Twelve of Top 13 Seeds Win Opening Pool Play Matches at #FTLMajor

  0 Wendy Mayer | February 28th, 2018 | FIVB Majors Series, FIVB World Tour, News, Pro Beach

FORT LAUDERDALE MAJOR

On the men’s side, teams played through the first two matches of pool play in each of eight groups. The third match, between the two victors, will be played on Thursday.

Highlighting the slate will be a matchup between Olympic gold medalists Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt of Brazil and bronze medalists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen. This marks the first meeting between the two teams since the pairs met in the semifinals on August 16, 2016,  in Rio.

Two other Brazilian sides also are in the mix for pool crowns: No. 2 seed Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola Stein and No. 9 seed Pedro Solberg Salgado/George Wanderley.

Also up for a free pass to the second round are two American duos: No. 1 seed Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena and No. 18 Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb.

Only one of the top 13 seeds lost in the first round: No. 10 seed Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes/Vitor Felipe of Brazil, who fell 21-17, 21-17 to No. 23 Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko of Russia in Pool G.

Five of the 16 pool play matches went the distance, with No. 4 seed Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin of Russia being the highest seed to do so. No. 6 Alison/Bruno, No. 7 Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria, No. 17 seeded Canadians Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton and Americans Crabb/Gibb also won in three sets. 

Crabb/Gibb overcame a 21-19 first set loss to Germany’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom Van Walle, the No. 15 seed, for the victory.  The other four teams to win in three won their opening stanza.

American duos No. 20 John Hyden/Theo Brunner and No. 28 Stafford Slick/Casey Patterson lost their opening round pool play matches.

 

Men’s Pool Play

Pool A

Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton (Canada) def. Sam Schachter/Sam Pedlow (Canada) 21-19, 20-22, 15-13

Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (USA) def. Mathias Berntsen/Hendrick Mol (Norway) 21-15, 21-11

 

Pool B

Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb (USA) def. Dries Koekelkoren/Tom Van Walle (Germany) 19-21, 21-11, 15-11

Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola Stein (Brazil) def. Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (Czech Republic) 21-17, 21-17

 

Pool C

Bartosz Losiak/Piotr Kantor (Poland) def. Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt (Chile) 21-11, 21-15

Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (Norway) def. Juan Virgen/Lombardo Ontiveros (Mexico) 21-12, 21-12

 

Pool D

Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira (Spain) def. John Hyden/Theo Brunner (USA) 21-15, 21-16

Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin (Russia) def. Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz (Austria) 21-14, 17-21, 15-12

 

Pool E

Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins (Latvia) def. Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (Poland) 21-14, 21-13

Paolo Nicolai /Daniele Lupo (Italy) def. Stafford Slick/Casey Patterson (USA) 21-16, 21-17

 

Pool F

Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt (Brazil) def. Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger (Switzerland) 21-18, 16-21, 15-10

Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands) def. Maxim Sivolap/Artem Yarzutkin (Russia) 21-14, 21-14

 

Pool G

Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst (Austria) def. Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann (Australia) 21-19, 18-21, 15-9

Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko (Russia) def. Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes/Vitor Goncalves Felipe (Brazil) 21-17, 21-17

 

Pool H

Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs (Latvia) def. Christiaan Varenhorst/Jasper Bouter (Netherlands) 21-19, 21-18

Pedro Solberg Salgado/George Wanderley (Brazil) def. Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati (Italy) 23-21, 23-21

 

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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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