Four of the top six seeded teams in the women`s main draw at the Joao Pessoa Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour faced unexpected defeats in their pool-winner matches on Friday. However, these leading teams demonstrated resilience, recovering later in the day with victories in the first elimination round. This ensures their continued participation and sets the stage for a series of intriguing matchups in Saturday`s round of 12.
In a notable upset during the Pool A winners match, the 12th-seeded Spanish Olympic hopefuls Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno delivered a stunning performance against the FIVB World Ranking`s number one team, Brazil`s Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes. The Spanish duo secured a decisive straight-sets victory, 2-0 (21-17, 21-17), earning them a direct pass to the round of 12. As pool runners-up, Thamela and Victoria advanced to the first knockout round, the round of 18, where they defeated Czechia’s Marketa Svozilova and Marie-Sara Stochlova 2-0 (22-20, 21-14), keeping their tournament hopes alive.
Looking ahead to Saturday`s round of 12, Thamela and Victoria are scheduled to compete against the USA’s Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft. The eighth-seeded Americans had a close 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) win over Switzerland’s fifth-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre and Zoe Verge-Depre in the Pool E final. The Swiss team, however, quickly regrouped, securing a 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) victory against another American team, Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg, in the first elimination round. Anouk and Zoe are now poised to challenge Latvia’s third-seeded Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova in the next playoff round. The Latvian pair was one of only two top-seeded teams to successfully dominate their pools, achieving a 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) sweep against Brazil’s Vitoria Rodrigues and Hegeile Almeida in the Pool C final. Rodrigues and Almeida were subsequently eliminated in the first knockout round, losing 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) to the 18th-seeded Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte. Paulikiene and Raupelyte will face another Brazilian challenge on Saturday, as they are set to play against the world’s second-ranked team, Carol Solberg and Rebecca Cavalcanti. Solberg and Cavalcanti, seeded 11th in Joao Pessoa, convincingly won their Pool B final 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) against the second-seeded American Olympians Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher. The American duo then secured their spot in the next stage by defeating fellow Americans Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) in the round of 18.
In another exciting matchup for the round of 12, Nuss and Brasher will contend with Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada. The sixth-seeded Canadians clinched Pool F by defeating Brazil’s seventh-seeded Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima 2-0 (21-16, 21-16). Talita and Taiana Lima then advanced to face USA’s ninth-seeded Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw, following their 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) victory over French Olympians Clemence Vieira and Aline Chamereau. Reigning world champion Cheng and her partner Shaw caused a significant upset in their pool final by defeating the reigning Olympic champions, Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda), who were seeded fourth in Joao Pessoa. In the only pool final that extended to three sets, the American pair triumphed with a hard-fought 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-13) comeback. Ana Patricia and Duda recovered impressively, winning their first knockout match 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) against American qualifiers Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, setting up their round-of-12 clash against Spain’s Dani and Tania.
Saturday`s women`s competition in Joao Pessoa will commence at 12:00 local time (15:00 UTC) and will feature both the round of 12 and the quarterfinals.
Oliver Wrenwick