A total of nine American teams will compete in the women’s main draw at the Yucatan Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after as many as four pairs representing the United States pushed through Wednesday’s qualifiers in Mexico to join the five already pre-seeded directly among the 32. Two pairs from Germany and one each from the China and Spain picked up the remaining vacancies in Puerto Progreso, with Paris 2024 Olympians Louisa Lippmann and Paula Soria among them.
Beach Pro Tour
Four more American pairs advance to women’s main draw in Yucatan
Paris Olympians Louisa Lippmann of Germany and Paula Soria of Spain also successful in Wednesday’s qualifiers
Published 06:15, 20 Mar 2025
USA’s Hailey Harward
- Watch the Yucatan Challenge on VBTV.
USA’s Devon Newberry & Jaden Whitmarsh were the lowest seeded team to qualify. Competing under number 24 in the qualification bracket, they survived through two tie-breaker battles – a 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 15-12) comeback win over Malgorzata Ciezkowska & Urszula Lunio of Poland in the first round and a 2-1 (21-14, 17-21, 15-13) victory over Saki Maruyama & Miki Ishii of Japan in the second.
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14th-seeded Americans Madison Shields & Xolani Hodel also started with a tight 2-1 (20-22, 21-11, 15-13) turnaround against Slovenia’s Tajda Lovsin & Ziva Javornik, but then went on to master a convincing 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) upset of third-seeded Dutch duo Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis.
Similarly, Savannah Simo & Abby Van Winkle of the United States, seeded 11th, got their Yucatan campaign underway with a tough three-set win, 2-1 (21-14, 20-22, 15-11) over Canada’s Amy Ozee & Kaylee Glagau, but then celebrated a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) shutout of their second-round opponents Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami of Japan.
Seventh-seeded Hailey Harward & Molly Phillips, the highest ranked American team in the qualification bracket, had to deal with a three-set battle against compatriots Violeta Slabakova & Makenzie Griffin in the first round, but managed to take a 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-11) victory. In the second round Harward & Phillips got their job done in straight sets, 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) over Ukraine’s Yeva Serdiuk & Daria Romaniuk.
Paris 2024 Olympian Paula Soria and her new partner Belen Carro made a successful start to their journey together. Seeded fourth in the qualifiers, the Spanish duo went through the first round with a bye. In the second, they managed to overcome USA’s Carly Kan & Devanne Sours after a challenging 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-13) battle.
The two highest seeded teams in the qualification line-up were knocked out by German duos. Another Paris Olympian, former indoor star Louisa Lippmann, and her new teammate Linda Bock, seeded 16th, started with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) sweep of their opening match against China’s Yu Tong & Jiang Kaiyue and then delivered an emphatic 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) upset of bracket leaders Brenda Churin & Agostina Ghigliazza of Argentina.
After a 2-1 (21-18, 21-23, 15-13) battle with Estonia’s Liisa Remmelg & Heleene Hollas in the first round, 15th-seeded Germans Melanie Paul & Lea Sophie Kunst went on to hammer out a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) shutout of second-seeded Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald of New Zealand.
In their only qualification match on Wednesday, fifth-seeded Yan Xu & Zhou Mingli of China, took out Carol Horta & Elize Maia of Brazil in straight sets, 2-0 (21-15, 21-16), to advance to the main draw.
Women’s main draw action in Yucatan starts on four competition courts on Friday morning at 09:00 local time (15:00 UTC).
