Siem Reap, Cambodia, February 9, 2020 – With the United States guaranteed the top two spots on the US$25,000 Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival podium here Sunday, Lauren Fendrick and Sara Hughes validated their top seeding by winning the gold medal in their second-ever FIVB World Tour event together.
Competing together for the first time since February 2017, Fendrick and Hughes posted a 2-0 (21-13, 21-6) gold medal win in 36 minutes over 15th-seeded Terese Cannon/Kelly Reeves in the 23rd All-American women’s finale on the FIVB World Tour since the start of sanctioned events in August 1992.
With their fifth-straight victory after dropping their opening pool play match Friday to 24th-seeded qualifiers Traci Callahan and Crissy Jones of the United States, Fendrick and Hughes shared the $4,000 first-place prize while Cannon and Reeves split $3,000 for placing second in their first FIVB World Tour start together.
In the bronze medal match, fourth-seeded Yurika Sakaguchi and Chiyo Suzuki of Japan scored a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) win in 38 minutes over 16th-seeded Sofia Bisgaard and Cecilie Olsen of Denmark. The victors shared $2,000 for placing third as Sakaguchi and Suzuki have now won six World Tour medals in 15 FIVB starts together.
The next World Tour event for women’s is March 5-8 in Guam (March 5-8) followed by stops in Malaysia (March 12-15 at Langkawi), Australia (March 18-22 at Coolangatta) and Mexico (March 25-29 at Cancun).
The men resume play February 20-23 with a Cambodian stop in Phnom Penh. The men will also compete in Malaysia, Australia and Mexico along single-gender stops in Iran (March 3-7 at Bandar Abbas) and Qatar (March 12-15 at Doha).
Source: Volley - fivb.org
