Olympians April Ross, Jen Kessy at Cuervo beach volleyball event
Call it one part homecoming, one part post-Olympic tour.
This weekend’s Jose Cuervo National Championships at Huntington Beach will serve a dual purpose for recently minted Olympic silver medalists April Ross and Jen Kessy.
The Orange County residents lost in an all-American beach volleyball final at the London Olympics to the iconic duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings. This will be their first appearance in 2012 on the Cuervo tour, having played on it all last year.
“Any event in Orange County is so exciting,” Kessy said. “We’re just happy that it happened this year. We weren’t sure if we were going to get to play anything at home.”
The event also represents the final chapter in the long partnership of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. They played in the last two Olympics together, losing in the quarterfinals in London.
Rosenthal is scheduled to play with Phil Dalhausser next year. The moves were triggered when Dalhausser’s partner (Todd Rogers) said he was through playing internationally.
Qualifying in Huntington Beach starts Friday and the main-draw action opens Saturday. The finals are Sunday afternoon.
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