(Photo UCI)
USA’s Malachi Brewington-Titus Lance pair swept their pool with three straight-set victories at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Puebla.
In front of a full house at center court, they took on the other unbeaten team in Pool H, Costa Rica’s Julian Araya-Esteban Flores, in a head-to-head duel for the first place in the pool and direct ticket to the quarter-finals. The Americans left no doubt over their superiority and mastered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) shutout.
They are one of the eight men’s teams, who won their pools in Puebla and secured direct passage into the second elimination round.
Mexico’s Antonio Lares-Carlos Andres Ayala, Norway’s Even Aas-Jonah Utvik, Latvia’s Gustavs Auzins-Kristians Fokerots, Iran’s Amir Ali Ghaleh Novi-Habib Naseri, Italy’s Andrea Sanguanini-Matteo Iurisci, Germany’s Tristan Frobel -Tamo Wust, Brazil’s Joao Mares-Henrique Barros and USA’s Malachi Brewington-Titus Lance jumped straight into the quarter-finals and await their next opponents among the other 16 duos that finished second or third in the final pool standings and qualified for the Last 16.
“It feels really great! Honestly, we came out here not expecting a whole lot,” said Lance. “I feel that we played really well in that game, some of the best game that we have played this week. So, we are really pumped to go forward into tomorrow in bracket. No high expectations, just keep playing our best game, playing our hardest and leaving our all out there on the court.”
“I liked the center court atmosphere a lot. The fans are amazing! They were very loud, so we had to talk extra loud, but it was awesome!” Brewington added. “Tomorrow we just come out. We’ve got nothing to lose…”
Meanwhile, the third place in that pool was contested in a hard-fought all-African duel between Mozambique’s Ednilson Tivane-Helton Guvo and Egypt’s Abdelrahman Elfeky-Marwan Takyeldeen to stay in the competition. The southern Africans persevered through the three-set battle to claim a 2-1 (26-24, 15-21, 15-11) win, push through to the last 16 leave the northern Africans out of contention.
It got even louder at center court for the next match. After a spectacular opening firework show, Mexican home favorites Antonio Lares-Carlos Andres Ayala came out in the sand to try to seal the first place in the pool with a third win.
After turning around an epic first set against Canada’s Louis Charbonneau-Henry Heider, Lares-Carlos Andres dominated the second to triumph with a 2-0 (25-23, 21-11) victory and a ticket to the quarter-finals.
The Canadians proceeded into the knockouts as the third-placed team in the pool. The second place went to the lucky losers from the qualifications Casper Willems-Alexy Humblet of Belgium, while Thailand’s Paphawin Manyahong-Wichaya Wisetkan were eliminated.
A three-set duel between two undefeated teams unfolded for the first place in Pool F. Germany’s Tristan Frobel-Tamo Wust celebrated a 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-11) win over Lebanon’s Hadi El Chabib-Jad Abi Karam to book their ticket to the quarter-finals, leaving the Lebanese pair in second place, joined by third-placed Rafael Vargas-Fernando Ponce of El Salvador into the Last 16. Winless Isaac Jimenez-Alfredo Velez of Ecuador were eliminated from further contention.
2022 U19 world champions Gustavs Auzins-Kristians Fokerots of Latvia emerged on top of the Pool C standings without dropping a single set along the way. In the day’s most interesting match of the pool, an actual decider for the runner-up spot, 2024 U19 world champions Szymon Pietraszek-Jakub Krzeminski of Poland defeated Switzerland’s Julian Friedli-Tim Pirmin Amrein by 2-0 (21-19, 21-17), as both sides advanced to the Last 16. Kazakhstan’s Klim Ryukhov-Vladislav Mastikhin failed to score a win in the pool and dropped out of further contention.
Iran’s Amir Ali Ghaleh Novi-Habib Naseri added two straight-set victories to their Pool D record and topped the standings undefeated. The second place in the pool went to Ukrainian qualifiers Dmytro Kozii-Sviatoslav Nahornyi.
After losing to the Iranians on Thursday, they also managed two straight-set wins. In what proved crucial for the second place, Kozii-Nahornyi took a 2-0 (21-19, 21-11) victory over China’s Liu Yuan-Mao Yuan. The Asian team stayed in contention by finishing third, while winless Marcos Gonzalez-Brais Del Coto of Argentina were eliminated from the tournament.
Italian qualifiers Andrea Sanguanini-Matteo Iurisci progressed to the quarter-finals as the undefeated Pool E winners.
Hungary’s Bence Tari-Akos Veress and Australia’s Finley Bennett-James Kay finished second and third in the pool after the Europeans beat the Aussies by 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) in the deciding game for the runner-up position. Morocco’s Abdellatif Ourhdach-Ilyas Karbal failed to win any matches and left the competition.
The first place in Pool G came down to the third-leg clash between unbeaten Joao Mares-Henrique Barros of Brazil and George Hargreaves- Jose Brain of Chile. In a speedy straight-setter, the Brazilians hammered out a 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) shutout. Dominican Republic’s Ramon De Jesus-Melvin De Jesus swept the deciding match for the third place against Paraguay’s Juanangel Gomez-Gaston Armadans.
Norwegian qualifiers Even Aas-Jonah Utvik swept through Pool B without dropping a set. In the very last match of the pool stage, they delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) victory over Czechia’s Vojtech Pavlusek-Vojtech Votava. The loss left the Czechs in third place, while the second went to Poland’s Szymon Beta-Artem Besarab. Namibia’s Max Krafft-Jura Kraff left the competition.
