Two of Top 10 Seeds Out After Women’s Pool Play in Vienna

  0 Wendy Mayer | August 01st, 2018 | FIVB Majors Series, FIVB World Tour, News, Pro Beach

A1 Vienna Beach Major

The women played two rounds of modified pool play with 24 teams moving on to the first knockout round on Thursday. Eight pool winners were crowned, each earning a bye to elimination Round 2.

After pool play, No. 2 seed Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson of Canada and No. 8 Katharina Schutzenhofer/Lena Plesiutschnig of Austria are out of the competition after going 0-2 in their respective pools. Neither team won a single set in pool play before making their tournament exits. It was just the second time in 18 World Tour events that the Canadians failed to register a single win.

The eight pool title winners were:

  • Pool A: Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (Netherlands)
  • Pool B: Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toh (Italy)
  • Pool C: Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (Brazil)
  • Pool D: Kelly Claes/Brittany Hochevar (USA)
  • Pool E: Lauren Fendrick/Sarah Sponcil (USA)
  • Pool F: Kinga Kolosinska/Katarzyna Kociolek (Poland)
  • Pool G: Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado (Brazil)
  • Pool H: Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho del Solar (Australia)

No. 17 Keizer/Meppelink pulled off the upset of the tournament so far, downing No. 1 overall seed Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada 24-22, 21-14 to claim the Pool A title at 2-0.

Keizer/Meppelink, No. 31 seed Menegatti/Orsi Toth and Agatha/Duda pool play winners each went 2-0 in sweeps. The remainder of the pool winners went to tiebreak at least once.

No. 13 Claes/Hochevar went three sets in both of their Pool D wins, first rallying past Czech duo Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova (19-21, 21-14, 15-13) and then hanging on for a tiebreak win over Brazil’s Barbara Seixas de Freitas/Fernanda Alves (21-18, 21-23, 15-13).

Qualifiers Fendrick/Sponcil played a three setter in Pool E finale against Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger/Kim Behrens 21-23, 23-21, 16-14.

No. 10 Maria Antonelli/Carol went the distance twice en route to the Pool G crown, besting Riikka Lehtonen/Niina Ahtiainen (21-16, 18-21, 15-13) and rallying past Czech pair Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova (19-21, 21-16, 15-11). 

No. 9 Artacho del Solar/Clancy also had to play through two three-setters to take Pool H and earn a pass to the second elimination round. The Aussies defeated Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen/Anniina Parkkinen and Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka/Tina Graudina.

Sixth-seeded Americans Alix Klineman/April Ross won their tournament opener over Canada’s Taylor Pischke/Jamie Lynn Broder (19-21, 21-12, 15-8) before being edged by Kolosinska/Kociolek (21-17, 15-21, 15-12) in the Pool F title match.

No. 17 Americans Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman went 1-1 in Pool A play, falling to Meppelink/Keizer, but rebounding with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Austria’s Nadine Strauss/Franziska Friedl.

No. 14 Sara Hughes/Summer Ross also will be playing in Knockout Round 1 after finishing second in Pool C, topping Dutch pair Joy Stubbe/Marleen Van Iersel before falling to Agatha/Duda.

With the Round 1 matches set, if Larsen/Stockman advance against Swiss duo Tanja Huberli/Nina Betschart, they will face countrywomen Claes/Hochevar on Friday. If Klineman/Ross top Lahti/Parkkinen, they will take on Fendrick/Sponcil. Hughes/Ross would play Menegati/Orsi Toth with a Round 1 victory.

Vienna Wednesday Women

Leave a Reply

avatar

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.

Read More »

Don't want to miss anything?

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our latest updates!