The women USA Volleyball made a statement during Tuesday’s qualifier of the Newport Elite: They quite like playing at home, thank you very much.
All four qualifying spots were won by American women in a tremendous showing. Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen stayed hot. Just two days after winning their first medal as a team, a silver at the Veracruz Challenge, they hopped home and swept Germany’s Chenoa Christ and Tabea Schwarz (21-14, 21-19) and New Zealand’s Liv MacDonald and Shaunna Polley (21-15, 22-20). Hailey Harward and Molly Philipps also made it in in straight sets, taking out a pair of Americans in Kelly Kool and Tiffany Svenssohn (21-11, 21-11) and the new pairing of Deahna Kraft and Abby Van Winkle (21-18, 21-16). It’s their fourth Elite main draw of the season.
Fourth-seeded Jaden Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry, continuing their excellent season, also qualified, squeaking past Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite (21-13, 19-21, 16-14) before sweeping Mila Konink and Floor Hogenhout of the Netherlands (21-18, 21-15). It is the first Elite main draw of their partnership after narrowly missing in Ostrava earlier this year.
Perhaps the most impressive performance, however, goes to Morgan Chacon and Alaina Chacon, the sisters and former FSU standouts who made their first Elite main draw in their first time trying. The road to get there was not easy, either. They had to match up with Switzerland’s breakout star, Leona Kernen, and Muriel Bossart, winning narrowly, 19-21, 21-17, 15-13, before matching up against a decidedly different team in American veteran Kelley Kolinske and Madison Shields. Again, they dropped the first set, 18-21, and again came back to win, 18-21, 22-20, 15-10. It’s the fifth event of the season for the Chacons, who won gold medals in Futures in Australia and Thailand, a bronze in New Zealand, and are coming off a ninth-place finish at the Veracruz Challenge.
The USA Volleyball men, meanwhile, were not quite the roaring success story of the women.
Wyatt Harrison hits around Joaquin Bello at the Newport Elite/Volleyball World photo
Bello Brothers back into main draw at Newport Elite
A promising opening round for USA Volleyball, in which Tim Brewster and Ryan Ierna upset Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik (21-16, 18-21, 15-9) and Cody Caldwell and Wyatt Harrison won a fun one over Hagen Smith and Logan Webber (13-21, 22-20, 15-12) gave way to an 0-2 second round that left the U.S. without a qualifier. Brewster and Ierna fell to Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Alejandro Juerta (21-19, 21-13) and Caldwell and Harrison, pool winners in Veracruz, dropped to England’s Bello Brothers (21-15, 21-18).
The win is a big one for the Bellos. A day after receiving their wild card into this fall’s World Championships, the Bellos responded from two straight qualifier losses, in Joao Pessoa and Rio, to punch their ticket with a pair of sweeps.
Back in an Elite main draw for the first time since Gstaad in July is Australia’s Thomas Hodges, who qualified with Paul Burnett, his new partner for the World Championships. Injuries for the most part derailed his season with Zach Schubert, and with Burnett he has now qualified for two straight main draws after doing so in Veracruz. They swept the Czech Republic’s Jiri Sedlak and Tadeas Trousil (27-25, 21-14) and Brazil’s Vinicius and Heitor (21-19, 13-21, 15-11).
Top-seeded Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt, the journeyman’s journeyman, qualified yet again, fending off England’s Freddie Bialokoz and Issa Batrane (19-21, 21-19, 16-14) and Italy’s Alex Ranghieri and Manuel Alfieri (21-18, 23-21).
