FIVB Xiamen Four-Star
- Xiamen, China
- April 17-21, 2018
- Schedule/Results
Pool Play winners were crowned Thursday night/Friday morning in Xiamen on both the men’s and women’s side, setting up a full day of main draw action.
Winners earned a free pass to the Main Draw Second Round, earning a little bit of a break, as the second and third place finishers face off to move on to the top 16.
Victors on the men’s side hailed from seven countries with Russia earning the top spots in Pool G and H with Viacheslav Krsailnikov/Nikita Liamin and Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko.
Others winners were: No. 1 overall seed Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (Poland) and No. 2 Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands), No. 4 seed Vitor Felipe/Guto Carvalhaes (Brazil), No. 5 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins (Latvia), No. 11 Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira (Spain) and No. 30 Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson (Switzerland).
Brouwer/Meeuwsen are looking to repeat as champions, while No. 11 seed Herrera/Gavira are looking to reclaim the Xiamen crown they won in 2016. The latter squeaked past No. 6 Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs in three sets to earn the advantage of the bye.
“It’s really nice to be back in China, we won the gold medal here two years ago, so we hope to repeat this,” Gavira said. “It will be really, really difficult, but we will try. We’re in the second round now and we will fight for that, we are on the way.”
Also winning in tiebreak were Kantor/Losiak and Vitor Felipe/Guto, who each held on for victories, including two deuce sets.
Meanwhile, Heidrich/Gerson continue their Cinderella run after advancing through qualifiers and upsetting No. 3 Alexander Horst/Clemens Doppler (Austria) in the opening pool play match.
In women’s action, No. 1 seed Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes (Canada) held on for a three-set win over Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branaugh for the Pool A title, though it was a fight to the finish (21-15, 22-24, 18-16).
Germans Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, the No. 2 seed, bested countrywomen Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider in dominating fashion (21-8, 21-12) to take Pool B.
“We’re really happy, because now we just have one game today,” Sude said. “It’s always nice and a special game when you play against your own country, it’s a different pressure and today we could handle it very well. This was our goal after not so good tournament in Fort Lauderdale. We practiced hard, we had four weeks in Tenerife to come back stronger and that’s the reward let’s say.”
Third-seeded Brazilians Maria Antonelli/Carol Solberg had to rally for a three-set win to grab the top spot in Pool C.
Americans April Ross/Alix Klineman finished off Pool D with a second straight-set win, knocking off No. 4 seed Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli.
New American pair Sara Hughes/Summer Ross, the No. 5 seed, are off to a good start, taking Pool E with a pair of straight set victories.
No. 11 seeded Australian’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Taliqua Clancy pulled a slight upset, rallying for a three-set win over No. 6 Taiana Lima/Carol Horta.
No. 7 Agatha Bednzarczuk/Duda Santos Lisboa (Brazil) and No. 9 Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre (Switzerland) round out the pool winners.
Women’s Pool Play
Pool A
Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger (Germany) def. Shuting Cao/Jinjin Zeng 21-15, 19-21, 15-10
Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes (Canada) def. Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branagh (USA) 21-15, 22-24, 18-16
Pool B
Riikka Lehtonen/Niina Ahtiainen (Finland) def. Zinxin Wang/Bing Bai (China) 21-16, 21-15
Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (Germany) def. Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider (Germany) 21-8, 21-12
Pool C
Taru Lahit-Liukkonen/Annina Parkkinen (Finland) def. Laura Calouri/Dunja Gerson (Switzerland) 21-19, 21-14
Maria Antonelli/Carol Solberg (Brazil) def. Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch (Germany) 15-21, 22-20, 16-14
Pool D
Kinga Kolosinska/Kararzyna Kociolek (Poland) def. Jagoda Gruszvzynska/Aleksandra Gomadowska (Poland) 21-10, 21-6
April Ross/Alix Klineman (USA) def. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli (Switzerland) 21-16, 21-13
Pool F
Kelly Claes/Brittany Hochevar (USA) def. Ieva Dumbauskaite/Monika Povilaityte (Lithuania) 22-20, 21-12
Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (Australia) def. Taiana Lima/Carol Horta (Brazil) 18-21, 23-21, 15-10
Pool G
Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman (USA) def. Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson (Canada) 21-18, 21-13
Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda “Duda” Santos Lisboa (Brazil) def. Joy Stubbe/Marleen Ramong van Iersel (Netherlands) 21-17, 21-16
Pool H
Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia (China) def. Madelein Meppelink (Netherlands) 20-22, 23-21, 15-12
Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre (Switzerland) def. Azusa Futami/Akiko Hasegawa (Japan) 21-16, 21-15
Men’s Pool Play
Pool A
Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (Poland) def. Taylor Crabb/Jacob Gibb (USA) 22-20, 17-21, 16-14
Pool B
Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands) def. Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton (Canada) 21-19, 21-11
Pool C
Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson (Switzerland) def. Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter (Canada) 21-15, 21-17
Pool D
Vitor Felipe/Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes (Brazil) def. Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (Poland) 22-20, 18-21, 15-13
Pool E
Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins (Latvia) def. Theo Brunner/John Hyden (USA) 21-14, 21-16
Pool F
Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira (Spain) def. Martins Plavins/Edgars Toc (Latvia) 21-19, 15-21, 15-11
Pool G
Viacheslav Krsailnikov/Nikita Liamin (Russia) def. Anders Berntsen Mol/Christian Sandlie Sorum (Norway) 25-23, 21-18
Pool H
Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko (Russia) def. Ryan Doherty/William Allen (USA) 27-25, 21-12
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