FIVB Tokyo Three Star
- Tokyo, Japan
- July 25-29, 2018
- Schedule/Results
It was a busy day for the women’s field in Tokyo on Friday with pool winners being crowned and the first knockout round taking place.
At day’s end, 16 teams are left standing, the eight pool winners and the eight Round 1 winners.
The pool winners include:
- Pool A: Jagoda Gruszczynska/Aleksandra Gromadowska (Poland)
- Pool B: Riikka Lehtonen/Niina Ahtiainen (Finland)
- Pool C: Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia (China)
- Pool D: Teresa Mersmann/Cinja Tillmann (Germany)
- Pool E: Betsi Flint/Emily Day (USA)
- Pool F: Taru Lahti-Liukkonen/Anniina Parkkinen (Finland)
- Pool G: Alexandra Jupiter/Aline Chamereau (France)
- Pool H: Nicole McNamara/Megan McNamara
Flint/Day outlasted Spain’s Angela Lobato/Amaranta Navarro (21-15, 16-21, 17-15). Five of the eight pool title matches went to tiebreak with Mersmann/Tillmann and the McNamaras rallying after dropping their opening stanzas. The Germans outlasted Americans Lauren Fendrick/Sarah Sponcil. Gruszczynska/Gromadowska and Wang/Xia hung on for victories.
Americans Irene Pollock/Amanda Dowdy fell in straight sets to Jupiter/Chamereau (21-17, 21-15) in the pool G final, and were knocked out of the competition in Round 1 in a tiebreak match against Japan’s Chiyo Suzuki/Reika Murakami (21-17, 15-21, 15-13).
Fendrick/Sponcil were set to face countrywomen McKenna Thibodeau/Madison Witt before the latter pulled out due to injury.
Moving on alongside Suzuki/Murakami and Fendrick/Sponcil through the knockouts were:
- Megumi Murakami/Miki Ishii (Japan)
- Azusa Futami/Akiko Hasegawa (Japan)
- Yui Nagata/Minori Kumada (Japan)
- Rumpaipruet Numwong/Khanittha Kongpak (Thailand)
- Angela Lobato/Amaranta Navarro (Spain)
- Ingrid Lunde/Oda Johanne Ulveseth (Norway)
Women’s Round 2 action is slated to begin at 9 p.m. ET with Flint/Day facing off against Fendrick/Sponcil for a spot in the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, the field was cut from 24 to eight as both knockout rounds were played. The quarterfinals are set to begin at 10:40 p.m. ET.
Americans Casey Patterson/Stafford Slick, who were among the teams still standing at the end of the day, after winning just one match by way of winning the Pool D title on Thursday. The pair will play at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Five of the eight pool title winners advanced to the quarterfinals, including the duo from the United States. Others moving on with Round 2 wins were:
- Ahmed Tijan/Cherif Younousse (Qatar)
- Lazar Kolaric/Stefan Basta (Serbia)
- Philipp Arne Bergmann/Yannick Harms (Germany)
- Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt (Chile)
Joining the group were Robin Seidl/Philipp Waller (Austria), Gao Peng/Li Yang (China) and Max Betzien/Jonathan Erdmann (Germany). Four of the eight Round of 16 matches went to tiebreak with Ahmed Tejan/Cherif, Grimalt/Grimalt, Bergmann/Harms and Betzien/Erdmann outlasting their foes.
It was the second three-setter of the day for Seidl/Waller, Gao/Li and Betzien/Erdmann, who all held on in the first elimination round, which saw all but one match go the distance. Only Estonia’s Kusti Nolvak/Mart Tissaar got through with a sweep, before later falling to the Grimalts.
Americans Chase Budinger/Sean Rosenthal fell to Seidl/Waller after winning the opening set 21-18. Bill Kolinske/Miles Evans rallied to take Set 2 against Swiss pair Michiel Zandbergen/Gabriel Kissling, but lost in tiebreak (21-18, 15-21, 15-12) to exit the competition.
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