USA’s Walsh Jennings/A. Ross win twice in women’s main draw at FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP

Mason, Ohio, USA, May 18, 2016 — Focused on securing a spot among the 15 qualified players from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, USA’s top-seeded Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross marched through opponents from the Netherlands and Germany Tuesday as 32 women’s teams completed the first two of three pool play matches at the double-gender FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP. The event, which is one of the last three Olympic qualifiers through the FIVB World Tour is being held through Saturday at the prominent Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio and the seventh tournament in the stretch of eight straight events on the FIVB World Tour, the FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP, is being played in the famed Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. Next week the FIVB World Tour returns to Russia for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.Playing in their 25th FIVB World Tour event as a team, USA’s Walsh Jennings/A. Ross opened play Tuesday morning on the Lindner center court by defeating Venezuel’as16th-seeded Olaya Pazo/Norisbeth Agudo in straight sets, 21-12, 21-19 in 32 minutes. In their early afternoon match, USA’s Walsh Jennings/A. Ross defeated Germany’s 32nd-seeded Anika Krebs/Anna Behlen, 21-13, 21-15 in a masterful 28 minutes.USA’s three-time Olympic gold medalist Walsh Jennings (with Misty May-Treanor) and A. Ross, a silver medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games (with Jennifer Kessy), have 13 final four finishes on the FIVB World Tour including eight gold medals since becoming a team. On Thursday, the American Olympic hopefuls will finish pool play against Germany’s 17th-seeded Isabel Schneider/Teresa Mersmann.The double-gender $150,000 FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP, started Tuesday and concludes on Saturday. It is the 14th men’s event of the season and 11th women’s stop on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015. ROSS REMARKSFollowing her team’s  second two-set win of the day, Ross remarked, “It’s really nice to be in the U.S. and to qualify for the Olympics, to go and represent the USA. It’s really meaningful and I am glad it worked out this way. We didn’t plan it but it was meant to be. Any time we get to play in the U.S. it feels like home. It’s comfortable. We always have fun playing but sometimes going to distant locations has its challenges. To have everyone here rooting for us makes it more fun.”“The main goal is to really take what we’re working on in training, to fine tune little things. We’re experimenting a …

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