Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are set to play in the semifinals of an international beach volleyball tournament in the iconic Gstaad for the first time in their careers as the Americans survived a pair of elimination matches in the Swiss Alps on Saturday to find their way into the Final Four of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in the city.

The Americans defeated teams from Brazil and Canada to join Germany’s Cinja Tillmann/Svenja Müller, Brazil’s Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa/Ana Patrícia Ramos and compatriots Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss in the semifinals of the women’s tournament in the Swiss Alps, which will be played on Sunday, just a few hours before the medal matches.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 live on VBTV

The second-best team in Pool C in the opening phase of the Gstaad Elite 16, Cheng and Hughes started the day in the Round of 12, where they secured a comfortable 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) win over Brazilians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti.

In the quarterfinals, the Americans needed to bring their best game to come back from a first-set loss and overcome Canadian Olympians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson in the tie-breaker (20-22, 21-18, 15-11) and advance to the semifinals.

“It was such a team effort,” Hughes said about the victory against the Canadians, which included a huge comeback on the second set. “Kelly and I wanted to win, but we know they’re a great team, so we couldn’t let up. I also want to thank the fans for their support, it’s been an absolutely amazing atmosphere here.”

It’s the fifth time both Cheng and Hughes play an international event in Gstaad and neither of them had made it past ninth place before. The Americans started their second stint as partners less than a year ago and have won four international titles since then, topping the podium at the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha, the Torquay and Tepic Elite16s and the Torquay Challenge.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Their semifinal opponents Tillmann and Müller had to play just one match on Saturday, as they started the elimination rounds in the quarterfinals after winning Pool C with a victory over Cheng and Hughes on Friday.

The Europeans, who started their campaign in Gstaad on Wednesday in the qualifiers, secured their sixth-straight win in the Swiss Alps, prevailing on a nail-biting three-setter (21-16, 15-21, 16-14) against Brazilians Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado.

Defending Gstaad Elite16 champions Duda and Ana Patrícia had a lighter day in Gstaad on Saturday, handling Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi in two sets (21-14, 21-14) in their only match of the day, in the quarterfinals.

The fourth semifinalists, Kloth and Nuss also had a dominant performance in the quarterfinals in their only match of the day on Saturday. The Americans, who were the top team in Pool D, swept (21-10, 21-15) Australian Olympic medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho to make it to the semifinals in Gstaad for the first time as well.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour 2023
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter