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Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross: The New Queens of the Beach

Jul 23 News

It’s a safe bet that no U.S. Olympic champion is undergoing a bigger adjustment from 2012 to 2016 than Kerri Walsh Jennings, the three-time gold medalist in beach volleyball.

Walsh Jennings’s partner on the beach, Misty May-Treanor, retired after the London Olympics, leaving her to team with April Ross. Ross won a silver medal with Jennifer Kessy in London, but beach volleyball duos are sort of like old married couples. They are at their best when they can finish each other’s sentences and read each other’s minds.

“This game is all about rhythm,” Walsh Jennings said this week from Long Beach, Calif., where she and Ross are playing in the Asics World Series of Beach Volleyball competition. “That rhythm, it isn’t there yet.”

Listening to Walsh Jennings, one might think she and Ross are floundering on the beach volleyball world tour. She says their honeymoon period is over, that they are thinking too much and are wildly inconsistent.

However, Walsh Jennings and Ross, currently ranked fourth in the world, have achieved better results in their 10 world tour tournaments together than Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor did in the 10 tournaments leading up to the 2012 Olympics. Walsh Jennings and Ross have achieved an average finish of 4.2 during their run compared with 4.1 for Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor ahead of London. Walsh Jennings and Ross also have five first-place finishes compared with just two for Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor.

Despite the titles, it’s the three ninth place finishes that get Walsh Jennings’s goat. During one stretch from 2006-08, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor won 13 out of 15 tournaments, and took third place in the two they “lost.”
Interview: April Ross on Playing with Kerri Walsh Jennings

Jun 12 News

By Seth Rubinroit

During the 2012 Olympic final in London, Kerri Walsh Jennings knew she needed a new parter with Misty May-Treanor retiring.

It turns out the perfect candidate was staring at her from across the net.

Not long after Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor defeated Jen Kessy and April Ross to win their third Olympic gold medal together, Walsh Jennings decided to team with Ross, her longtime rival.

Ross and Walsh Jennings quickly developed chemistry, winning the final two FIVB Grand Slams of 2013.

Ross spoke with universalsports.com at Sports Spectacular, a charity event that raised money to combat diabetes and obesity.

Universal Sports: How has it been partnering with Kerri Walsh Jennings?

April Ross: It’s going great. We weren’t really that close before we started playing together; it was always just [talking] across the net. I didn’t know what it was going to be like personality-wise, and how we would look at competing. We found that we’re very similar because our will to win is super high. We’re very competitive and accountable for ourselves, which makes it really easy to form a new partnership when you’re not always trying to blame the other person. So it’s been, I think, as smooth as it could possibly be.

USN: What has been the biggest adjustment on the sand?

Ross: The biggest adjustment is that Kerri moved from the left side to the right side of the court. If you don’t play beach volleyball, maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal. I think it would be equivalent of a quarterback moving to wide receiver in the pros. It’s learning a completely new position. We’re still working on that right now, and there’s been some up and downs. It takes so much courage for her to do that, and it’s just really exciting for us as a team to have this new look. That’s for sure the most challenging thing.

USN: How much time to you spend together off the court?

Ross: We are together 24/7 when we travel. We’re very focused, and we’ve gone to China three times together. Honestly, there’s not that much to do in China where we are, so we kinda just hang out in the room. We went to Brazil once and we went out and had Brazilian barbecue and went shopping. We definitely hang out more on the road because she has such a big family that she has to take care of, so she’s always doing that at home. But we spend a lot of quality time on the road.

Continue Reading… (via universalsports.com)
VOLLEYBALL STARS TRYING TO ALIGN

Sep 25 Blog, News

It came as no surprise that three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and her brand-new partner, London silver medalist April Ross, sailed right through their first AVP tournament together without losing a single set. As the newest American power team laughed and hugged and sprayed champagne, it felt like a scene fans may be seeing a lot more of in the coming years.

With the win in the AVP Santa Barbara Open, Ross and Walsh Jennings officially began their journey toward the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro amid very high expectations. Over the next two and a half years, the two veteran players will work to build a partnership after competing against each other for nearly a decade.

“It’s a totally different game when we’re on the same side of the court,” Ross said. “We’re still figuring out what that is but it’s coming along pretty fast.”

Walsh Jennings and Ross decided to pair up more than a year ago, even before they faced each other in the gold-medal match in London. Knowing their partners were set to retire, it only made sense that the best two players in the country join forces to try to bring home a fourth straight gold medal.

With only five practices together before they competed last weekend, Walsh Jennings and Ross had to learn as they went. They found out that they have more similarities than differences.

“I’ve never played with anyone with as much energy as April has,” Walsh Jennings said. “It’s like looking in a mirror out there. I think we’re really similar in the way we play and the way we feel about playing. I don’t think I would have guessed that really. I’m still getting to know her.”

Whether the similar energy will work for or against them is unclear. Both their previous partners complemented their energy in a different way. Ross brought the energy in her seven-year partnership with Jen Kessy, and Walsh Jennings provided it with Misty May-Treanor.

“I feel like Jen and I were yin and yang as far as energy,” Ross said. “But I really like how Kerri and I start a match with the same energy and push through the whole time. It is awesome and it makes the game easier.”

Successful partnerships in beach volleyball can be difficult to predict because they tend to hinge on much more than just skill.

“There is an intimacy level that you need to be great,” Walsh Jennings said. “I think why we had so much success with our former partners is because we had that in spades. We took it really seriously and it’s a beautiful thing when you have a great partnership.”

Ross and Walsh Jennings both know what it’s like to build and maintain long and successful partnerships, but they say they’ll never make comparisons to the past.

“We want our own chemistry and we want to be better than we were before,” Walsh Jennings said. “Not for one second will I ever compare April and I to Misty and I. It’s just not possible. It’s not fair and it’s looking back as far as I’m concerned.”

With the best blocker in the world and the best server in the world on the same side of the net, Walsh Jennings and Ross are already a force on the domestic tour. Their real test will come with the international tour. They’ll compete in their first FIVB Grand Slam against the world’s best teams in Brazil and China starting next week.

“I’m looking forward to that making us better,” Ross said. After the Olympics I felt like the target on me and Jen got a lot bigger, and I got a little bit used to it then. It’s going to be even bigger now. So I am looking forward to that challenge.”

For now they are focused one match at a time and taking care of what they can control on their own side of the net. But the big picture — gold in Rio — is never far from their minds.

“We have a big goal and we’re in it together,” Walsh Jennings said. “I think both of us are so excited about the potential. We’re striving for one of the most prestigious things in sports. We have all the tools it’s going to take to accomplish our goal. That’s the exciting thing and also the scary thing because we know it’s in our hands.”

Continue Reading… (via espn.com)

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April Ross

Pro Beach Volleyball Player and Two-Time Olympic Medalist

News

Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross: The New Queens of the Beach

Interview: April Ross on Playing with Kerri Walsh Jennings

VOLLEYBALL STARS TRYING TO ALIGN