Molly Shaw has never been to Gstaad before, so she can be forgiven for, say, extending every possible match she plays as far as she possibly can.
Take Thursday, for instance, where Shaw and Kelly Cheng’s two matches were the two longest thus far of the Gstaad Elite.
Coincidence or…maxing out the mountain time?
You decide.
Shaw and Kelly Cheng opened up the tournament with an all-American matchup against Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg, the only USA Volleyball team to break out of Wednesday’s qualifier. They’d played them once prior, at an AVP League stop, losing 16-18, 15-8, 10-15. Their matchup in Gstaad looked similar, only with the results flipped in a 25-23, 14-21, 15-13 victory that took 55 minutes and required a medical timeout for exhaustion.
A few hours later, on the center court nightcap, up against the home darlings, Anouk Verge-Depre and Zoe Verge-Depre, they’d do it again, pushing all three sets to either deuces or overtime in a 19-21, 23-21, 19-17 victory that took 54 minutes in front of a rollicking stadium court crowd.
All told, Cheng and Shaw spent 109 minutes on the court.
Only two other matches took more than 50 minutes to complete.
Of course, the two wins earns Cheng and Shaw a first-round bye and a complete day off on Friday, which will impact their time actually on the court, although there are worse things than a vacation day in the Swiss Alps on July 4.
They’ll have company in being able to properly celebrate July 4. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher played the part of defending champs on Thursday, mopping up France’s Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira (21-13, 21-19) and Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger and Anna-Lena Grune (21-18, 21-15) to earn a first-round bye.
Similarly, Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft played the part of defending silver cowbell medalists, sweeping the Netherlands’ Wies Bekhuis and Emi van Driel (21-12, 21-12) and Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova (21-18, 21-15).
Those lopsided win margins for Nuss and Brasher and Cannon and Kraft could prove critical in the round of 12, when two teams are brought back into the quarterfinals after a loss by way of point differential. Running up the score has its merits in Elite events.
Donlin and Denaburg will have the opportunity to join their fellow Americans in the playoff rounds with a win over Finland’s Taru Lahti and Niina Ahtiainen at 10 a.m. local. The last time the two played came in the Quintana Roo Elite qualifier, where Finland won, 14-21, 21-14, 15-13.
“Trust me,” Denaburg said afterwards, “I haven’t forgotten.”
Volleyball World photo
Miles Partain, Andy Benesh last Americans standing on July 4
Only one USA Volleyball men’s team remains. Per usual, that honor belongs to Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who bounced back from a first-round loss to Latvia’s Kristians Fokerots and Martins Plavins to sweep France’s Calvin Aye and Remi Bassereau, 21-19, 21-14. Of the three tournaments they have played this year — Elites in Brasilia, Ostrava, and now Gstaad — they have been the highest finishing Americans in all of them.
They will match up with Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves and Arthur Mariano in the first round of playoffs at noon local. The winner will meet Leon Luini and Matthew Immers of the Netherlands in the second round.
Chaim Schalk and James Shaw’s Gstaad was likely the most heart wrenching of the whole tournament. It’s not often a team experiences one 18-20 loss in the third set, much less two in back-to-back matches. Yet that was the fate of Shaw and Schalk in Switzerland, as a 16-21, 21-15, 18-10 loss to Australia’s Zach Schubert and Thomas Hodges gave way to a 16-21, 21-18, 18-20 loss to Sweden’s Elmer Andersson and Jacob Nilsson, a brutal finish that belies how well they played in Gstaad.
For full results, schedule and photos of the Gstaad Elite, head over to Volleyball World.
Volleyball World photo
