An event divided Wednesday at Antalya Open

Antalya, Turkey, May 11, 2016 – With near-perfect weather conditions, the second annual Antalya Open will be a beach volleyball tournament divided as the opening women’s pool play matches will be staged on the three Beach Park courts and the men’s qualifier on two courts at Akdeniz University.

Play on both sites began at 8 a.m. (local time) with the women’s action featuring 32 pool play matches and 24 matches to be contested in the men’s qualifier where eight teams will advance to the Main Draw in the $150,000 FIVB World Tour event.

Women’s Pool H figures to be the most competitive of the eight groups where three of the four teams are listed among the top 20 pairs on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranks.  Competing in the group are No. 3 Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany (2,360 point), No. 12 Emily Day/Jennifer Kessy of the United States (1,820) and No. 19 Alexandra Jupiter/Laura Longuet of France).

Jupiter and Longuet will play both the Germans and the Americans Wednesday with the Holtwick/Semmler vs. Day/Kessy match scheduled for Thursday.  Also competing in Pool H will be No. 77-ranked Amaranta Navarro/Ester Ribera of Spain, who qualified for the Antalya Open Main Draw by defeating Finland’s Essi Hasu/Anniina Parkkinen 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 15-11) in 42 minutes.

All three teams have played each other with Day/Kessy defeating Jupiter/Longuet in a three-set Russia pool play match last week in Sochi in the only FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams.  Later in Sochi, Holtwick and Semmler ousted Day and Kessy from the competition with a 2-0 “Sweet 16” confrontation to give the Germans a 2-1 edge in the international …

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