FIVB Phnom Penh two-star update: Two of four USA beach teams won their pools Friday at the two-star Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Caitlin Ledoux and Geena Urango and Brittany Hochevar and Carly Wopat won their pools Friday, while Amanda Dowdy and Corinne Quiggle split their matches. Jessica Gaffney and Molly Turner failed to qualify Thursday.
Ledoux-Urango won pool D by defeating both Australia’s Brittany Kendall-Stefanie Weiler 21-19, 21-17 and Greece’s Vasiliki Arvaniti-Penny Karagkouni 21-18, 21-16.
Hochevar-Wopat beat both Austria’s Nadine and Teresa Strauss 21-14, 10-21, 17-15 and Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong and Tanarattha Udomchavee 18-21, 24-22, 15-12 to win pool D.
Dowdy-Quiggle defeated Poland’s Molika Brzostek and Aleksnadra Wachowicz 21-19, 21-18, but lost to the Czech Republic’s Michaela Kubickova and Michala Kvapilova 21-18, 21-15.
Gaffney-Turner lost in first-round qualification to Italy’s Arianna Barboni and Claudia Puccinelli 21-16, 21-14.
Saturday Hochevar-Wopat play Dowdy-Quiggle, while Ledoux-Urango get Canada’s Julie Gordon-Shanice Marcelle.
Santa Clara hires Alzina: Jeff Alzina will be the head beach coach at Santa Clara University and will join the women’s indoor team as associate head coach. He was the volunteer assistant beach coach at UCLA, a job taken over by Irene Pollock.
As a result, Pollock, who will compete both domestically and internationally with Kim DiCello, will likely be unable to compete at the AVP opener in Huntington Beach because of NCAA competition.
“Santa Clara volleyball has a very strong tradition, and I’m really excited to grow its legacy,” Alzina said in a Santa Clara news release. “With both (new indoor coach Erin Lindsey) and I earning separate 2018 NCAA national championships (Alzina at UCLA in beach; Lindsey indoors with Stanford), the Broncos will get to experience the infectious momentum and the detailed training that come from achieving those titles.”
Registration for NORCECA, PanAm qualifiers: USA volleyball set its qualifiers. The NORCECA qualifier is March 20 at Manhattan Beach for four NORCECA events: Aguascalientes, Mexico (April 18-22), Cayman Islands (April 25-29), Nicaragua (May 2-6), and Varadero, Cuba (May 9-13).
The Pan American Games (Lima, Peru, July 25-30) qualifier will be held May 21-22 in Manhattan Beach. Signup information can be found on the USAV site.
Dalhausser-Lucena top Doha seeds: Dalhausser and Lucena have been seeded first for the four-star Katara Open in Doha March 12-16.
With Olympic qualification looming, the Doha field is deeper than usual, featuring 2018 Doha champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen from the Netherlands (seeded seventh), Poles Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek (seeded second), and Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins (seeded third).
