20 May

Unfortunately, after a good fight, Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney lost in 3 sets today to the Americans, Walsh-Hochevar, 21-18, 15-21, 12-15. This puts them out of the competition with a 17th place finish, which is another great result for the GB pair.

19 May 2011

Mullin and Dampney played Xue-Zhang Xi, the number 3 seeds from China in the first round of the main draw today, and despite keeping the scores close, they lost 19-21, 18-21.

To stay in the competition they then had to beat the number 19 seeds from Italy, Giombini-Rosso, which they duly did after losing the first set, 11-21, 21-15, 15-12.

Tomorrow they play 2-time Olympic gold medallist, Kerri Walsh, who plays this week with a new partner in Brittany Hochevar as Misty May is still injured. Guess who they will serve on!

Keep checking here for more updates or check the FIVB website.

18 May 2011

4 GB Mens teams were in action on the FIVB World Tour in Prague this week.

John Garcia-Thompson and Steve Grotowski were first up in the qualifying tournament against an Austrian pair only one seed below them (33), Hupfer-Moser. They won this encounter after losing the first set, 18-21, 21-14, 15-10.

Next up in the first round of qualifying were Robin Miedzybrodzki and Tom Lord. They also came up against an Austrian pairing ranked 24, however they lost this match, 16-21, 19-21 and went out of the competition.

Jody Gooding and Gregg Weaver played Fañe-Hernandez, the number 22 seeds from Venezuela, and lost 14-21, 12-21.

Jake and Luke Sheaf came up against the number 3 seeds from Estonia, Vesik-Jaani. They lost this match 21-12, 21-16.

This only left Grotowski/Garcia-Thompson left in the competition and they had to face the number 1 seeds from the USA, Kevin Wong and Casey Jennings, who have a great record both in the AVP and FIVB tours. Last year they won in The Hague, so they would be tough to beat - but beat them they did in 2 sets, 25-23, 24-22! A fantastic result!

This left 1 match to play against Binstock-Van Huizen from Canada to get themselves into the main draw. Unfortunately they lost this match, 19-21, 16-21 to go out of the tournament.

Meanwhile, in Myslowice, Poland, the GB women, represented by only Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin at this event, continued to do well.

Getting a bye in the first round of qualifying, in round 2 they came up against Kolosinska-Brzostek, the number 17 seeds from Poland. The GB girls took this match 21-18, 21-18.

In the final round of qualifying they came up against the number 1 seeds the Nystrom twins from Finland, who are currently 17 in the World Rankings, having been higher last year. Mullin and Dampney beat them in 3 sets, 22-20, 18-21, 15-12 to take them through to the main draw for the second week in a row!