Aug. 20, 2011

STANFORD, Calif. - The U.S. women's beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Stanford alum Kerri Walsh earned the silver medal on Saturday at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Paf Open in Aland, Finland.

The fourth-ranked May-Treanor and Walsh fell to China's second-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in Saturday's gold medal match, 21-16, 17-21, 15-9 in 43 minutes.

In the bronze medal match, top seeded Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil defeated compatriots Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli, 21-19, 18-21, 21-19 in 56 minutes.

A total of 165 teams, 95 men and 70 women, started out competing in the 2011 Paf Open that is taking place on the Isle of Aland at Mariehamn under the supervision of both the Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Foundation, marking just the third time that national federations have joined forces to stage an FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour event.