abeler (right) stretches for the Mikasa as German partner Hella Jurich watches

Phuket, Thailand, November 2, 2007 - Teams from China, Germany and the United States will compete here later Friday afternoon for the first two spots in the semi-finals for the US$200,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by ptt on Karon Beach.

The United States is guaranteed one berth in Saturday afternoon’s “final four” schedule after the teams of top-seeded Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh and 13th-seeded Tyra Turner/Rachel Wacholder won their opening Main Draw matches Friday by defeating teams from Brazil.

Second-seeded Jia Tian and Jie Wang are one win away from advancing to their second-straight Phuket Thailand Open “final four” as the Chinese face 14th-seeded Rieke Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurich of Germany in Friday’s second semi-final-qualifying match. Tian and Wang finished second in the 2006 Phuket Thailand Open after losing the final to Chinese rivals Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, who were eliminated Thursday to place 25th in the competition.

The reigning Olympic champions, May-Treanor and Walsh rallied from a first set setback (21-15) to eighth-seeded Shelda Bede and Ana Paula Connelly to win the next two sets (21-16 and 16-14) against the Brazilians, who are playing in their first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event together.

“The Brazilians played well for their first international competition together,” said Walsh as her team has now won their last 38 international Beach Volleyball matches to improve their season record to 50-1. “Both Ana Paula and Shelda are two over the very best players in the world. They play hard to the end and we were able to maintain our poise to win the last three points of the match.”

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