Knockout line-up all set in Adelaide

The first phase of the men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Adelaide was completed yesterday with 24 teams that finished first or second in their pools qualifying straight to the Last 16 along with the four best-ranked third-placed teams in the final pool standings.

In the men’s competition, the best third ranked teams were Chile’s Marco Grimalt-Esteban Grimalt, Sweden’s David Ahman-Jonatan Hellvig, USA’s Miles Partain-Andrew Benesh and Argentina’s Juan Amieva-Maciel Bueno.

The other eight third-placed teams formed the four fixtures for Tuesday’s first playoff round – the round of 36, dubbed “the lucky loser round”, to fill the remaining four vacancies in the Last 16.

The last match on the Pool I program offered a three-set all-American duel that finalized the standings in the pool. Despite losing by 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-9) to compatriots Chaim Schalk-James Shaw, Miles Evans-Chase Budinger finished on top of the table on a 2-1 win-loss record and a better point ratio than the former, who settled for second place.

Ruben Penninga-Matthew Immers of the Netherlands also surpassed Australia’s D’Artagnan Potts-Jack Pearse for the third place on point ratios as both teams ended up on 1-2. The Aussies are out, while the Dutch advanced to Tuesday’s round of 36, where they will meet Canada’s Samuel Schachter-Jonathan Pickett, placed third in Pool K.

Schachter & Pickett registered their first win in Adelaide, 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) over Mozambique’s Jose Mondlane & Osvaldo Mungoi, enough to stay in the tournament. Argentina’s Tomas Capogrosso & Nicolas Capogrosso remained unbeaten and secured the first place in Pool K with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout of Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers-Clemens Wickler of Germany, who finished second on 2-1.

In Pool E, fifth-seeded Michal Bryl-Bartosz Losiak of Poland topped the standings undefeated after mastering a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win over Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner-Sven Winter in the deciding battle for the first place.

Austria’s Christoph Dressler-Philipp Waller, on the other hand, moved on to the first elimination round, after a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) sweep of the survival match for the third place in the pool against China’s Wang Yanwei-Du Hongjun.

The Austrians will face Norway’s Markus Mol-Adrian Mol from Pool B. The young Beachvolley Vikings squeezed out a nail-biting 2-1 (19-21, 22-20, 15-13) victory over Australia’s Luke Ryan-Zachery Schubert in a deciding battle for the third place in Pool B to stay alive in the tournament.

The other Norwegian pair in the pool, Hendrik Mol-Mathias Berntsen produced a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) upset of second-seeded Stefan Boermans-Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands to top the pool table undefeated.

France’s Teo Rotar-Arnaud Gauthier-Rat put together a 2-1 (21-16, 12-21, 15-13) upset of seventh-seeded Jacob Holting Nilsson-Elmer Andersson of Sweden and finished first in Pool G with three tie-breaker victories.

The Swedes will join them into the Last 16 as pool runners-up on a 2-1 win-loss record. England’s Javier Bello- Joaquin Bello qualified for the round of 36 after earning a hard-fought 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 16-14) victory over Australia’s Ben Hood-Oliver Merritt in the direct battle for the third place in the pool. The English twins will take on New Zealand’s Bradley Fuller-Ben O’Dea from Pool F for a spot in the Last 16.

In the other first knockout round match-up, Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich- Jonathan Jordan from Pool A will challenge Austria’s Timo Hammarberg-Tim Berger from Pool J.

In the women’s competition, the four best-ranked third-placed teams in the final pool standings to move to the knockout stages were New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley-Olivia MacDonald, Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser-Leona Kernen, Puerto Rico’s Maria Gonzalez-Allanis Navas and Netherlands’ Mila Konink-Desy Poiesz.

Ninth-seeded Italians Valentina Gottardi-Reka Orsi Toth bounced back from Sunday’s surprising loss at the hands of New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley-Olivia MacDonald with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) shutout of unbeaten Americans Julia Donlin-Lexy Denaburg and surged to the top of the Pool I standings.

The Kiwis achieved a 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-11) victory over winless Lea Monkhouse-Marie-Alex Belanger of Canada to knock them out of contention. Three teams finished on a 2-1 win-loss record each and the results between them placed Gottardi-Orsi Toth in first place, Donlin-Denaburg in second, and Polley-MacDonald in third, with all three pushing through to the Last 16.

The all-German battle for the first place in Pool H was pushed to an overtime tie-breaker and resulted in an upset. 17^th-seeded Linda Bock-Louisa Lippmann celebrated a 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 16-14) victory over eighth-seeded Svenja Muller-Cinja Tillmann after both teams had already secured their advancement to the Last 16.

Puerto Rico’s Maria Gonzalez-Allanis Navas also progressed to the Last 16 as one of the four best-ranked third-placed teams after a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) shutout of Argentina’s Brenda Churin-Morena Abdala in the direct duel for the third place in the pool.

In Pool J, Dutch standouts Katja Stam-Raisa Schoon secured the second place after achieving their second win on Monday, a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) shutout of Morocco’s Mahassine Siad-Dina Mellal, who exited the competition without winning a set.

Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes-Brandie Wilkerson of Canada pocketed their third straight-victory, a hard-fought 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) over France’s Clemence Vieira-Aline Chamereau, to top the pool and book a Last 16 slot, along with Stam-Schoon. As a third-placed team, Vieira-Chamereau will play in the first elimination round against Italy’s Claudia Scampoli-Giada Bianchi from Pool A.

Fifth-seeded Tina Graudina-Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia achieved their third straight-set win to top the final standings in Pool A. On Monday, they claimed a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) victory over Scampoli-Bianchi, who finished third in the pool on a 1-2 win-loss record.

Japan’s Asami Shiba-Reika Murakami consolidated in the runner-up position on 2-1 with a 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) win over Susana Torres-Atenas Gutierrez, leaving the Mexicans bottom of the table without a set won and out of contention.

Also with three straight-set wins under their belt, 10^th-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre-Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland topped Pool K.

In the deciding match against another set of sisters, Austria’s Dorina Klinger-Ronja Klinger, Verge-Depres took a 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) victory, as both teams progressed to the Last 16.

Australia’s Elizabeth Alchin-Georgia Johnson beat Dominican Republic’s Crismil Paniagua-Julibeth Payano by 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) in the deciding match for the third place and reserved their berth in the first elimination round, where they will face another Australian team, Jasmine Fleming & Stefanie Fejes, placed third in Pool G.

The all-South-American survival match for the third place in Pool A went 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in favor of Paraguay’s Michelle Valiente-Giuliana Poletti Corrales against Peru’s Gaona Arevalo-Allcca Merino, who were eliminated from the competition without winning a set. Michelle-Corrales will next try their luck in the round of 36 against Czechia’s Kylie Neuschaeferova-Martina Maixnerova, who finished third in Pool C.

In the other first knockout round match-up, Australia’s Tara Phillips-Kayla Mears from Pool F will take on France’s Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard from Pool D.