Olympic Champions Lead Fort Lauderdale Draw

Three of the four Rio 2016 Olympic champions will be playing at the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour begins at the Fort Lauderdale Major Series on February 7.

Both men’s champions, Bruno Schmidt and Alison Cerutti will take to the Florida sand, however, only Kira Walkenhorst will take the court on the women’s side with Julia Grossner. Laura Ludwig, Walkenhorst’s origninal partner, is recovering from a shoulder injury and is out for the time being.

The Rio 2016 silver medalists have split, leaving Daniele Lupo with Paolo Nicolai, and Agatha Bednarczuk is now playing alongside Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa. The women’s bronze medalists, and local favorites, Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross are set to begin their forth full season together, representing the host nation’s best chances of victory.

Both on the men’s and women’s sides of the draws are full of established pairings and new partnerships.

Rio 2016 Olympians, Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera, Latvia’s Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs and USA’s Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena all begin where they left off last season. USA pair Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson will begin 2017 with new partners. Gibb will pair up with Casey Crabb, while Patterson is set to take the sand with Theodore Brunner. Poland’s long-standing duo of Grzegorz Filalek and Mariusz Prudel each bring in new partners with the new year, Michal Bryl and Kacper Kujawiak, respectively.

On the women’s side, Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes return to Fort Lauderdale looking to win again, after they took the 2015 FIVB World Tour Finals. The pair finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Games and the Toronto 2016 World Tour Finals. Australia’s Louise Bawden and Nicole Laird will begin their first season together on the tour, as will Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre, who all played with different partners in Rio.

At the Fort Lauderdale tournament, old partners will pair up again in Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel. The pair took the 2013 Corrientes Grand Slam, but parted way when van Gestel wanted to take time off. Since then, Meppelink teamed up with Marleen van Iersel, while van Gestel made her return to the beach with Jantine van der Vlist. The two rejoined forced when Meppelink and van Iersel decided to part ways.

Women’s Draw

Pos.	Country	Team Name		Player 1	Player 2	Entry Pts.	Entry Tech. Pts.	Seed Pts.	Seed Tech. Pts.
1	USA	Ross/Walsh Jennings		April Ross	Kerri Walsh Jennings	4180	5530	0	0
2	BRA	Larissa/Talita		Larissa França Maestrini	Talita Da Rocha Antunes	3860	4912	0	0
3	GER	Laboureur/Sude		Chantal Laboureur	Julia Sude	3090	5832	0	0
4	GER	Walkenhorst/Großner		Kira Walkenhorst	Julia Großner	2928	4345	0	0
5	BRA	Agatha/Duda		Agatha Bednarczuk	Eduarda Santos Lisboa	2660	3778	0	0
6	SUI	Heidrich/Vergé-Dépré A		Joana Heidrich	Anouk Vergé-Dépré	2595	4199	0	0
7	BRA	Elize Maia/Taiana Lima		Elize Secomandi Maia	Taiana Lima	2495	3868	0	0
8	SUI	Betschart/Hüberli		Nina Betschart	Tanja Hüberli	2360	3956	0	0
9	CZE	Hermannova/Slukova		Barbora Hermannová	Marketa Slukova	2350	3950	0	0
10	ARG	Gallay/Klug		Ana Gallay	Georgina Klug	2340	3934	0	0
11	CAN	Wilkerson/Bansley		Brandie Wilkerson	Heather Bansley	2308	2966	0	0
12	NED	van Gestel/Meppelink		Sophie van Gestel	Madelein Meppelink	2256	3326	0	0
13	USA	Sweat/Summer		Brooke Sweat	Summer Ross	2225	3215	0	0
14	AUS	Bawden/Laird		Louise Bawden	Nicole Laird	2050	2482	0	0
15	USA	Fendrick/Hughes		Lauren Fendrick	Sara Hughes	1830	2290	0	0
16	FIN	Lahti/Parkkinen		Taru Lahti-Liukkonen	Anniina Parkkinen	1803	3511	0	0
17	ITA	Menegatti/Perry		Marta Menegatti	Rebecca Diane Perry	1765	2510	0	0
18	CAN	Pischke/May		Taylor Pischke	Kristina May	1710	2370	0	0
19	GER	Bieneck/Schneider		Victoria Bieneck	Isabel Schneider	1672	2543	0	0
20	CZE	Kolocova/Kvapilova		Kristyna Kolocova	Michala Kvapilová	1572	2592	0	0
21	GER	Borger/Kozuch	WC	Karla Borger	Margareta Kozuch	1560	2794	0	0
22	RUS	Ukolova/Barsuk		Evgenia Ukolova	Anastasia Barsuk	1519	2329	0	0
23	AUT	Schützenhöfer/Schwaiger S.		Katharina Schützenhöfer	Stefanie Schwaiger	1501	2200	0	0
24	USA	Lane/Pollock	WC	Lane Carico	Irene Pollock	1402	1722	0	0

Men’s Draw

Pos.	Country	Team Name		Player 1	Player 2	Entry Pts.	Entry Tech. Pts.	Seed Pts.	Seed Tech. Pts.
1	LAT	Smedins/Samoilovs		Janis Smedins	Aleksandrs Samoilovs	3940	6306	0	0
2	BRA	Alison/Bruno Schmidt		Alison Cerutti	Bruno Oscar Schmidt	3780	4242	0	0
3	USA	Dalhausser/Lucena		Philip Dalhausser	Nicholas Lucena	3720	4840	0	0
4	BRA	Pedro Solberg/Guto		Pedro Solberg	Gustavo Albrecht Carvalhaes	3365	4738	0	0
5	POL	Kantor/Losiak		Piotr Kantor	Bartosz Losiak	3180	4980	0	0
6	ESP	Herrera/Gavira		Pablo Herrera Allepuz	Adrián Gavira Collado	2900	4620	0	0
7	CAN	Saxton/Schalk		Ben Saxton	Chaim Schalk	2840	4400	0	0
8	BRA	Evandro/Andre		Evandro Gonçalves Oliveira Júnior	Andre Loyola Stein	2825	3804	0	0
9	ITA	Nicolai/Lupo		Paolo Nicolai	Daniele Lupo	2740	3620	0	0
10	ITA	Ranghieri/Carambula		Alex Ranghieri	Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich	2520	4240	0	0
11	USA	Hyden/Bourne		John Hyden	Tri Bourne	2410	4380	0	0
12	USA	Gibb/Crabb Ta.		Jacob Gibb	Taylor Crabb	2346	3380	0	0
13	CAN	Pedlow/Schachter		Sam Pedlow	Sam Schachter	2315	4175	0	0
14	POL	Fijalek/Bryl		Grzegorz Fijalek	Michal Bryl	2310	4072	0	0
15	USA	Brunner/Patterson	WC	Theodore Brunner	Casey Patterson	2235	3085	0	0
16	RUS	Liamin/Krasilnikov		Nikita Liamin	Viacheslav Krasilnikov	2200	3205	0	0
17	RUS	Stoyanovskiy/Yarzutkin		Oleg Stoyanovskiy	Artem Yarzutkin	2170	3330	0	0
18	AUT	Doppler/Horst		Clemens Doppler	Alexander Horst	2160	2982	0	0
19	POL	Prudel/Kujawiak		Mariusz Prudel	Kacper Kujawiak	2142	3784	0	0
20	GER	Böckermann/Flüggen		Markus Böckermann	Lars Flüggen	2120	3211	0	0
21	LAT	Plavins/Regza		Martins Plavins	Haralds Regza	1836	3984	0	0
22	CAN	Plantinga/O’Gorman		Michael Plantinga	Grant O’Gorman	1823	3231	0	0
23	CHI	Grimalt E./Grimalt M.		Esteban Grimalt	Marco Grimalt	1790	2682	0	0
24	BRA	Harley/Ricardo	WC	Harley Marques Silva	Ricardo Alex Costa Santos	931	1166	0	0