News Beach volleyball 30/10/2013 USA’s Kessy joins up with Sweat to top Pool G at Phuket Open Phuket, Thailand, October 30, 2013 – USA’s JenniferKessy and Brooke Sweat top Pool G after securing two wins on the first day ofpool play at the 2013 FIVB BeachVolleyball Phuket Open on Wednesday. Thepenultimate Open of the year is back in Thailand for its eighth consecutiveyear, taking place from October 28 to November 3.Kessy/Sweat were first oncourt at 9:00 in Phuket with temperatures already up to 30°C. In their first outingtogether, the US team quickly found their feet, beating Melinda Adelin andLaura Longuet from France 2-0(21-8, 21-13). “This morning was a good first match for us. This isour first tournament playing together and we haven’t had a lot of practicetogether, so we were just figuring things out in that match and came away withthe win,” said Sweat. PhuketVeteran Kessy/Sweat then playedstrong qualifiers Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider (GER) on centre court in the heat of the day.Germany surprised the US pair, pushing the first set all the way, but Kessy/Sweatfinally closed it 26-24. The German pair began to struggle in their third matchof the tournament and reluctantly forfeited the match at 10-4. “It’s always tough to play a team you’ve never seenbefore, you’ve never played before and they did really well. They had reallygood ball control, good defence, good serving so I think we got a little bitbehind in the first set and then battled back to win 26-24. Luckily we won thatgame and then I think the heat just got to the German’s and they forfeited sowe’re really happy to come out with a win,” said Kessy.Kessy pairs up with Sweat for the first time inPhuket, despite appearing in the tournament over multiple years winning goldtwice and silver once here before with April Ross. “As long as the tournament has been going I have beencoming here. I hadn’t played a lot this year and I saw that Brooke needed apartner for this tournament and I thought absolutely, so I was so excited tocome back,” said Kessy. April Ross enters Phuket with Jennifer Fopma as Kessyplans to spend more time with her family over the coming years, but Brooke stillhas the pleasure of playing with Kessy in Thailand.“It’s an honour to play with Jennifer, she’s beenplaying since I started watching her and following her so to play with anOlympic silver medallist, I never thought I would. It’s amazing,” said Brooke. Menegatti/OrsiToth meet Arvaniti/KaragkouniItaly’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth had atough first match in Phuket facing Vasiliki Arvaniti and Panagiota Karagkounifrom Greece. The first set went according to plan for the Italian’s winning21-13, but the Greek pair came out strong in the second. Arvaniti/Karagkouni first took the edge at 8-7and from there it was a battle for the lead. A number of long points midwaythrough began to produce errors, but Greece confidently smashed home the lasttwo points taking the set 23-21.The third set proved equally close, but a niceplacement by Orsi Toth helped the Italian’s to end the match 2-1 (21-13, 21-23, 15-12).“We feel great, it was the first match and it was sodifficult I think, with this weather. We complicated our life because we wouldlike to have won, two sets to zero, but maybe the weather, it’s too hot. But it’sOK like this, important is to win,” said Menegatti. We have played together for about three months and wefit each other well. We are the same age. I think our strength is that we are veryambitious and we are together on the court and outside, so we are fine together."Menegatti/Orsi Toth end the day just behind EvgeniaUkolova and Maria Prokopeva in Pool G and both pairs play their last two poolmatches on Thursday in Phuket. Thailand’s favourites Varapatsorn Radarong and TanaratthaUdomchavee are still on track, topping Pool A at the end of the first day in the main draw. The Thai girls beat Svitlana Baburina and Diana Mulenko (UKR) 2-0 (21-8, 21-14) and then awardedtheir second match due to injury of Polish team Monika Brzostek and KingaKolosinska.Thailand has hostedover 10 women’s and one men’s FIVB tournament. Overall, the USA has been themost successful with 10 medal finishes in the seven FIVB World Tour events heldin Phuket.The tournamentpreviously ran from 2006 until 2011, when the event moved to Bangsaen in 2012.China’s Chen Xue and Zhang Xi won the 2011 edition, while Jennifer Kessy andApril Ross were victorious in 2012. Phuketis an island located to the south of Thailand, while the city of Phuket is theisland’s capital and home to 75,000 people. It is located 825 kilometres fromBangkok, the capital of Thailand. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News