Americans Ross/Klineman, Ross/Hughes Among Moscow Final 8

FIVB Moscow Four Star

• Moscow, Russia
• Aug. 7-12, 2018
• Schedule/Results

Two American pairs are among the women’s quarterfinalists at the Moscow Four Star and they are set to play one another on Saturday for a spot in the semifinals.

No. 9 Summer Ross/Sara Hughes began their day with their final pool play match on Friday, topping Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova (21-15, 21-14) just to gain a spot in the knockout rounds. In Round 1, the pair rolled over Slovakia’s Andrea Strbova/Natalia Dubovcova (21-12, 21-12) and in Round 2 the team edged past Brazil’s Elize Maia/Maria Clara to make their way to the quarterfinals.

No. 5 April Ross/Alix Klineman had a much easier road after winning Pool E on Thursday, setting up a Round 2 matchup with Brazil’s Ana Patricia/Carol Horta, who the pair defeated 21-18, 21-18.

Rounding out the final eight are:

• No. 4 Maria Antonelli/Carol Solberg Salgado (Brazil)
• No. 13 Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli (Switzerland)
• No. 23 Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth (Italy)
• No. 2 Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa (Brazil)
• No. 3 Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (Germany)
• No. 8 Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina (Russia)

Maria Antonelli/Carol will play the Swiss pair, while the Italians will battled Agatha/Duda. The Germans and Russians will matchup in the last quarterfinal.

Four of the eight Round 2 matches went to tiebreak, with Summer/Hughes, Maria Antonelli/Carol, Menegatti/Orsi Toth and Agatha/Duda posting wins. Agatha/Duda downed Americans Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman 18-21, 21-18, 15-6, while Menegatti/Orsi Toth also posted a comeback, overcoming a 21-8 Set 1 loss to win 21-17, 15-13.

Laboureur/Sude took out top seeded Canadians Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes 21-14, 21-14 in Round 2 to claim a spot in the quarterfinals.

Larsen/Stockman were among the eight pairs that advanced to the second knockout round to play the pool winners. The duo defeated Germans Borger/Kozuch 21-17, 21-19 to move on.

Laboureur/Sude also won in Round 1, advancing in tiebreak (19-21, 21-13, 15-13). Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen/Anniina Parkkinen also won in three sets, taking Russians Mariia Bocharova/Maria Voronina 21-13, 16-21, 15-13.

Betschart/Huberli ousted Russians Ksenia Dabizha/Yulia Abalakina in straight sets (22-20, 21-11).

Team USA pair Betsi Flint/Emily Day was bested by Menegatti/Orsi Toth. 

Germany’s Bieneck/Schneider and Brazil’s Ana Patricia/Carol Horta rounded out the group of Round 1 winners.