Brazilians Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado had a challenging opening day ahead of them in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Tepic Elite16, but the veterans were up for the task and, with two wins, are among the first teams to secure their spots in the elimination rounds of the event held at the Amado Nervo Auditorium, in Mexico.
Elite16 - Tepic, MEX - 2023
Bárbara and Carol unstoppable in Tepic’s Pool A
With two wins in their first matches in Mexico, the Brazilians are guaranteed in the elimination rounds
Published 03:56, 24 Mar 2023
Carol and Bárbara smile at the end of a productive day in Tepic
With two victories and only one more match to play in the Pool A of the main draw, the 35-year-old Brazilians are guaranteed to finish pool play at least in third place, which would be enough to take them to the Round of 12. On Friday, Bárbara and Carol will try to secure another win and progress directly to the quarterfinals.
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Ranked third in the FIVB World Rankings, Bárbara and Carol faced Spanish qualifiers Liliana Fernández and Paula Soria and had a strong performance to top the Europeans in two sets (21-18, 21-16). Later, they faced reigning world champions and FIVB World Ranking leaders Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos and again came out on top, overcoming their compatriots in the tie-breaker (21-14, 13-21, 15-11).
“We feel great,” Bárbara said after their second match in the day. “We’re really motivated to be here. We have a tough pool and just had a difficult match against Duda and Ana. We’re trying to bring our best to each match, but also to have fun in the process. We’re really happy with our start.”
Bárbara digs in the all-Brazilian Pool A matchup
Bárbara and Carol will complete their pool play schedule on Friday, against Canadian Olympians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, who share the second place in the pool with Duda and Ana Patrícia - each team ended the first day with a win and a loss.
“The energy of the crowd has been amazing here,” Carol reacted. “Every match is really tough in Elite16 events and now we’ll rest and prepare to do our best tomorrow and finish pool play strong.”
Dutch Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam also went undefeated on the first day of the main draw in Tepic, winning both their Pool B matches and also booking their spots in the elimination rounds. The winners of the Doha Elite16 event topped Canadians Sarah Pavan and Sophie Bukovec 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) and then defeated Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova also in straight sets (21-17, 21-15).
Schoon and Stam are yet to drop a set in the Tepic Elite16
Italian qualifiers Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi are in the exact same position as the Dutch as they also claimed straight-set victories against the same opponents on Thursday. They started their journey by downing Tina and Anastasija 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) and ended the day overcoming Pavan and Bukovec also in two sets (21-12, 23-21). On Friday, while Dutch and Italians will play for the top spot in the pool, Latvians and Canadians will duel to avoid elimination.
Pool C winners will also hail from Europe after Germany's Cinja Tillmann/Svenja Müller and France's Alexia Richard/Lézana Placette reigned supreme on the first day of matches in Tepic with a pair of victories against American duos. The Germans had a hard-fought, three-set (10-21, 21-18, 20-18) victory over Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil at the start of the afternoon and a more controlled two-set (21-13, 21-14) triumph over Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles in the evening.
The French, who started the event in the qualifier on Wednesday, needed all three sets in both of their matches, prevailing over Flint and Scoles 19-21, 21-14, 15-8 and overcoming Cannon and Sponcil 30-28, 19-21, 15-10. Germans and French will determine who goes straight to the quarterfinals in their Friday encounter while the two American duels will meet in a win-or-go-home match.
Placette sets during the match against Cannon and Sponcil
Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are the top team in Pool D so far after the Americans won a pair of tough matches on Thursday. They started their campaign in Tepic with a straight-set (21-18, 21-17) victory over compatriots Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss and followed it up with another two-set (21-18, 21-19) triumph, this time against Australian Olympic medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho. Cheng and Hughes will try to confirm the first place in the pool on Friday, when they face Mexicans Atenas Gutierrez and Abril Flores, who sit at the bottom of the standings after they dropped their first matches to Clancy/Mariafe and Kloth/Nuss.
Friday’s match schedule, which starts at 9:00 local time (16:00 UTC), will have the conclusion of pool play and the Round of 12, which will reunite teams ranked second and third in their pools. The four pool winners will advance directly to the quarterfinals and will only get back on the court on Saturday.
