Never done this before, a beach volleyball preview. Let’s see how it goes.
The first thing to note is who are here and who aren’t. On the men’s side, we still will not see the likely two best teams in the world go head-to-head, nor participate in the same event. While Brazil’s Alison & Emanuel will make their 2013 World Tour debuts in Argentina, Fuzhou Open champions Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal of the USA are sitting this event out because Dalhausser’s wife Jennifer is due to give birth to their son any day now. Family always comes first. Their withdrawal affords a place in the qualifier to Stafford Slick and Casey Jennings (if Phil and ‘Rosie’ played, it would have put the USA over the limit of 4 teams per nation, and Slick/Jennings would have been the odd boys out). That same opportunity now goes by the wayside for Brazil’s Evandro and Vitor Felipe, who effectively took Alison and Emanuel’s place in the two China tourneys.
On the women’s side, the American entries are somewhat fascinating. They’ve got 5 teams registered, but the fifth on points is the team of Whitney Pavlik and Jenny Kropp, a team better known for their performances on the American circuit. They’re also a team that suddenly and, by the looks of it, at least slightly acrimoniously, split in the time since the Shanghai Grand Slam. So their being fifth doesn’t really matter. Nicole Branagh is not present at this tournament, and being that she has more FIVB points herself than some of the lower-ranked teams do together, you have to figure that’s a decision she made rather than being left odd-woman-out. After the obvious Kessy/Ross, it’s Fendrick/Hochevar, Fopma/Sweat, and Day/S. Ross, the latter two of whom will likely have to play the qualifier. Corrientes is also the first major beach tournament for one Sarah Pavan. Once the captain of the Canadian women’s indoor team, she’s taking it to the beach now in the hopes of making the 2016 Olympics (she probably has better odds that way). She joins forces with Heather Bansley, and Elizabeth Maloney is not present. The Brazilians have five teams registered, and the one that will be left out have got more points than a great deal of teams from other nations in the qualifier — probably even a few in the main draw. The Americans aren’t the only ones playing musical partners, as Italy’s Greta Cicolari will take to the sand this week with Viktoria Orsi Toth, a player with whom I must admit I’m not the least bit familiar. Cicolari’s regular partner Marta Menegatti is on the start list for the Hague event in a few weeks, so it must just be a scheduling conflict.
There aren’t any especially noteworthy teams ticketed to the qualifier on either side. Nothing like Shanghai where Todd Rogers and Ryan Doherty wound up there. The biggest names in the qualifier on the men’s side are probably the top two Austrian teams, Doppler/Horst and Huber/Seidl, which both have FIVB hardware to their respective credits. For the women, Shanghai bronze medallists Maria Clara and Carolina from Brazil appear to be bound for the qualifier again, though they’ve actually got more points than Shanghai silver medallists Schwaiger/Schwaiger. I don’t know. It strictly speaking is predictable, but you’d need a law degree to wade through the language regulating it.
Same goes for pool composition, though that of course also depends at least a little bit on exactly whom emerge from the qualifier. I’ll be expecting a strong showing from Alison and Emanuel, but, honestly, it being their first tournament of the year and with Alison coming off a hand injury, I won’t be floored if they fall short. Still somewhat conspicuous by her absence is their compatriot Juliana, though she is registered for the Hague Grand Slam next month, in the partnership that was reported in the offseason (Juliana/Maria). It will again be Agatha/Maria for Corrientes.
If not Alison/Emanuel on the men’s side, there’s a good chance it will be the Americans with a third straight gold. But if it’s not them either, another possibly unexpected nation to keep your eye on is Germany. Sebastian Fuchs looks to be settling in with Julius Brink, Markus Böckermann and Mischa Urbatzka were actually the team who knocked Doherty/Rogers out of the Shanghai qualifier, and then there’s a team I’ve written almost nothing about but realistically do bear mention. Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif have been teaming together since 2008 (the beginning of Windscheif’s career) and regularly since 2010, and have to their credit an FIVB bronze from back in 2008 (the first FIVB tournament of Windscheif’s career). They took a few scalps in Fuzhou en route to fifth (losing to eventual bronze medallsits Ricardo/Alvaro) and were ninth in Shanghai (losing to eventual champions Gibb/Patterson). This is a team that seems poised for a breakout. Dollinger being 29 and Windscheif 25 doesn’t really hurt that either. I look for a strong showing from them.
Six of the seven teams who played on Sunday (the Dutch team of Meppelink/Van Gestel repeated as 4th place finishers….that’s gotta suck) on the women’s side in China are again on hand in Corrientes. The ones not present are Fuzhou champions Xue and Zhang — there are no Chinese teams in the event on either side. I’m hoping for a bounce-back from Jen Kessy and April Ross. They’re quite a likeable team, and I’d like to see them playing on the tournament’s final day once more. I’ve rebuffed the notion that Kessy is, in one manner or another, finished, but a third straight early exit would make that talk a little harder to diminish.
One last team that catch my eye as I browse the starting list is a Paraguayan tandem, Patricia Carolina Caballero Peña and Michelle Sharon Valiente Amarilla. The tandem name is apparently Pati/Michelle (saves syllables and keystrokes, certainly). I’m sure they’re here under some special exemption with the South American federation, though there are a few teams that have fewer points than they do. The remarkable thing about this team is that Michelle is just 15 years old — and newly 15 at that, if the FIVB website can be trusted. I’ve never heard of someone so young playing a fully professional, senior event before. Nina Betschart played the FIVB Bangsaen last year as a 17 year old (she actually celebrated her birthday during the tournament), and even that made my eyes go wide. The team don’t figure to be too likely to make it through the qualifier, so I’ll be on the lookout for them while it’s ongoing.
Put up or shut up time? How about I make four picks (same as the number of semifinalists) on each side in descending order of confidence….
Men
1. Alison/Emanuel
2. Gibb/Patterson
3. Ricardo/Alvaro
4. Brink/Fuchs
I’m gonna hold off on picking Nicolai/Lupo until I see Lupo serving like a sane person again.
Women
1. Talita/Taiana
2. Meppelink/Van Gestel
3. Holtwick/Semmler
4. Kessy/Ross
The women’s side seems a bit more wide open, as it probably will be all season.
Now the fun part — getting to see how spectacularly wrong I was 😀 Can’t wait.
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