GSTAAD, Switzerland – Of all the ways for Anouk Verge-Depre and Zoe Verge-Depre to finish off their first-round playoff match at the Gstaad Elite against Carol and Rebecca, it wasn’t the completely normal attempt in serve-receive from Anouk, or the not-so-completely-normal open-net poke from Anouk, or the in-system line swing from Zoe on the right side.
No, no. That would be too easy. Too tame.
Instead, it would be the laying out, left-handed dive from Zoe that just barely – barely – got the ball before it hit the sand, sending the ball over the net for a match-sealing kill and a 21-17, 17-21, 15-13 win that sent the 4,400 capacity stadium into bedlam.
If it was a crowd-pleasing way Zoe and Anouk sought to end the match, they couldn’t have drawn it up any better.
They were not the only ones sending the crowds into delirium, either. Hours earlier, qualifiers Jonathan Jordan and Adrian Heidrich picked up their second seismic upset of the tournament, sweeping the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, 21-17, 21-19, to move into the round of 12. It was the second time in three matches Jordan and Heidrich beat a team seeded 16 or more positions higher, the first being a pool play upset over Argentina’s Nico Capogrosso and Tomas Capogrosso.
With Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier, and Leona Kernen and Tanja Huberli straight into the round of 12, it made for four Swiss teams in the second round of the playoffs, the strongest showing from the home federation since 2021, when Krattiger and Florian Breer, and Mirco Gerson and Heidrich both finished in the top 10, as did Nina Brunner and Huberli, and Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader.
The men would both drop out in the round of 12, Krattiger and Dillier falling to Sweden’s Elmer Andersson and Jacob Holting Nilsson (21-16, 23-21), Heidrich and Jordan losing a well-fought battle against the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot (22-20, 16-21, 15-12).
It’ll be up to the women, then, to win the first Swiss medal in Gstaad since Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr took bronze in 2012.
Of course, as it tends to go, they will play one another in the round of 12 at 11 a.m. local, a match that will certainly pack the 4,400-seat stadium. Their only meeting thus far came in the finals of the Spiez Futures, where Huberli and Kernen won, 21-15, 21-15.
Civil wars abound in Gstaad playoffs
The all-Swiss matchup is actually one of three civil wars in the women’s round of 12. The day begins with an all-American battle between Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth and Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin, who brawled their way through a pair of long three-setters on Friday to guarantee their best finish at an Elite. It will be the first matchup between the two in international play.
Shortly after, Germany’s Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller will play countrywomen Sandra Ittlinger and Anna Lena-Grune, who is having a breakout tournament in her second Elite main draw. Regardless of result, Gstaad will mark the best finish of the year for Grune and Ittlinger.
In non-friendly fire scenarios, Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft will play the Czech Republic’s Marketa Svozilova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, who are also putting together a career high as a team. Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw will meet Brazilians Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes at noon local. Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson will see a familiar foe in Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova. The Latvians have won four straight against Canada.
Volleyball World photo
Nils Ehlers, Clemens Wickler notch much-needed victory over Anders Mol, Christian Sorum
Perhaps the biggest question mark of this season centered around Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, a pair who was darn near impossible to keep off the podium in 2024 yet hadn’t so much as sniffed one in four events in 2025. They lost five of their firt even matches of the year, taking a ninth in a Challenge in Alanya, which marked the first Challenge they needed to play since Kusadasi of 2022.
Finally, on Friday night, they notched the Big Win they so desperately needed, sweeping Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (23-21, 21-16) after doing the same to Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in the first round (21-16, 21-13). Seeded sixteenth, Ehlers and Wickler will now play Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The loss mattered little for Mol and Sorum. Their point differential from two blowouts in pool play made the round of 12 one of little significance to them. As expected, they were hauled out of the graveyard and resurrected into the quarterfinals, where they will meet Brazilians George Wanderley and a rejuvenated, fresh-off-a-sabbatical Andre Loyola.
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, too, utilized a few lopsided pool play wins to bring themselves back. After losing to George and Andre, their point differential earned them a second chance against Alex Brouwer and Steven Van de Velde, who continued their tour de force on Friday.
The field is, once again, devoid of American men. The last team standing, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, couldn’t hold on to a late second-set lead against Evandro and Arthur and fell, 21-11, 19-21, 8-15, settling for thirteenth.
