Lausanne, Switzerland, September 19, 2015 – April Ross and Lauren Fendrick and Casey Patterson and Jacob Gibb are setting their sights high for the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals.
The tournament runs from September 29 to October 4 and pitches 10 female and 10 male teams into competition for the $100,000 prize for the gold medallists.
Ross and Fendrick and Patterson and Gibb are two of the four home teams that are competing in Florida, though for Ross and Fendrick it is their first FIVB tournament together as Ross’s regular partner Kerri Walsh is undergoing treatment for a shoulder injury.
“We’re super excited we’re having the World Tour finals here, the crowd is knowledgeable, they like beach volleyball and they are going to come out and cheer, hopefully for the US.
“I think we have chance of playing in the finals on Sunday and we’re going to work as hard as we can to get there. If we play as we can we can get there, it would definitely help to get some US fans out and cheering for us and give us a couple of extra points per match.”
Patterson and Gibb meanwhile go into the tournament in good form. The won silver at the final Grand Slam of 2015 in Olsztyn in Poland and have already won FIVB tournament in Florida, when they claimed gold at the St Petersburg Grand Slam.
“It is a great feeling going into this event,” Patterson said. “Jake and I have been playing very well and we played very well in the last tournament in Poland. To have the opportunity to play in this is incredible, with the best 20 teams in the world.
“It is incredible, this level, this calibre of this tournament is unbelievable. We were the sent the pools we were playing in and every single match is like a final in a major Grand Slam.”