FIVB Xiamen Four-Star
- Xiamen, China
- April 17-21, 2018
- Schedule/Results
The women’s semifinals and podium matches and men’s gold and bronze medal matches of the Xiamen Four-Star will be streamed live on the FIVB YouTube channel.
A lot is still to be decided on the women’s side and fans can watch it unfold live.
The women’s semifinals are set for Saturday night with Americans Kelly Claes/Brittany Hochevar facing Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Taliqua Clancy and top seeded Canadians Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes taking on Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk/Duda Santos Lisboa.
Claes/Hochevar are playing in their first ever tournament as a duo after splitting with partners Sara Hughes and Emily Day respectively.
Artacho del Solar/Clancy are coming off a runner-up finish at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, April 12, are looking to win their third FIVB title, following golds at the Qinzhou Three-Star in October and Sydney Two-Star in November. The pair was ninth at the Fort Lauderdale Five Star in March.
Pavan/Humana-Paredes won the Commonwealth Games title and finished fifth in Fort Lauderdale. The duo is looking for its first FIVB podium finish since taking silver at the Olsztyn Four Star in July and for its first FIVB gold since winning the Porec Five-Star title in July.
Agatha/Duda, who were the runner-up at the 2017 World Tour Finals, are looking for their first FIVB title since winning the Rio Four-Star on May 21. The pair also picked up three bronze medals in 2017, at the Olsztyn Four Star and Hague and Moscow three-star events.
Claes/Hochevar vs. Artacho del Solvar/Clancy facing off at 9:05 p.m. ET.
Agatha/Duda and Pavan/Humana-Paredes will via for a spot in the final at 10:05 p.m. ET
The losers will then play at 2:05 a.m. ET Sunday for the bronze.
The gold medal will be decided at 3:05 a.m. ET Sunday.
On the men’s side, the podium matches are set. It will be an all-Russian final with No. 7 Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin facing No. 8 Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko for the gold at 4 a.m. ET Sunday.
This is the first championship berth for Krasilnikov/Liamin since winning the Hague Three Star in June 2017. The duo also won the Kish Island Three-Star last February and finished third at the World Championships in August.
Meanwhile, it is the second straight gold medal match for Stoyanovskiy/Velichko, who were the runner-up at the Doha Four Star in March. The pair is playing in just its third FIVB tournament together, also including a ninth-place finish at the Fort Lauderdale Five Star.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s No. 10 Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt will take on the No. 1 overall seed Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak of Poland for third place at 1 a.m. ET.
Alison/Bruno are looking to get back on the podium for the first time in their last five FIVB outings. The duo won bronze at the Porec Five Star in July, but have finished ninth in their last four tournaments, including the Fort Lauderdale Five Star.
Kantor/Losiak last finished on the podium in January, earning silver at the Hague Four Star. The team was fifth at the Fort Lauderdale Five Star and Doha Four Star in March.
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