Only three men’s teams will enter the elimination rounds of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 tournament held in Gstaad, Switzerland, undefeated on Saturday and Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri are among them.

The Italian veterans finished at the top of Pool D as pool play concluded on Friday and moved directly into the quarterfinals, which will be held in the afternoon in the Swiss Alps. Saturday’s schedule for the men also includes the Round of 12 in the morning and the semifinals in the late afternoon.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 live on VBTV

Carambula and Ranghieri had started their Gstaad Elite16 campaign with a three-set win over the home team of Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer on Thursday and they followed it up with two more triumphs to dominate Pool D on Friday.

In the morning, the Olympians won another three-setter (16-21, 21-17, 15-11), this time against Germans Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers. A few hours later, Carambula and Ranghieri overcame Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira in straight sets (21-17, 21-19) to secure their spots in the quarterfinals.

Also advancing in Pool D were Ehlers/Wickler, in second place with two wins, and Krattiger/Breer, in third place with one victory. Both duos will play in the Round of 12.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Americans Andy Benesh and Miles Partain were the winners of Pool A. The two had topped Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum on Thursday and were again in top form on Friday, when they swept (21-11, 21-10) Czech qualifiers Jakub Sekpa and Tomas Semerad and topped Dutch Olympic medallists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen also in two sets (21-11, 21-19). Norwegians and Dutch are also through and will compete in the Round of 12.

Polish Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak were the third undefeated team in pool play in Gstaad. On Friday, the Europeans came from behind to top French Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-8) and also took Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes down in two sets (21-16, 21-19) to win Pool C. The South Americans advanced to the Round of 12, as did Austrians Alexander Horst and Julian Hörl.

Pool B was the only one to have a tie for first place, with Qatar’s Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan and Brazil’s Andre Loyola/George Wanderley both getting two wins in three matches. The Asians, who on Friday lost to the Brazilians in two sets (20-22, 18-21), but also overcame Italians Daniele Lupo and Enrico Rossi 2-0 (21-13, 25-23), had the edge in the tie-breakers and claimed the automatic spot in the quarterfinals. The Brazilians will have to play the Round of 12, as will reigning Gstaad Elite16 champions, Marco and Esteban Grimalt of Chile, who finished third in the pool.

The Round of 12 duels in the Swiss Alps will have Mol/Sørum vs. Hörl/Horst, Ehlers/Wickler vs. Grimalt/Grimalt, Brouwer/Meeuwsen vs. Andre/George and Krattiger/Breer vs. Pedro Solberg/Guto.

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