OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — The tone was set early by Andre Loyola.
In the first six points against Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig on the first main draw day of the Ostrava Elite, the 6-foot-9 Brazilian blocker racked up three blocks –a number that’s impressive for an entire set — match, even — let alone the first four minutes of one.
He didn’t stop there. Not even close.
By match’s end, Loyola had piled up an eye-popping seven blocks against the best team in the world en route to his and Renato Lima’s second big win of the day, 23-21, 18-21, 16-14.
In a day in which Brazil beat both Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl (23-21, 21-18), Andre racked up 13 blocks, good for third in the tournament and second in blocks per match. He needed all of them, as both matches were airtight, winning by a total of 6 points.
Now, regardless of what happens in their match Friday against Austrian qualifiers Robin Seidl and Mathias Seiser (0-2 on the day), Andre and Renato are guaranteed to break pool in what might be the most difficult pool of the event and a minimum of a ninth-place finish, which is where they’ve placed in both Saquarema and Brasilia this season.
Leona Kernen attempts a line shot over Anna Pavelkova/Volleyball World photo
Pavelcomeback Twins Pull off Shocking Comeback over Switzerland
Down 18-20 in the second set to Leona Kernen and Joana Mader of Switzerland, Czechia’s Pavelkova twins, Katarina and Anna, were still, somehow, receiving a 64% win probability. Genius that I am on the comms for VBTV, I poked fun at those still favoring the 20-year-olds, who had already by that point fended off two match points.
“I admire your courage,” I told those betting on the twins.
Turns out, their courage was well-placed.
The Pavelkovas finished the comeback on a string of aces and blocks, winning the second set, 22-20, to force a third.
Again, however, they found themselves down, first 6-9, then 11-13. Surely they had used all of the comeback they had in them.
Surely they had not.
For there, again, were the Pavelkovas, putting on a spectacular display of defense, with Katarina finishing the comeback — both of them — with a dig and putaway to seal up their first main draw win, 16-21, 22-20, 16-14.
It put both Czechia and Switzerland at 1-1 in Pool F, which also includes Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, and Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, who made it out of Wednesday’s qualifier. Speaking of Quiggle, she and Loreen pulled off a shocker of their own.
Corinne Quiggle, Chloe Loreen land major upset over Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson
Consider the bounceback officially on for Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen.
Just a week after dropping a pair of matches at the Nuvali Challenge to take a 25th, Quiggle and Loreen punched their main draw ticket into the Ostrava Elite with a sweep win in the qualifier on Wednesday. They followed it up with arguably the upset of the tournament, sweeping Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, 21-17, 21-19, rebounding from an earlier loss to Switzerland’s Leona Kernen and Joana Mader (21-17, 18-21, 14-16).
They’ve made a wonderful mess of things in Pool F, in which all four teams are now 1-1. Quiggle and Loreen will meet the comeback queens themselves, Anna Pavelkova and Katarina Pavelkova. A win for either team will ensure a pool break. A loss, and it will come down to points for the tiebreak between the loser of Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson vs. Kernen and Mader.
Alex Brouwer gets a sideout in Ostrava/Volleyball World photo
New Dutch Pairings open with (mostly) strong debuts
In the span of an hour, beach volleyball fans were treated to an abundance of something they hadn’t seen since November: Dutch men’s beach volleyball.
Stefan Boermans and Alex Brouwer debuted their new partnership with a convincing sweep over Austria’s Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger (21-13, 21-14). An hour later, Yorick de Groot and Steven van de Velde opened their partnership with a sweep over Chile’s Grimalt cousins, Marco and Esteban (21-17, 21-15).
At the same time, on court three, Matthew Immers and Leon Luini, in their fourth event as a team, upset France’s Calvin Aye and Remi Daubas (14-21, 21-14, 15-11) to complete a huge morning round of pool play for the Dutch.
Neither pair finished as well as they began. Boermans and Brouwer were sufficiently handled by Arthur and Adrielson, 21-13, 21-16, and Luini and Immers dropped the nightcap to David Schweiner and Tadeas Trousil, 20-22, 21-18, 6-15. All three Dutch pairs, however, have shots to break pool and move into the weekend’s elimination rounds.
Ondrej Perusic, Jiri Sedlak stun Evandro, Arthur
A year ago, writing “Ondrej Perusic stuns…” would have been reserved for no team. The 2023 MVP of the Beach Pro Tour and the World Champion of the same year stunned no one. When he won, it was, simply, a win. He and David Schweiner were that good, in the top-tier alongside Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, and David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig — both of whom they beat in the 2023 World Championships.
But Perusic is a father now, a mostly-retired beach volleyball player who has moved onto life after beach volleyball. No longer playing with Schweiner — or playing at all, really — he’s picked up Jiri Sedlak, a 26-year-old blocker who has enjoyed modest success on the Beach Pro Tour. After narrowly escaping Wednesday’s qualifier, Perusic and Sedlak landed what might be the tournament’s biggest upset on the men’s side, toppling Evandro and Arthur, the world No. 4, 22-20, 21-18, in their first round of pool play.
And it was Sedlak who did most of the heavy lifting, blocking a staggering eight balls en route to the upset — seven more than Evandro.
It isn’t the first time Sedlak has engineered an upset at home. In 2024, he and Jakub Sepka shocked Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, then swept Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter to break pool and guarantee a top-10 finish. The next year, they beat both of those aforementioned teams again, and nearly took down Evandro and Arthur in pool, losing 13-15 in the third. Now, with one of the best defenders of the past 10 years behind him, he’s in prime position to make his biggest run in Ostrava yet.
Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft celebrate another win in Ostrava/Volleyball World photo
The USA Volleyball Report
- Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft cruised to a 2-0 start in pool play, sweeping Czechia’s Martina Maixnerova and Kylie Neuschaeferova, 21-19, 21-15 after sweeping Italy’s Claudia Scampoli and Giada Bianchi on Wednesday evening. It is their eleventh straight win in pool play in four Elites this season.
- Sara Hughes and Ally Batenhorst dropped to 1-1 in pool. After sweeping Germany’s Anna Grune and Sandra Ittlinger on Wednesday, they fell to Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth, 14-21, 16-21.
- Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher remained perfect in international play this season, sweeping Piper Ferch and Teegan Van Gunst, 21-15, 21-14. They are now guaranteed to break pool, regardless of the result of tomorrow’s matchup against Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon.
- Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb stayed hot after their win in AVP Huntington Beach, gritting together a victory of France’s youngsters, Elouan Chouikh and Joadel Gardoque, 19-21, 21-17, 15-10.
- Miles Partain and James Shaw had a strange day, one that began with a mostly-smooth win over David Schweiner and Tadeas Trousil (22-20, 21-16) finished with a pounding at the hands of France’s Remi Daubas and Calvin Aye (10-21, 15-21). Daubas piled up nine blocks in the affair, while Partain and Shaw added 13 hitting errors and another 6 from the service line. They’ll play Leon Luini and Matthew Immers in the final round of pool. A win will guarantee they move into the playoffs; a loss will force a tiebreak based on points.
