Three American Pairs, Three Brazilians Set for Xiamen Round of 16

  0 Wendy Mayer | April 20th, 2018 | FIVB World Tour, News, Pro Beach

FIVB Xiamen Four-Star

Three teams will represent the United States in the Round of 16 at the Xiamen Four Star on Saturday as No. 5 seed Sara Hughes/Summer Ross and No. 17 Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branaugh advanced through Friday’s first round. Walsh Jennings/Branaugh made quick work of countrywomen Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman, knocking them out of the competition, while Hughes/Ross had to put in extra work to snag a 21-17, 18-21, 32-20 win over No. 4 seed Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli of Switzerland.

The duos join No. 13 Alix Klineman/April Ross, who earned a bye into the second round via a pool play title.

Also advancing to the second round were duos from the China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia. Besides Claes/Hochevar, three other matches went to tiebreak with China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia besting sixth-seeded Brazilians Taiana Lima/Carol Horta after falling 21-18 in the opening stanza. Czech pair Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova and Germans Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger also survived three-set affairs.

Ten of the Top 15 women’s seeds will be playing in the Round of 16. No. 22 Claes/Hochevar are the highest seed remaining.

On the men’s side, just No. 16 Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb remain for the Americans, as the pair won in straight sets over Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle (Belgium) to move on in first round action.

The Brazilians will have three teams in action in the Round of 16 as No. 4 Vitor Felipe/Guto Carvalhaes won their pool on Thursday and No. 10 Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt and No. 17 Alvaro Filho/Saymon Barbosa Santos joined them with Round 1 victories. Alvaro/Saymon overcame a 21-19 first set loss with a 28-26 extra-point victory in Set 2 before closing out the comeback effort.

Vitor Felipe/Guto will take on Alison/Bruno in the Round of 16.

No. 29 Czech duo Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner also made it through a three-set affair to advance, besting No. 15 Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton (Canada).

 

Interestingly, at No. 29, Perusic/Schweiner are not the highest seed remaining in the competition. That honor belongs to qualifiers Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson of Switzerland, who check in at No. 30. Eleven of the Top 15 teams will be playing in the Round of 16.

Main Draw Round 2 action is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET Friday.

 

Women’s Round 1

Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branagh (USA) def. Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman (USA) 21-15, 21-17

Kelly Claes/Brittany Hochevar (USA) def. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli (Switzerland) 21-17, 18-21, 32-30

Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger (Germany) def. Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch (Germany) 21-18, 19-21, 15-13

Taru Lahti-Liukkonen/Annina Parkkinen (Finland) def. Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider (Germany) 21-18, 21-11

Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova (Czech Republic) def. Kinga Kolosinska/Kararzyna Kociolek (Poland) 21-18, 17-21, 15-12

Joy Stubbe/Marleen Ramong van Iersel (Netherlands) def. Riikka Lehtonen/Niina Ahtiainen (Finland) 22-20, 23-21

Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina (Russia) def. Azusa Futami/Akiko Hasegawa (Japan) 21-13, 21-16

Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia (China) def. Taiana Lima/Carol Horta (Brazil) 18-21, 21-18, 15-13

 

Men’s Round 1

Taylor Crabb/Jacob Gibb (USA) def. Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle (Belgium) 21-18, 21-12

Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (Czech Republic) def. Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton (Canada) 21-18, 14-21, 15-13

Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (Poland) def. Christiaan Varenhorst/Jasper Bouter (Netherlands) 21-17, 21-18

Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter (Canada) def. Mariusz Prudel/Jakub Szalankiewicz (Poland) 21-16, 24-22

Alexander Horst/Clemens Doppler (Austria) def. Ryan Doherty/William Allen (USA) 21-16, 21-16

Anders Berntsen Mol/Christian Sandlie Sorum (Norway) def. Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan (Qatar) 21-14, 21-10

Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt (Brazil) def. Theo Brunner/John Hyden (USA) 23-21, 21-17

Alvaro Filho/Saymon Barbosa (Brazil) def. Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs (Latvia) 19-21, 28-26, 15-9

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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