Cottafava & Dal Corso v Elazar & Cuzmiciov, Capogrossos v Luini & Immers in Nayarit semis

Israel’s Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov will take on top-seeded Italians Samuele Cottafava & Gianluca Dal Corso in one of Sunday’s men’s semifinals at the Nayarit Challenge on the 2026 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. In the other, second-seeded Argentinean brothers Tomas Capogrosso & Nicolas Capogrosso will face Netherlands’ Leon Luini & Matthew Immers. Saturday’s action in Mexico offered the eighthfinal and the quarterfinal rounds, with three of the four semifinalists persevering through tough three-set challenges on the way to the last four of the tournament.

• Watch the Nayarit Challenge on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

Sixth-seeded Dutchmen Leon Luini & Matthew Immers were the only team to achieve two straight-set wins on Saturday. They started their day with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) eighthfinal victory over fifth-seeded Juan Amieva & Maciel Bueno of Argentina, and went on to celebrate a 2-0 (27-25, 21-17) victory over Brazilian qualifiers Gabriel Zuliani & Joao Mares with an impressive nine kill blocks from Luini in the quarterfinals. It was the first time Luini & Immers advanced to the semifinals of a Beach Pro Tour event as a pair.

Another South American team will get on the way of the Dutch duo in one of Sunday’s semifinals. Tomas Capogrosso & Nicolas Capogrosso came back from a set down to earn a 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-11) win over Latvia’s Ardis Bedritis & Arturs Rinkevics in the eighthfinals. In their quarterfinal match, the Argentinean brothers coped with Australia’s Thomas Hodges & Ben Hood in straight sets, 2-0 (21-13, 21-19).

In a tough eighthfinal battle with Mexican home favorites Antonio Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala, Italian bracket leaders Samuele Cottafava & Gianluca Dal Corso managed a 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-7) victory. Dal Corso raised seven kill blocks towards his team’s 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) sweep of the quarterfinal match against Germany’s Jonas Sagstetter & Benedikt Sagstetter that propelled the Italians to a semifinal encounter with Elazar & Cuzmiciov.

It will be Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov’s second Challenge semifinal, after the Bhubaneswar Challenge earlier this month, where they snatched bronze. In the Nayarit eighthfinals, the seventh-seeded Israelis produced a nail-biting 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 18-16) turnaround against Brazilian qualifiers Gabriel Dos Reis & Johann Dohmann, and followed up with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) straight-set win over Austria’s Alexander Horst & Paul Pascariuc, with as many as five aces from Cuzmiciov.

The semifinal between Luini & Immers and the Capogrossos will open the last competition day in Nayarit at 10:00 local time (16:00 UTC). The second semifinal will serve off an hour later. The bronze medal match is scheduled at 14:00 (20:00), while the gold medal showdown is set to get underway at 15:00 (21:00).

Beach Pro Tour Nayarit Challenge: schedule and results

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