A second edition of an all-Italian clash between former partners took place in Torquay on Wednesday. Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri hammered out a 2-0 (21-14, 21-10) victory against Daniele Lupo and Enrico Rossi in Pool D after losing to their compatriots in the final of the Challenge event in Torquay last week.

· Watch all matches at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Torquay live on Volleyball TV.

Earlier in the day, fifth-seeded Carambula and Ranghieri started their campaign at the Elite16 event with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) win over France’s Julien Lyneel and Remi Bassereau. Ranghieri topped the scorers with 19 points, including five blocks and two aces. The Italians then swept their countrymen and secured advancement to the quarterfinals. The 35-year-old Rio 2016 Olympian again produced 19 points. As many as eight were kill blocks.

The fourth team in the pool, Spain’s Javier Huerta and Alejandro Huerta put up a tough fight in both of their games on Wednesday, but lost to Lupo and Rossi after an extended tie-breaker, and to Lyneel and Bassereau in two sets. This means that, when the French qualifiers take on the Italians on Thursday, it will be a direct duel for the second ticket to the quarterfinals issued from this pool.

Meanwhile, top-seeded pair Christopher McHugh and Paul Burnett claimed two victories in Pool A, but will have to wait until Thursday before they can celebrate a spot among the last eight. The Australians came back from a set down against Switzerland’s Quentin Metral and Yves Haussener to take a 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-13) win. While Metral was the best scorer of the match with 27 points, the two players on the winning side tallied 21 points apiece. McHugh impressed with five blocks and Burnett registered the pair’s only ace. The two were almost at par in their second match. Burnett contributed 15 points and McHugh scored 14 times towards a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) shutout of USA’s Paul Lotman and Miles Evans.

The Americans had already hammered out a clean sweep of their own, 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) over qualifiers Mathias Seiser and Moritz Kindl. The Austrians, however, recovered with 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) victory over the Swiss duo, thus leaving all four teams still in contention ahead of the last matches on Thursday.

In Pool B, the day was marked by two exciting three-setters. 10th-seeded French pair Calvin Aye and Quincy Aye managed to overcome second-seeded Swiss duo Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer deep in the tie-breaker overtime to celebrate a 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 19-17) upset. Quincy’s eight kill blocks towards a 25-point match high made the difference in this game. Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Aussies Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert had to look for a way back against Israeli qualifiers Netanel Ohana and Eylon Elazar, and found it to take a 2-1 (14-21, 21-16, 15-11) victory with a 26-point match high by Hodges.

Another Australian team, 11th-seeded Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis delighted the home crowd with a straight-set upset of third-seeded Norwegians Mathias Berntsen and Hendrik Mol in Pool C. Carracher raised as many as 10 stuff blocks towards a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win and was the best scorer of the match with a total of 25 points. In the other Pool C game on Wednesday, France’s Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat outplayed England’s Joaquin Bello and Javier Bello on the way to a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) victory, with Krou stuffing six blocks towards a total of 20 points in the match.

Another 12 pool games will be played on Thursday to shape up the men’s quarterfinal line-up. Action starts at 09:00 local time (22:00 UTC on Wednesday).

Torquay Elite16 schedule and results

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