Fuzhou, China, April 22, 2016 - With her third three-set match win here Friday with American partner April Ross, Kerri Walsh Jennings became the sixth women to win 600 matches on the FIVB World Tour since the start of international play for the gender in 1992.
After she and Ross won two matches Thursday during the opening pool play rounds over pairs from Italy and Russia, Walsh Jennings’ 600th victory was a 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, 15-10) decision in 50 minutes over 16th-seeded Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude of Germany.
BEST WINNING PERCENTAGE ALL-TIME
Walsh Jenning’s 87.6 winning percentage is the best all-time as her Friday morning match was No. 685 with the Fuzhou Open being her110th FIVB World Tour event. She has 51 FIVB World Tour gold medals to her credit, including seven with Ross.
The German win clinched the Pool A title for the top-seeded Walsh Jennings and Ross as the Americans earned a first-round “bye” in the elimination bracket to be played later Friday to set Saturday’s opening elimination schedule.
NEXT MATCH
Walsh Jennings and Ross will play the winner of the match between 31st-seeded qualifier Dunja Gerson/Nicole Eiholzer of Switzerland or 12th-seeded Jennifer Kessy/Emily Day of the United States in an opening elimination match Saturday. Walsh Jennings and Ross have not played either team on the FIVB World Tour.
Ross played in 78 FIVB World Tour events with Kessy as the pair won the gold medal at the 2009 FIVB World Championships in Stavanger, Norway. Ross and Kessy also secured the silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games where they lost to Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor in the finale.
THIS SEASON
Walsh Jennings now has posted a 22-2 match mark with Ross this season with three medal finishes in their first three events on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour calendar at Rio de Janeiro (gold), Victoria (silver) and Xiamen (bronze). Since forming her partnership with Ross in 2014, the American pair now has a 117-21 record together for 24 events.
A three-time Olympic (2004, 2008 and 2012) and world champion (2003, 2005 and 2007) with Misty May-Treanor, Walsh Jennings started her international Beach Volleyball career after competing in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with the American indoor Volleyball team.
435-55 WITH MISTY
With May-Treanor being Walsh Jenning’s first partner, the pair teamed to post a 435-55 match record for 77 events. Walsh Jennings also compiled a 20-4 record with Nicole Branagh (four events), 17-2 with Rachel Scott (3), 5-1 with Holly McPeak (1) and 6-2 with Brittany Hochevar (1).
LARISSA NO. 1 WITH 714
Led by Larissa Franca with a 714-129 match mark (84.7 winning percentage), five Brazil women’s pairs rank ahead of Walsh Jennings on the victory list. Juliana Felisberta has a 707-157 FIVB World Tour match mark (81.8%) followed by Shelda Bede (695-181, 79.3%), Adriana Behar (660-179, 78.7%) and Talita Antunes (657-215, 75.3).
Legendary Brazilian Emanuel Rego, who retired last month after 22 full seasons on the FIVB World Tour, is the winningest player ever with a 1,219-324 (79.0%) men’s match mark on the international circuit. Three other men from Brazil have won over 600 FIVB World Tour matches along with Martin Laciga of Switzerland (601-380, 61.3%).
Ricardo Santos has a 989-310 match record (76.1%) followed by Marcia Araujo (707-269, 72.4%). Franco Neto has a recorded 631 win in 908 matches (69.5%).