Two Chinese, two US and two European pairs emerged on top of the six pools as the women’s main draw race at the second Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Dubai took off on Friday and 18 of the 24 teams advanced to Saturday’s playoffs. It was a particularly tough, but successful day for the bronze medallists of the first Dubai tournament, Americans Katie Horton and Julia Scoles, who celebrated with two victories, but both after three-set battles.

· Watch all matches at the Beach Pro Tour Challenge events in Dubai live on Volleyball TV.

Sixth-seeded Horton and Scoles, who had to start the competition from Thursday’s qualifiers, started their Pool F campaign with a hard-fought victory over another qualifying team, Miroslava Dunarova and Daniela Resova. The Americans outpaced the Czechs by 2-1 (22-20, 14-21, 15-11). The first place match in the pool against Germany’s Anna-Lena Grune and Sarah Schulz followed a similar plot as Horton and Scoles took a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-12) win. Dunarova and Resova also advanced to the playoffs by taking the third place in the pool after a 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) shutout of Japan’s Suzuka Hashimoto and Reika Murakami.

Another team representing the United States, ninth-seeded Savannah Simo and Deahna Kraft, who came in from the qualifiers as lucky losers, were more emphatic in Pool D, as they cruised to two straight-set victories, a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) shutout of Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong and Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn followed by a 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) upset of fourth-seeded Akiko Hasegawa and Yurika Sakaguchi of Japan. Another Japanese duo, qualifiers Megumi Murakami and Sakurako Fujii upset the Thais for the third place in a 2-0 (21-8, 29-27) straight-setter.

Two Chinese pairs contested the first place in Pool E. After a convincing 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) sweep of Japan’s Asami Shiba and Takemi Nishibori in one of the pool semifinals, fifth-seeded Zeng Jinjin and Wang Xinxin were just as emphatic against compatriots Zhu Lingdi and Wang Fan in the final, 2-0 (21-18, 21-12). Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova and Ievgeniia Baieva booked the third ticket to the knockout stage after a 2-0 (21-8, 21-18) win over Shiba and Take.

Dubai 1 silver medallists Xia Xinyi and Lin MeiMei of China also registered two clean-slate victories in their Pool B. The second-seeded team hammered out a 2-0 (21-9, 21-7) blowout of Israel’s Anita Dave and Yahli Ashush and followed up with a more hard-earned 2-0 (23-21, 21-14) win over USA’s Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson. Switzerland’s Menia Bentele and Anna Lutz claimed a 2-0 (22-20, 21-13) victory over Dave and Ashush for the third place.

10th-seeded Norwegians Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Emilie Olimstad also had a good day at Kite Beach. They started it with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) shutout of Germany’s Leonie Kortzinger and Lea Sophie Kunst. They were even more assertive in the Pool C final as they produced a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) upset of third-seeded Taravadee Naraphornrapat and Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee of Thailand. The German qualifiers came back from a set down on the way to a narrow 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-13) success in the third-place game against Estonia’s Heleene Hollas and Liisa Soomets.

There were no surprises in Pool A, where top-seeded Isabel Schneider and Julia Sude of Germany topped the standings after a 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) win over Lithuania’s Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Jekaterina Kovalskaja and a 2-1 (20-22, 21-19, 15-11) comeback against China’s Yuan Lvwen and Dong Jie. The third place went to American qualifiers Xolani Hodel and Hailey Harward upon a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) victory over Vasiliauskaite and Kovalskaja.

Women’s action in Dubai resumes on Saturday morning at 08:00 local time (04:00 UTC) with the two Round-of-18 matches, followed by the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals later in the day.

Dubai 2nd Challenge: Schedule and results

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Dubai 2nd Challenge
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube