For all of the discussion during the Joao Pessoa Elite around the massive breakouts from France’s Remi Bassereau and Calvin Aye, who won a silver medal out of the qualifier, and Portugal’s Joao Pedrosa and Hugo Campos, who took a career-high fifth and logged a win over Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, sneaking under the radar in a quietly impressive tournament was Brazil’s George Wanderley and Saymon Barbosa.
En route to a ninth-place finish, their highest in an Elite by 10 spots, George and Saymon swept USA Volleyball’s Chaim Schalk and James Shaw (21-17, 22-20) and stunned Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig (16-21, 21-18, 15-13). Those highs were offset by a loss to Vinicius and Heitor (23-25, 21-23), a startling one given their level of play in pool play, halting the momentum for the tournament, but not the season.
That much was made clear on Wednesday at the Rio Elite, where George and Saymon qualified, winning a must-win match against England’s Bello Brothers, Javier and Joaquin (21-18, 19-21, 16-14), who won a gold medal here a year ago.
The win extends George and Saymon’s World Championships hopes. Their 600 points earned in Joao Pessoa pushed them up to No. 28 in the World Champs standings, where they are just 60 points out from leaping the teams in front of them to be in qualifying position.
With the final event of the qualifying period being a Challenge, in Veracruz, Mexico, the first weekend of October, Rio presents the final tournament to make a substantial leap.
George and Saymon have given themselves that chance. Thus far, they have made good on it, again winning their first round of pool play, a 15-21, 21-18, 16-14 victory over Alex Brouwer and Steven van De Velde that will guarantee them a break from pool play. They’ll meet Austria’s Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger to decide who gets the first round bye in the playoffs.
Germany’s Sagstetter Brothers, Benedikt and Jonas, and Matthew Immers and Ruben Penninga, were in equally precarious scenarios on Wednesday during the qualifier. Both played what essentially amounted to must-win matches, and both did just that, as the Sagstetters swept Vinicius and Heitor (21-15, 21-19) and Immers and Penninga upset Portugal and all of its momentum (19-21, 22-20, 19-17). Germany and the Netherlands are Nos. 31 and 32 on the World Championship standings, and likely need a top-five to put themselves into threatening position to qualify.
They have, after Wednesday, at least continued the conversation.
Notable on Wednesday were the losses to Portugal and Bassereau and Aye, both riding the highest of highs after Joao Pessoa, both losing in the qualifier in Rio. The good news? It doesn’t much matter as far as World Champs go. They did enough in Joao Pessoa to all but clinch their berths into Adelaide this fall.
Emi van Driel, Wies Bekhuis win critical qualifying match in Rio Elite
Emi van Driel and Wies Bekhuis have likewise been living on the World Champs bubble. Sitting No. 24 in the standings, just inside the qualifying mark, van Driel and Bekhuis have had five straight finishes outside of the top 10, doing little to give themselves breathing room. After failing to qualify in Joao Pessoa, a main draw was, while not required, certainly welcome in Rio.
They did just that, sweeping Australia’s Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson, 21-12, 21-18. They’ll need to win their first Elite main draw match since Gstaad to move the needle.
While not significant in the World Champs race, Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam are back together after an injury limited Stam for the majority of the season. They qualified, beating USA Volleyball’s Xolani Hodel and Kylie DeBerg (19-21, 21-14, 15-12).
On the whole, USA Volleyball went 1-for-3 on the day in the qualifier, with Hailey Harward and Molly Philipps losing to Brazil, and Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen providing the lone bright spot in a 21-13, 21-19 win over New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Liv MacDonald.
Chase Budinger blocks Paul Henning at the Rio Elite/Volleyball World photo
USA Volleyball off to mixed start at Rio Elite
Chase Budinger and Miles Evans continued their string of blowouts on Wednesday, mashing Germany’s Paul Henning and Lui Wust, 21-14, 21-10. Five of their last six sets in pool play have been decided by margins of 21-14 or worse. They’re now guaranteed to break pool, with a match against Anders Mol and Christian Sorum on Thursday.
Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, making their return to the Beach Pro Tour for the first time since Montreal a month ago, were swept by Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier, 13-21, 18-21. They will play Chile’s Vicente Droguett and Fernando Quintero to break pool on Thursday.
Chaim Schalk and James Shaw again fell in three, this time to Austria’s Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger, 21-16, 18-21, 10-15. It is their sixth straight three-set loss on the Beach Pro Tour, a streak that dates all the way back to the Ostrava Elite in June, when they fell to Anders Mol and Christian Sorum in the second round of playoffs. They will play Alex Brouwer and Steven van De Velde to decide who breaks pool.
