Dutch home favorites Jara Both and Matilda de Groot. (Photo FIVB)
Germany’s Anna-Chiara Reformat-Sandra Otte will take on China’s Qi Siyu-Zhuang Ming in today’s s women’s semifinals at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championships in the Hague. In the other semi-final, Brazil’s Leticia Schwalb Machado-Kiara Vitoria Ernesto Jeronimo will cross swords with Dutch home favorites Jara Both-Matilda de Groot.
Top-seeded Both-De Groot were the only team that managed to score three wins on Saturday as the first three elimination rounds unfolded, and they did so in straight sets. They started their day with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) victory over Greece’s Angeliki Charissaki-Aikaterini Fragkioudaki.
The Dutch duo coped with the resistance of Latvian qualifiers Paula Krieva-Estere Zakite to celebrate a 2-0 (21-15, 22-20) win next. At the end of the day, Both-De Groot delighted the home crowd at the center court in the Hague with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) sweep of their quarterfinal against Belgium’s Simone Vervloet-Tes Waegeneers, thus marching on to the semis.
It is the second consecutive U18 semifinal for Jara Both. Last year, at the U18 World Championship in Qatar, she and Esmee Radstake stopped just short of the podium after losing the bronze medal match to one of the Belgians they eliminated today – Simone Vervloet – with her partner Lente Thant.
“We are really happy that we won this match, because it’s always tough to play against Belgium,” Both told FIVB. “We had three matches today, so it was a tough day – three big games to win, but we are really happy that we made it to the semifinals. Now we hope that we can get a medal tomorrow. Last year, I placed fourth, so I really want a medal this year and I hope we are going to get it.”
“I think it is probably going to be difficult, but I think we do have a chance,” Matilda de Groot added. “We have two matches to see if we can get a medal, and I think we definitely have a chance, if we play well like we did today.”
Leticia Schwalb Machado-Kiara Vitoria Ernesto Jeronimo continued their invincible march in the Netherlands. After topping Pool F with three wins in three games, the Brazilian team needed “only” two wins in Saturday’s knockouts to advance to the semifinals.
In the second elimination round, they mastered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) victory over Paraguay’s Sofia Martinez-Clara Naomi Torres, and in the quarterfinals, they put together a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) win over Venezuela’s Valeria Moreno-Mariana Chacin.
Germany’s Reformat-Otte have yet to lose a set at this World Championship. They swept all of their five matches so far, including the two in Saturday’s elimination rounds. They started their day with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) shutout of Netherlands’ Karlijn van Osch-Jet Grooters and finished it even more convincingly, with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-10) quarterfinal victory over American qualifiers Sienna Castillo-Simrin Adams.
China’s Qi Siyu-Zhuang Ming had a tougher beginning of their knockout stage campaign. They lost their first set of the tournament against Switzerland’s Anja Gahwiler-Noemi Eugster, but battled back to snatch a 2-1 (14-21, 21-18, 15-11) victory. Then, they took out Brazil’s Clara Vieira Lawrenz-Luisa Ianegitz in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-17), to progress to the last four.
Lucky losers Poland through to the semis
Poland’s Alan Robak-Igor Gliszczynski, who entered the men’s main draw as “lucky losers” from the qualifications wrote their Cinderella story on Saturday and pushed their way through to Sunday’s semifinals in the Hague, where they will take on Australia’s Ryan Edgar-Thomas Turner.
In the other semifinal, another two teams emerging from the qualifiers – Germany’s Lasse Huper-Filo Wust and France’s Adrien Bezu-Quentin Hypolyte – will lock horns for a spot in the gold medal showdown.
Robak-Gliszczynski lost their deciding match in Wednesday’s qualifiers, but thanks to some additional main draw vacancies and the luck of the draw, entered the 32-team main draw as the 30th seed. Then, they finished third in their pool on a 2-1 win-loss record. In Saturday’s knockout matches, however, they were invincible.
The Polish duo came back from a set down against Kazakhstan’s Alikhan Agabek-Orazali Sagynysh to mount a furious 2-1 (10-21, 21-9, 15-9) turnaround. In the next match, Robak-Gliszczynski hammered out a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) upset of top-seeded Dutch home favorites Sven van Groenestein-Kyan Bezemer, and finished their day off with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) shutout of Japan’s Rikuho Kashiwaki-Sota Sugiura in the quarterfinals.
“It’s an incredible journey that we came from the qualifications, where we were first eliminated by Switzerland and then we got ‘lucky losers’, which was like a second life for us,” Igor Gliszczynski told the FIVB. “It’s amazing to reach that high after almost leaving the tournament. We are still hungry for the wins in the two matches that we have to play. We are totally motivated, and we want to win that so bad!”
“It feels amazing! In my opinion, since we came into the main draw as ‘lucky losers’, we had a ‘nothing-to-lose’ mentality,” Alan Robak added. “The Polish fans really helped too, so I want to thank them for the support. Now we are really happy that we are still in and we are in the semis!”
Meanwhile, having finished Pool H runners-up to France’s Bezu-Hypolyte, Australia’s Edgar-Turner also had three knockout games to play on Saturday. They swept them all in straight sets. The Aussies mastered a 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) shutout of Argentina’s Zac Osatinsky-Nahuel Cornejo in the first elimination round, squeezed out a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 22-20) win over Lithuania’s Laimonas Alisauskas-Lukas Gumbelevicius in the second, and topped it off with a dramatic 2-0 (21-12, 27-25) upset of defending U18 world champion Ludvig Ringoen of Norway and his partner Liam Karlsen.
One of last year’s silver medalists – Germany’s Filo Wust – however, made it to the semifinals. He and his teammate Lasse Huper extended their fantastic winning streak at the championship to eight victories in a row, dropping only a set along the way.
To the three in Wednesday’s qualifications and the three in Pool G, they added a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) sweep of their eighthfinal against Switzerland’s Luke Koller-Liam Bigler, and a 2-0 (21-13, 21-17) upset of second-seeded compatriots Ben Bockfeld-Hendrik Faber in an all-German quarterfinal on Saturday.
Similarly, France’s Bezu-Hypolyte have been riding the wave of an eight-match winning run from the first round of qualifiers all the way to the semifinals. In the knockout stage of the tournament, the French pair achieved a 2-1 (18-21, 21-15, 15-9) eighthfinal comeback against Colombia’s Martin Gaviria-Mateo Rodriguez, and a tight 2-0 (21-19, 25-23) straight-setter against Brazil’s Gabriel Campos-Bruno Fellipe in the quarterfinal.
