Two days ago, Tim Brewster and Ryan Ierna earned their way into their first Elite main draw this weekend in Cape Town.
On Thursday evening in South Africa, they punched their ticket into their first Elite playoffs with a massive upset over seventh-seeded Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wust, 25-23, 23-21.
How big was the upset? Major, all things considered. Henning and Wust have had a breakout season, qualifying for the upcoming World Championships on points, and have two top-five finishes in Elites — Quintana Roo and Montreal — and a bronze medal at the Stare Jablonki Challenge. They have excellent wins over Elmer Andersson and Jacob Holting-Nilsson and Evandro and Arthur, to name a few. They were seeded seventh for a reason.
And Brewster and Ierna simply outplayed them and are now guaranteed their highest finish of the season, regardless of the Beach Pro Tour tier.
They were the brightest spot on a plucky day for USA Volleyball. The only other win was Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, who took care of business against South Africa, winning 21-6, 21-6. While Devanne Sours and Carly Kan, and Piper Ferch and Teegan Van Gunst didn’t win their matches, they pushed a pair of top-tier teams to three.
Sours and Kan challenged Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth, dropping 21-17, 16-21, 19-17, and Ferch and Van Gunst were tough against Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre and Anouk Verge-Depre, losing 21-16, 24-26, 15-7. The good news for Ferch and Van Gunst is they get South Africa to break pool, which should be no problem. This is not the case for Sours and Kan, who will meet Brazil’s Hegeile and Vitoria in a must-win scenario that is, to be sure, winnable.
Cody Caldwell and Wyatt Harrison bowed out after consecutive losses to Brazil and the Netherlands and finished nineteenth, splitting $2,500 and 380 points.
