ADELAIDE, Australia — The Pool of Death has gone full Pool of Death in the first two days of the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide, Australia.
Day one welcomed relatively chalky play, with David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden smacking Australia’s Thomas Hodges and Paul Burnett, and the better-seeded George and Saymon sweeping countrymen Andre and Renato. There was little to see there.
Enter day two.
Enter madness.
Because there were Andre and Renato, my dark horse pick of this tournament, not just beating Ahman and Hellvig, but sweeping them in convincing fashion, 21-17, 21-19. And there were Hodges and Burnett, recovering from the previous night’s demolition to upset George and Saymon, 21-17, 14-21, 15-13. It left all four pool members tied at 1-1.
This makes Sunday — or Saturday, depending where in the world you’re viewing from — an all-important day. Given their brutal point differential, Hodges and Burnett are in a must-win situation. If they lose, they have no chance of winning a tiebreaker, as their loss was in two sets, their win was in three, they were blown out in said loss, and even had a negative point differential in their win. In the event of a Hodges and Burnett victory over Andre and Renato, it’ll come down to points between Andre and Renato and the loser of George and Saymon vs. Ahman and Hellvig.
This is not unfamiliar territory for George. He was in the Pool of Death in 2023 in Tlaxcala, losing a white-knuckler to Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner before getting knocked out on points because Chase Budinger and Miles Evans blew out Ukraine.
The Men’s Match of the Day remains Andre and Renato against Hodges and Burnett, as a Hodges and Burnett loss renders the other match mostly inconsequential. But in the event of a Hodges and Burnett win?
Chaos.
Beautiful, wonderful chaos.
Before we get into the remaining key matchups on day three from the Beach Volleyball World Championships, I want to acknowledge that there are, as you’ll notice, more matches to keep an eye on. As the tournament has ramped up and we are getting deeper into the pool play stages, matches are quickly becoming far more meaningful. There are de facto play-in matches — like the men’s match of the day — matches in which teams can lock up the top seed, matches that will keep a team’s hopes alive and matches that will snuff out said hope.
Andre and Renato before delivering the match of the tournament/volleyball world photo
Men’s Match of The Day
Andre and Renato vs. Paul Burnett and Thomas Hodges
5 pm local
1:30 am EST
10:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
For all of the reasons listed above.
Women’s Match of the Day
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson vs. Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon
7:30 pm local
3:30 am EST
12:30 am Pacific
In the preview, I wrote that there could very well be two medalists from this pool. These are those two medalists, as Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have proven they can win, as they did in Montreal in August, to go along with a bevy of fifth-place finishes. They’re 1-0, with an expected easy win over Morocco, the score of which is not suitable for print. Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon have resumed the winning form we know so well, sweeping France’s Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira, 21-14, 21-15 and making it look easy over a team that has been having a career year.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson celebrate winning in Montreal/Volleyball World photo
More Key Matchups From The Beach Volleyball World Championships
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher vs. Vitoria De Souza and Hegeile Almeida Dos Santos
9 am local
5:30 pm EST (Saturday)
2:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Claudia Scampoli and Giada Bianchi vs. Susana Torres and Atenas Gutierrez
10 am local
6:30 pm EST (Saturday)
3:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Andy Benesh and Miles Partain vs. Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner
10 am local
6:30 pm EST (Saturday)
3:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Anders Mol and Christian Sorum vs. Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier
11 am local
7:30 pm EST (Saturday)
4:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Tomas Capogrosso and Nico Capogrosso vs. Sam Schater and Jonathan Pickett
3 pm local
11:30 pm EST (Saturday)
8:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw vs. Dani Alvarez and Tania Moreno
4 pm local
12:30 am EST
9:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Michal Bryl Bartosz Losiak vs. Philipp Waller and Chris Dressler
4 pm local
12:30 am EST
9:30 pm Pacific (Saturday)
Melanie Paul and Lea Kunst vs. Xinyi Xia and Xu Yan
8:30 pm local
5:00 am EST
2:00 am Pacific
Mark Nicolaidis and Izach Carracher vs. Remi Bassereau and Calvin Aye
9 pm local
5:30 am EST
2:30 am Pacific
David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig vs. George and Saymon
9 pm local
5:30 am EST
2:30 am Pacific
