Today was moving day in a big way at Long Beach. We were already down 16 women's teams left in the tournament after the ladies had two rounds of play on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Today we narrow the women's field down to the semifinalists, with the second knockout round and the quarterfinals being played today. I imagine the schedule is so bunched together in order to accommodate the phony-baloney "World Series Cup" going on this weekend. Whatever gets people out there. The men also have a busy day, playing their last pool play matches and the first knockout round in advance of an even busier day tomorrow.
And so much for the tournament being in my time zone being a helpful convenience, because I missed the first four slates of matches, which as it happens were the last men's pool play matches. And my reason? Uh….oversleeping. Luckily, though, the day was far from over as I joined (and if I had to miss matches, pool play matches aren't the worst to miss). My day of viewing began with women's action, and a team of home favourites.
April Ross/Jennifer Kessy (USA) vs. Agatha Bednarczuk/Maria Antonelli (BRA)
I wasn't expecting much of this match. I've been one of Jen Kessy's loudest supporters amid talk that her best days are behind her (which, in an objective sense, is probably true and something Jen herself might even say), but I didn't think she looked very good this week. Could be she wasn't completely over what ailed her, understandably wanting to play this event in particular rather than resting and waiting up for another. But a step behind is still a step behind. April's kind of in a less-than-envious place, from a competitive standpoint, being between the winding-down Jen and the not-quite-entirely-back Kerri.
The teams traded sideouts for a brief stretch at the outset of the match. The Americans had a shot to score on serve at 2-all, a pretty long rally, but Jen's pokie got dug and then Maria found the sand for the kill. Maria scored again, with a nice cut shot, to make it 4-2 Brazil, for the first service point. Jen sided back out to make it 4-3 at the side change. She missed her serve there, and then Maria's serve on 5-3 was just barely legally returned. Agatha made exquisite use of the free ball, getting the kill for 6-3, and then April hit wide to make it 7-3. That margin held to 9-5 at the second side change. The Americans seemed to execute their offence a tad better when going over on 2. Don't now if it just surprised the Brazilians, or what, but both Jen and April got kills on 2 that had no chance of being dug. That said, it only seemed to work that way when they were going for sideout rather than service point. The score was 12-9, with the Americans on serve, at the technical timeout.
The first rally after the technical was the longest of the match to that point, ending with a kill for Jen off the pokie. It was the first time the Americans had scored on serve in the match. After a few sideouts were exchanged again, April got the next service point with a very indoor-esque slide hit, to make the score 14-13. Maria managed to get the Brazilians the sideout and keep the match from coming even at the fourth side change. At 17-15, Agatha got the block against Kessy for the crucial next service point and re-establish the three-point lead for Brazil late on in the set. The Americans called time there, but it didn't help in stopping the set from slipping away from them. The Brazilians reached set point on 20-15 and finished it right there for a 21-15 first set win.
Set 2 began with sideout after sideout, for a bit longer than happened in the first. April broke the string with a service ace to make it 6-4. Her next serve resulted in a wide hit from Maria, and the serve after that was another ace. Suddenly doubled up on 8-4, Agatha and Maria called time. On 9-5, Kessy got the great big block against Maria to go up five. April made it six on 11-5 with her swing on the next rally, and then a few moments later Jen got the soft-block to make it seven on 13-6, as it started to look pretty assured that we'd need a decider in this one. Another block for Jen made it 14-6, and the Americans reached the technical timeout with a downright silly 15-6 lead.
Another ace for April made it 16-6, and the set was all but iced. Maria pulled back a point with a service ace, and then the Brazilian side won a long rally on 18-9 to at least ensure that they'd reach double digits, but they had way too far to go and way not enough time to get there. The Americans reached set point on 20-12 and finished it on reception for a 21-13 final.
The decider again began with a feeling-out process, of sideout for sideout. Five of them presaged the first side change at 3-2, before Agatha nailed her serve for an ace to give the Brazilians the first substantive lead of the set. It was 6-4 at the second side change, where the Brazilians claimed another service winner to go up three. At 8-5, Jen made a setting mistake, leaving April to hit from way wide of the antenna. She managed to get the ball over, but couldn't put anything behind it, and the Brazilians dug easily. Despite basically having a free ball, Maria hit long anyway. On her serve at 9-7, Jen got a trickler over the tape and down. Of interest was the fact that April was blocking while Jen was serving. After a couple of sideouts, an ace for April made it 10-all, and the Brazilians called time.
After the timeout, yet another April Ross ace made it 11-10 USA. Then Maria hit wide to make it 12-10, but the Brazilians did well to compose themselves and drew even at 12-all. Agatha got the block to re-establish their lead on 13-12, and it got very exciting on centre court. Jen sided out to draw the Americans level at 13, and we raced to 2. Maria sided out to give Brazil the first match point, but she had to sit and think about it for a moment as the Americans called time. After the respite, she netted her serve. Agatha found the sand to make it 15-14 and give the Brazilians their second match point. Second time was the charm, as Jen's hit to the corner landed just wide, advancing the Brazilians to the quarterfinals.
And really, that's the result I expected, but the match was a lot better than I thought it would be. Kudos to Jen for playing her best volleyball of the week against her best opponent of the week, and a bit of a pity that she and April won't be playing on this week. Long Beach probably isn't curtains for the Ross/Kessy partnership — they're on the starting list for Berlin in early August — but no matter what, there aren't too many competition dates remaining for this tandem. I'd love to see them get one more medal before they part ways, but this week was probably their best chance at that, what with the split fields with the Anapa Open (about which I'll probably toss up a quick-set after it ends, as the extent of my coverage). In any case, I hope I get to see them play together again.
Summer Ross/Emily Day (USA) vs. Liliana Fernández Steiner/Elsa Baquerizo McMillan (ESP)
Day and Ross have, in contrast to the last American duo, been looking stronger and stronger every week. I'm thrilled for Ross that she looks to have a stable, recurrent partner with whom she's starting to get good results. Her past partnership history has been slightly ridiculous. I figured they had a good chance in this match against Lili and Elsa, who weren't so great in pool play.
The teams traded points for an extended stretch to begin this match. It wasn't all sideout after sideout — Ross got a kill on her own serve to open up the match after all — but the first two-point lead wasn't until 8-6. That point was Day's, as she found the sand to put the Americans on top. A hitting error from Elsa Baquerizo put the Americans up three on 9-6, and the Spaniards called time. The first rally back was a long one, ending with a failure on the Spanish side to legally return the ball. You could hardly blame the arms or legs for having a bit of a lactic acid buildup, as they both had to venture very wide of the playing area to retrieve bad passes, but it was still an anti-climactic ending to an otherwise sterling rally. Then on 10-6, Ross scored an ace right between the receivers, to make it 11-6. She added another service winner (dig off the Spanish hit and kill in transition) to make it 12-6, and it was 13-8 at the technical timeout.
Lili and Elsa started their comeback there, getting three on the bump in advance of the Americans' timeout. Liliana added another service winner on 14-12 to draw the Spaniards back within a single point. 14-13 was a terrific rally, with a number of digs on each side, and some more venturing from Elsa Baquerizo to keep a ball alive. The point eventually went to Day with the right-side kill for sideout. The chain appeared to snap for the Spaniards on reception at 17-15. First, a weak and easily-dug hit led to a kill for Ross, and then Elsa hit wide on 19-15 to put the Americans up four. The Spanish team then ran back to 19-18 on the strenght of some good serving from Elsa, getting the Americans out of system and leading to hitting errors. Day got the sideout for 20-18, and then on set point her hit had a bit of a fortunate roll, riding the net for a moment and then landing just in on the right sideline. That made for a 21-18 final.
Set 2 was a bit streaky. The Americans first took control shortly after the first side change. They had the slight 6-4 lead at that time, and a couple of strong serves from Ross, the second an ace, led to an 8-4 lead and timeout for Spain. The lead extended to 9-4 before the Spaniards went on a counter-run of their own, closing to 9-7 before Ross got the eventual sideout back for the American side. They built back a four-point lead before Elsa found the sand to bring us to the technical timeout on 12-9.
The Spanish girls peeled back another service point on 13-10 to make it within two, but then gave it right back with a long hit on reception at 14-11. From there, it went sideout after sideout to Day's serve on 18-15, getting a let-serve in for an ace. On 19-15, Liliana hit just long and wide toward the right corner to set up match point. The Spaniards had a miscommunication on their offensive set at 20-15, and Elsa had to send over a roll shot. Ross had no trouble digging this and getting the terminating hit to end the match.
Ryan Doherty/Todd Rogers (USA) vs. Stafford Slick/Casey Jennings (USA)
It was time for an all-American battle on centre court. It's kind of crazy how small Stafford Slick looked at the net clashing with Avatar himself across the net. Slick is 6-foot-8, but next to Doherty he looked like a little kid,
Rogers started the match off with three on serve, as Slick and Jennings had some passing problems in the early going. Doherty loomed large figuratively (it should go without saying that he did literally) from 5-2, getting a trio of stuff blocks to put his side out ahead by six. On 8-2, Jennings hit through the block but had it land wide. He was finally able to sideout off the block and out for 9-3, but then a point apiece from Doherty and Rogers made it a laughable 11-3 at the second side change. On 11-4, the 'big man' Slick finally came up with his first net point of the match, getting the rejection against Doherty. It was mostly point for point from there to the technical timeout at 14-7.
Avatar and the Olympian looked to be going at about 80% speed as the set wore on, which makes perfect sense. Why go for broke when you're already up huge and still have a set left to play? Even so, they extended their lead to a maximum of nine, first at 17-8. Doherty/Rogers reached set point on 20-11 and finished it off on the second reception attempt for a 21-13 final.
Slick and Jennings took the first true lead of set 2, a cross-court kill for Jennings getting them to 5-3. 6-4 was a fun rally, with the ball pinballing a little between the two teammates on both sides at one time or another. It ended with a nifty kill for Doherty on 2 following Rogers' dig/set. On 7-5, Doherty extended his arms to get to a serve that was meant for Rogers, but that caused a bad pass. Rogers tracked it down and Doherty got a roll shot over to the other side — that very nearly fell in. Slick just did dig it, but Jennings wasn't able to set him, and then as Slick tried to send over a free ball he was whistled for a carry. He didn't much care for the call, but of course it stood. On 7-6, the team in red (that's Doherty/Rogers) made it back even with another kill on 2 by the big man. The team in blue got the lead back and had the old "one and a half" point lead at the technical, up 11-10 with reception coming up afterward.
The first rally after the technical timeout was really long, going to Doherty/Rogers on serve to knot the set. It's gotta be something of a buzzkill to take a long, hard-fought rally, and then immediately miss your next serve, which is what happened here. You spend the better part of a minute gaining a point, and then gift-wrap the return point to your opponents. Doherty gave his side the lead on 13-12, again going over on 2 after a dig from Rogers was also a perfectly acceptable set for the hit. They had to scramble a little on the 13-12 rally, but Rogers' eventual angle shot fell in just on the right side of the line for a 14-12 lead. Slick and Jennings came even again on 16-all when Rogers was whistled for a setting fault. Todd Rogers is not a player who hesitates to speak his mind when he disagrees with something, but he was quiet here. On 17-16, a terrific dig from Jennings led a kill for Slick, a play the other team had run about 6 or 7 times in the match. Doherty/Rogers called time down 18-16.
Rogers got the sideout at 18-17 for the side change, and then the big man snuck in a roll shot for the kill on 2 to make it 18-all. Had a connection bobble, and next I knew Slick and Jennings had set point on 20-18. Jennings served long, but on the second set point Slick terminated off the block and out, to set up the decider.
Doherty/Rogers claimed the service point in set 3, a long 2-all rally that allowed them to serve with the lead. At 4-3, Doherty added a kill on serve that put them ahead by two for the first time. The teams kept trading points 1-for-1 until the former baseball pitcher found the sand on serve once again, going ahead 9-6 at the third side change. 9-6 was a long rally, ending with a kill for Jennings. Doherty and Rogers said the ball was out, and asked the up official to climb down and look at the mark in the sand, but he stayed in his perch and directed them to get to playing positions. Slick/Jennings took one back just before the fourth side change, closing to within 11-9 on reception there. My stream went dead as Rogers went back to serve leading 12-10, but I didn't miss anything too dramatic. Doherty and Rogers held on for a 15-12 final.
Lauren Fendrick/Brittany Hochevar (USA) vs. Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler (GER)
This was a quarterfinal match, the second to be held on centre court (the first bizarrely had no on-screen scoreboard, made it hard to follow along). This one had NBC Sports Network's on-screen graphics, which was nifty.
The Germans jumped out ahead 5-2 at the first side change (which was actually right about when I got the stream to work). Hochevar got the sideout on 5-3 and then her partner added a service ace to make it a one-point set. Hochevar got an ace of her own a little later to tie the match at 6-all. Semmler got the kill on the pokie at 7-6 to go up two at the second change. She added a cut shot for a kill on the first rally after the switch, making it a three-point lead. That held to the technical timeout on 12-9, despite Hochevar's best efforts to run and stretch out for digs about 20 feet away from each other in a matter of seconds.
On 12-10, after the Americans sided out, Semmler tried for a roll shot but put too little on it, and the ball failed to clear the net. The Germans then added three straight, the last on an error by Hochevar, to give them their biggest lead of the match at 15-11. Fendrick got the sideout with a nice block on the first rally back, and then added an ace to bring us to the side change on 15-13, but the chain snapped there, and the Germans got back out to a 5-point lead right away at 18-13. They reached set point at 20-15, and Holtwick put it away on reception with a tip shot over the block.
The Germans had another fast start in set 2, claiming six of the first seven. Semmler's vertical smash and Holtwick's little bump-over on 2 establishing the huge lead at the first side change. Only a service error, after a de-facto timeout when Fendrick took her dear sweet time cleaning off her sunglasses, got the Americans their sideout. Then from 6-2, the German roll continued, as they ran out to a whopping 10-2 prior to the American sideout. They added one more on serve to make it 10-4 at the second side change, but that was still an awfully large deficit to overcome. Hochevar pulled another point back on 11-5 with a roll shot to terminate a long rally, but the Germans touched off another little run there, getting to 14-7 at the technical timeout.
Fendrick got the block on 14-8, sending Holtwick's shot right back to her. She kinda gave the German team a bit of a stink-eye as the teams went back to starting positions, but neither Holtwick nor Semmler panicked. It went sideout after sideout again through to 16-11, a rally a where both teams had a shot to put it away but it was eventually eventually Hochevar who did. She put the ball home with a strong, vertical hit, and roared with delight as it found the sand. The crowd appreciated it as well. On serve at 18-14, the Americans claimed back-to-back points with a hitting error and a ball-handling fault on Semmler at the net.
Then at 18-16 came kind of an esoteric call, as Holtwick was whistled for a net fault as she tried to strike the ball through the net. That's not allowed (though if you hold your hand in place and the ball simply hits it, that's fine). Everyone on the court, not least the referee, saw this and it was rightly called. The Germans epended their timeout there. They got their crucial sideout on 19-17 as Holtwick got a bit of luck running down a wayward ball, making it into a perfect set for her teammate. Semmler then sided out on 19-18 to bring about match point. Semmler went back to serve and scampered to the net to block, but didn't need to worry about that. The serve fell in for an ace, and the Germans celebrated.
Sarah Pavan/Heather Bansley (CAN) vs. Taiana Lima/Talita Da Rocha Antunes (BRA)
Biiiiit of a mismatch, sorry to say. Good on Pavan/Bansley to reach the quarterfinals, but I didn't see much chance for this to be a competitive match. A team of three-time gold medallists from this season, containing about the third-most decorated player in tour history, against a team with a player in her sixth tournament ever? Come on.
The Brazilians targetted Pavan with their serves in the early going, which I think makes sense. You need to make the beach rookie prove she's got the shots in her bag of tricks before you have to be too intimidated by physical makeup. Talita got her team the early lead on 4-2. Pavan got the service point back after the side change with a twisting/turning lefty special (really a nice play), but the Brazilian block party continued thereafter. They got three straight to make it 7-4, two of them on blocks against the towering Pavan. The Brazilians mixed their serves up more than the Canadians as the set wore on. Every Canadian serve went to Taiana Lima, while both Pavan and Bansley each got some. Talita's let-ace, her second of the match, got the Brazilians to 11-5, and the Canadians opted to head to their benches. At 12-7, Bansley got a kill off the top of the net and down and then at 12-8 it looked like Canada were whistled for a net fault, but instead the call went against Lima on her pokie. She seemed confused by the call and asked for an explanation from the up referee, but it stood. Even with that call going against them, the Brazilians led 12-9 at the technical timeout.
Bansley went at Lima on her first serve after the technical, and Lima may have been still stewing about the prior call. Her pass was dreadful, and Talita couldn't reach it, falling for an ace. Pretty much the same thing happened on Bansley's next serve. Then on 12-11, Lima hit long, and we were suddenly tied as Brazil called time. Talita went to work after the timeout, getting a kill and then a block for 14-12. Pavan got the sideout there, taking a joust against Talita. A nice dig for Bansley led to a kill to tie the set once more on 14-all. On 15-all, Lima hit wide to give Canada their first lead of the match. On the next rally, Talita's roll shot failed to clear the net, and on the rally after that, Pavan came up with a monstrous block to afford Canada a big three-point lead as the set neared its conclusion. At 19-16, Talita made a really smart shot. Pavan had to scramble to the net, having served, and Talita got it over on 2 against no opposition. But then Bansley ripped one for the sideout to make it set point on 20-17. Lima hit it wide and Canada improbably took set 1 by 21-17.
Bansley started off on serve on set 2, going back after Lima again and acing her again. I think by this point, the beach rookie may have asserted herself to the point that physical makeup started to make the difference you'd think it would at first blush. At 3-all, the Canadians made a really nifty play with Bansley diving for the dig and Pavan sending a high-arching swoop over the net deep to ungarded court for the kill and service point. Then on 4-3, Pavan was able to get a kill despite having made a block touch, something that's harder than it may seem when the block touch counts as a team hit. At 6-4, Bansley came up with a terrific (yet simple) dig/kill transition to get the service point and go ahead by three. A block from Pavan got them to an emphatic 8-4, and Brazil expended their timeout.
Lima played one of her better points of the match after the timeout. Despite going head-to-head with the far-taller Pavan at the net, she managed to hit around the block on a tip shot for the sideout. At 8-5, Bansley overpassed Talita's serve — perhaps the first time in the match she'd done that — and the Brazilian blocker came into position to get the killat the net. After the side change, 8-6 was a long rally, featuring a couple of net jousts. Brazil managed to keept the ball up and eventually Lima put it away. Then on 8-7, Talita got the equaliser by rejecting Pavan. Bansley got the Canadians their sideout on 9-8 (have to imagine they'd have called time had they not gotten it). 9-all was another great rally, one both teams could have won. Bansley at last got the kill and sideout. Bansley got the kill to sideout again on 11-10 at the technical timeout.
The Brazilians took their first lead of the second set at 14-13, with a kill on serve from Lima. Pavan got the sideout on 14-all at the fourth side change. On 15-all, Pavan hada couple of chances to put the ball away and give the Canadians the lead again. Her attempt on the overpass was too soft, and then on her block against Lima a volley later, she jumped a little too soon. That got Brazil the sideout to keep the string rolling. Then Talita blocked Bansley to give Brazil a 2-point lead for the first time. At 17-15, Lima 'over-dug' and had the ball fall in on the Canadian side. The Canadians finally expended their timeout there, despite the set slipping away from them for several minutes now. Talita got back-to-back blocks after the timeout to set up set point on 20-15. Bansley tried to hit around the block on 20-15 and missed entirely, as the ball landed wide.
The decider was point-for-point through to the second side change, coming at 5-all. On Bansley's serve at 6-5, Lima overpassed and Pavan didn't miss her opportunity to eat it up, giving Canada the first 2-point lead on 7-5. The Brazilians got the service point back on 7-6 winning a semi-long rally where Bansley just came up short going for the dig. 7-all was another long rally, with a couple of great digs from Bansley eventually leading to her finding the sand for the kill. Sideouts kept flowing, on some more and more scintillating rallies, through to the fourth side change at 10-all.
Talita's shortie serve on 10-all gave the Brazilians their first lead of the set, as the diving Bansley couldn't quite get enough behind her reception to get the ball high into the air. At 11-10, Lima terminated with a roll shot that found the left corner on the Canadian side to give Brazil a sideout advantage. The Canadians called time there. On reception at 12-10, Pavan sent it over on 2 with a pokie. Brazil got the dig easily and put the ball away on their return. At 13-10, Bansley hit wide to set up Brazil's match point. Bansley managed to sideout on 14-11 off the line roll, but then her serve hit the net to give the match to Brazil.
I'm still eating my words about the match being competitive, but I'm of course a little bummed that they came up short. I'm sure they're a little crushed to come this close to playing for a medal (something a team like Talita/Lima must take, if not for granted, then at least much less seriously) but come up short. Fire for next time out!
Full day three results
End of men's pool play
Pool A
#1 Casey Patterson/Jake Gibb (USA) d. #16 Robert Kufa/Jan Hadrava (CZE) (21-13, 21-18)
#32 Andrea Tomatis/Alex Ranghieri (ITA) d. #17 Ruslans Sorokins/Toms Smedins (LAT) (21-14, 21-15)
Final pool standings:
1. Patterson/Gibb 3-0
2. Kufa/Hadrava 2-1
3. Tomatis/Ranghieri 1-2
4. Sorokins/Smedins 0-3
Pool B
#2 Pedro Solberg Salgado/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA) d. #15 Philip Gabathuler/Jonas Weingart (SUI) (21-15, 21-17)
#18 Iver Andreas Horrem/Geir Eithun (NOR) d. #31 Peter Eglseer/Felix Koraimann (AUT) (21-13, 21-17) I've been beating the drum about the struggles of this Norwegian duo, so let me say congrats to them on winning their first main draw match of the season. I'm sure they were anxious for it.
Final pool standings:
1. Pedro/Bruno 3-0
2. Gabathuler/Weingart 2-1
3. Horrem/Eithun 1-2
4. Eglseer/Koraimann 0-3
Pool C
#3 Janis Smedins/Aleksandrs Samoilovs (LAT) d. #14 Pablo Herrera Allepuz/Adrián Gavira Collado (ESP) (21-19, 26-24)
#30 Stafford Slick/Casey Jennings (USA) d. #19 Juan Virgen/Lombardo Ontiveros (MEX) (21-17, 18-21, 19-17) I'd count this as a small upset.
Final pool standings:
1. Smedins/Samoilovs 3-0
2. Herrera/Gavira 2-1
3. Slick/Jennings 1-2
4. Virgen/Ontiveros 0-3
Pool D
#4 Sean Rosenthal/Philip Dalhausser (USA) d. #13 Markus Böckermann/Mischa Urbatzka (GER) (21-18, 21-17)
#20 Hannes Brinkborg/Stefan Gunnarsson (SWE) d. #29 Andreas Martin Sutter/Roman Sutter (SUI) (21-17, 21-7)
Final pool standings:
1. Rosenthal/Dalhausser 3-0 But about the weakest 3-0 you'll ever see
2. Böckermann/Urbatzka 2-1
3. Brinkborg/Gunnarsson 1-2
4. Sutter/Sutter 0-3
Pool E
#5 Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego (BRA) d. #12 Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk (CAN) (20-22, 21-14, 15-12)
#21 Nicholas Lucena/John Hyden (USA) d. #28 Sam Pedlow/Grant O'Gorman (CAN) (21-17, 21-15) Slightly disappointed I missed this match
Final pool standings:
1. Alison/Emanuel 2-1 A good rebound from where they started this week
2. Saxton/Schalk 2-1
3. Lucena/Hyden 2-1
4. Pedlow/O'Gorman 0-3
Pool F
#6 Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (ITA) d. #11 Ryan Doherty/Todd Rogers (USA) (21-14, 21-18)
#22 Maverick Hatch/Christian Redmann (CAN) d. #27 Gianluca Casadei/Paolo Ficosecco (ITA) (21-12, 21-16) Also the first main draw win of the year for these boys (though they haven't been together all year)
Final pool standings:
1. Nicolai/Lupo 3-0
2. Doherty/Rogers 2-1
3. Hatch/Redmann 1-2
4. Casadei/Ficosecco 0-3
Pool G
#10 Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh (AUS) d. #7 Vitor Gonçalves Felipe/Evandro Gonçalves Oliveira Júnior (BRA) (21-17, 16-21, 17-15)
#23 Andy Cès/Edouard Rowlandson (FRA) d. #26 Inocencio Lario Carrillo/Javier Monfort Minaya (ESP) (21-19, 21-13)
Final pool standings:
1. Kapa/McHugh 3-0
2. Vitor Felipe/Evandro 2-1
3. Cès/Rowlandson 1-2
4. Lario/Monfort 0-3
Pool H
#8 Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl (AUT) d. #9 Edson Filipe H. Barros/Álvaro Morais Filho (BRA) (21-17, 16-21, 17-15)
#25 Morten Kvamdsahl/Oivind Hordvik (NOR) d. #24 Roberto Rodríguez – Bertrán/Hector Soto (PUR) (21-18, 18-21, 15-8)
Final pool standings:
1. Huber/Seidl 3-0
2. Kvamsdahl/Hordvik 2-1
3. Edson Felipe/Álvaro Filho 1-2
4. Rodríguez/Bertrán-Soto 0-3
First knockout round
Böckermann/Urbatzka d. Hatch/Redmann (21-13, 21-18)
Horrem/Eithun d. Lucena/Hyden (21-17, 18-21, 15-11) I passed on writing this one up because I didn't expect it would be competitive. I also didn't expect the Norwegians would win. I should stop trying to predict this stuff, but 'should' doesn't mean 'will' 😀
Doherty/Rogers d. Slick/Jennings (21-13, 19-21, 15-12), described above
Saxton/Schalk d. Kvamsdal/Hordvink (22-20, 21-18)
Vitor Felipe/Evandro d. Brinkborg/Gunnarsson (21-16, 21-13)
Edson Felipe/Álvaro Filho d. Kufa/Hadrava (17-21, 21-17, 15-12)
Tomatis/Ranghieri d. Gabathuler/Weingart (21-17, 26-24) Bit of an upset
Herrera/Gavira d. Cès/Rowlandson (20-22, 21-13, 15-8)
Tomorrow's matches
Patterson/Gibb vs. Böckermann/Urbatzka
Horrem/Eithun vs. Huber/Seidl
Alison/Emanuel vs. Doherty/Rogers
Saxton/Schalk vs. Dalhausser/Rosenthal
Smedins/Samoilovs vs. Vitor Felipe/Evandro
Edson Felipe/Álvaro Filho vs. Nicolai/Lupo
Kapa/McHugh vs. Tomatis/Ranghieri
Herrera/Gavira vs. Pedro/Bruno
An eclectic collection of mismatches and coin-flips.
Women's knockout – round 2
#7 Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler (GER) d. #17 Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Vergé-Dépré (SUI) (25-27, 21-18, 15-5)
#8 Lauren Fendrick/Brittany Hochevar (USA) d. #12 Jennifer Fopma/Brooke Sweat (USA) (21-18, 22-20)
#5 Agatha Bednarczuk/Maria Antonelli (ITA) d. #1 April Ross/Jennifer Kessy (USA) (21-15, 13-21, 16-14), described above
#4 Maria Clara Salgado Rufino/Carolina Solberg Salgado (BRA) d. #9 Nadine Zumkehr/Joana Heidrich (SUI) (21-15, 21-19)
#13 Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova (SVK) d. #3 Liliane Maestrini/Barbara Seixas De Freitas (BRA) (21-18, 23-25, 15-11)
#15 Summer Ross/Emily Day (USA) d. #6 Liliana Fernandez Steiner/Elsa Baquerizo McMillan (ESP) (21-18, 21-15), described above
#24 Sarah Pavan/Heather Bansley (CAN) d. #10 Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova (CZE) (21-18, 23-25, 15-11)
#2 Taiana Lima/Talita Antunes Da Rocha (BRA) d. #20 Jana Köhler/Anni Schumacher (GER) (21-6, 19-21, 15-12)
Quarterfinals
Holtwick/Semmler d. Fendrick/Hochevar (21-16, 21-18), described above
Maria Clara/Carol d. Agatha/Maria (23-21, 31-29) Workin' for it
Ross/Day d. Dubovcova/Nestarcova (17-21, 21-13, 15-11)
Talita/Lima d. Pavan/Bansley (17-21, 21-15, 15-11), described above
Tomorrow's semifinals
Ross/Day vs. Talita/Lima. What the hell, why not a Ross/Day win. The Brazilian erstwhile superwomen looked pret-ty vulnerable today.
Holtwick/Semmler vs. Maria Clara/Carol
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