Challenge - Nuvali, PHI - 2025

Qualifiers from Belgium and Australia push on to Nuvali eighthfinals

The men’s sixteenthfinal round in the Philippines also offers three exciting three-setters

Published 02:48, 17 Oct 2025

Australia’s D'Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse in action

The sixteenthfinal round of the men’s competition at the Nuvali Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour was played on Friday, offering three exciting three-setters. Two teams that emerged from Wednesday’s qualifications – Belgium’s Kyan Vercauteren & Joppe Van Langendonck and Australia’s D'Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse – were among the winners who advanced to Saturday’s eighthfinals in the Philippines.

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Seeded 30^th in the 32-team main draw, Vercauteren & Van Langendonck, who are still the reigning U21 world champions, persevered through two extended sets in their sixteenthfinal match against Germany’s Maximilian Just & Philipp Huster to celebrate a 2-0 (23-21, 22-20) victory. Vercauteren impressed with five kill blocks and three aces to finish with 16 points, while Van Langendonck led the team with a total of 18 points. In Saturday’s eighthfinals, the Belgians will take on fifth-seeded Englishmen Javier Bello & Joaquin Bello.

25^th-seeded Potts & Pearse produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) sweep of their encounter with fellow Australian qualifiers Ben Hood & Oliver Merritt, with a match-high 21 points from Pearse, including five blocks and three aces. Next, Potts & Pearse will meet sixth-seeded Italians Manuel Alfieri & Alex Ranghieri for a spot in the quarterfinals.

An all-Austrian clash proved to be the longest match of the sixteenthfinals. After over an hour on the court, Julian Horl & Laurenc Grossig rejoiced with a 2-1 (22-20, 18-21, 15-10) victory over prominent compatriots Robin Seidl & Alexander Huber. Grossig led the winners with 23 points.

In another epic three-setter, pushed deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker, Australia’s Thomas Hodges & Paul Burnett earned a 2-1 (23-25, 21-16, 20-18) win over USA’s Timothy Brewster & Ryan Ierna. Burnett contributed a match-high 26 points, while Hogdes added another 21 towards the victory.

Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar & Sofyan Rachman Efendi also needed three sets to cope with the resistance of Brazilian qualifiers Gabriel Santiago & Felipe Alves, eventually celebrating a 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-11) victory. Sofyan raised a remarkable nine kill blocks and added two aces to finish with 21 points, while Bintang topped the match charts with a total of 25 points.

The other three sixteenthfinals were resolved in straight sets, with Denmark’s Mads Mollgaard & Nicolai Houmann defeating Italy’s Tiziano Andreatta & Davide Benzi by 2-0 (21-19, 24-22), France’s Elouan Chouikh-Barbez & Joadel Gardoque beating Australia’s Luke Ryan & Joshua Howat by 2-0 (21-13, 21-19), and Austria’s Moritz Pristauz & Alexander Horst taking out American qualifiers Hagen Smith & Logan Webber by 2-0 (21-14, 21-14).

Another all-Austrian clash shaped up in one of the eighthfinal fixtures on Saturday. Pristauz & Horst will challenge top-seeded compatriots Christoph Dressler & Philipp Waller for a berth in the quarterfinals.