Playing together internationally for the first time in six years, Brazilians Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes and Vitor Felipe had a promising start to their reunion, as the two advanced from the qualifier of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour João Pessoa Elite16 on Wednesday.

The Brazilians were among the four men’s teams that secured the last spots in Thursday’s main draw in João Pessoa and the only players from the host country to do so – four women’s duos also went undefeated with a pair of victories on Thursday.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour live on VBTV

Guto, 31, and Vitor, 33, played five tournaments as partners in the 2018 FIVB World Tour season, finishing fourth in the Itapema four-star. They got back together for the remainder of the 2024 Beach Pro Tour season and secured an extra spot in the João Pessoa main draw for hosts Brazil.

The two, who combine for 16 international medals in their careers, faced familiar opponents in the qualifier, beating two teams from Brazil on Thursday – they overcame Dudu Barbosa and Gabriel Furquim 2-0 (21-12, 24-22) in the first round and topped Heitor Benito and Vinicius Rezende in the tie-breaker (21-14, 16-21, 15-11).

“Playing in João Pessoa is always incredible,” Guto said after the match. “It’s Thursday and we had packed stands all day.”

In the main draw, the two will be in Pool D, where they will play Qatar’s Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso/Tomas Capogrosso and Brazil’s Felipe Alves/Henrique Barros.

The other three men’s teams that advanced were England’s Javier Bello/Joaquin Bello, Argentina’s Bautista Amieva/Maciel Bueno and Portugal’s Hugo Campos/João Pedrosa.

Americans have a strong day among the women

The women’s qualifier in João Pessoa was dominated by teams from the United States, who claimed two of the four spots in play and made of their country the only one to have multiple teams advancing.

One of the two sides to advance, Kimberly Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst defeated two home teams on their way to the main draw. First, they prevailed over Josemari ‘Josi’ Alves and Talita Calixto 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) and then they eliminated Elize Maia and Thainara Feitosa also in straight sets (21-16, 21-15).

Their compatriots Lexy Denaburg and Deahna Kraft had a more eventful day in Brazil, beating Lithuanians Ieva Dumbauskaite and Ieva Vasiliauskaite in the tie-breaker (17-21, 21-12, 15-9) and prevailing over Canadians Marie-Alex Bélanger and Lea Monkhouse in two close sets (21-17, 21-18).

Also overcoming the qualifier in João Pessoa were Germans Sandra Ittlinger and Kim Van de Velde and Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova and Tetiana Lazarenko.

Beach Pro Tour João Pessoa Elite16 – Match Schedule & Results

On Thursday, the main draw is going to start in João Pessoa, with 12 matches in each gender taking place. The first encounters will begin at 9:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

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