World Series of Beach Volleyball 2015: Schedule, TV Info, Preview and More

The 2015 ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball, which kicked off earlier in the week, will reach its conclusion this weekend in Long Beach, California.

The World Series' official site called the event a celebration of "all things beach," with a number of competitions open to amateurs running in tandem with the pro tournament.

While the mood in Long Beach may be festive, the importance of the World Series isn't lost on the competitors, who are looking to book a ticket to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Here's a brief look ahead to the next few days of action.

TV Schedule

Time (ET)		TV Info
Saturday
4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.	Men's or Women's Semifinal	NBC
Sunday
3 a.m.-4 a.m.	Men's Semifinal #1	Universal Sports Network
4 a.m.-5 a.m.	Men's Semifinal #2	Universal Sports Network
5 a.m.-6 a.m.	Women's Semifinal #2	Universal Sports Network
1 p.m.-2 p.m.	Women's Bronze	Universal Sports Network
2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.	Men's or Women's Gold	NBC
4 p.m.-5 p.m.	Men's Bronze	Universal Sports Network
5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.	Men's Gold	Universal Sports Network

Preview

Misty May-Treanor has retired from competitive volleyball, but her old playing partner, Kerri Walsh Jennings, has her eyes on a place in Brazil a year from now.

Walsh Jennings and April Ross entered Long Beach looking for a good result after Walsh Jennings dislocated her shoulder for the second time in two months in July. As a result of those injuries, she and Ross have lost quite a bit of ground in the race for an Olympic spot, and they're running out of time to catch up to the rest of the competition.

Walsh Jennings' desperation to get healthy for World Series was evident as she told USA Today's Ava Wallace of her daily rehab:

"

I do maybe an hour and a half on my shoulder every day of physical work. But then I’ll do a laser, I’m sleeping on a magnet (to promote blood flow), I’ve gotten PRP injections (platelet rich plasma therapy, a procedure that relieves pain and accelerates the healing process), and then I’m getting physical work on the rest of my body for the rest of my day too. I’m using a cold laser and lots of ice. Any apparatus that I can use to heal, I’m doing.

"

Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Daily Breeze noted the 37-year-old is also trying to compensate for the injury on the sand:

Walsh Jennings didn't appear to be too much the worse for wear, as she and Ross went a perfect 3-for-3 in pool play. They earned the top spot in Pool H with six points and subsequently beat Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre in straight sets, 21-13, 21-16, in the second knockout round.

Forrer and Verge-Depre are also the current owners of the last Olympic qualifying spot, so the win was even bigger for Walsh Jennings and Ross in that regard.

Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas are the tournament's top seeds, and they lived up to the hype after going 3-0 in pool play. But they ran into trouble Friday in the form of Miller Pata and Linline Matauatu in the second round.

Pata and Matauatu prevailed in three sets, 21-12, 19-21, 15-13, in one of the biggest shocks of the World Series.

The men's draw opened up a little more as well, after the top-seeded duo of Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson exited in pool play. They finished dead last in Pool A, going 1-2 in their three matches.

Patterson wondered if the amount of exposure he and Gibb receive has provided a little help to the competition.

"We were playing very well for most of the year," he said Thursday, per Bob Keisser of the Orange County Register. "But when you’re ranked number (nine) in the world, everybody else is watching you. They’re watching film and gathering data. You can find all of our matches on YouTube. Other teams are trying to get better and improve."

While the departures of Gibb and Patterson opens the door for another team, it also makes the road to the World Series title that much easier for Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt. The Brazilians sit atop the men's provisional Olympic rankings.

With plenty of upsets already in the tournament, Cerutti and Schmidt won't be able to rest on their laurels.

Note: Full schedules for the men's draw and women's draw are available on the FIVB's official site.