Elite16 - Cape Town, RSA - 2025

German qualifiers win two tie-breakers to top pool in Cape Town

Mozambique’s Jose Mondlane & Osvaldo Mungoi to defend African honor in knockout stage

Published 08:55, 23 Oct 2025

van de Velde/Brouwer (NED) vs. Lorenz/Rietschel (GER) - Pool C #68809309

Germany’s Lorenz & Rietschel against Netherlands’ Van de Velde & Brouwer at the Cape Town Elite

Germany’s Momme Lorenz & Tilo Rietschel, who emerged from Wednesday’s qualifications at the Cape Town Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, stayed on the victory track in the first stage of the main draw and, after winning two tie-breakers, topped their pool and advanced straight to the second elimination round. One of the two African teams in the main draw – Mozambique’s Jose Mondlane & Osvaldo Mungoi – also survived the pool stage by finishing third in their pool and moved on to the first knockout round.

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Competing together at the Elite level for the first time, 21-year-old Lorenz & Rietschel, seeded 22^nd in the 24-team main draw, started their Pool C campaign with a stunning 2-1 (11-21, 21-19, 15-12) comeback victory over third-seeded standouts Steven van de Velde & Alexander Brouwer of the Netherlands. Lorenz led the way with six aces and four kill blocks towards a team-high 24 points in the match. The Germans went on to deliver another comeback from a set down in the 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-10) pool final against 15^th-seeded Brazilians Adelmo Folha & Mateus Dultra and booked their spot in the round of 12. Lorenz was the best scorer of the match with 22 points, including four blocks and two aces. Dutch Olympians Van de Velde & Brouwer managed to stay in contention and joined the Brazilian duo into the round of 18 after a 2-0 (21-14, 21-10) sweep of the match for the third place in the pool against 10^th-seeded Americans Robert Harrison & Cody Caldwell, who were knocked out of the tournament.

van de Velde/Brouwer vs. Lorenz/Rietschel - Match Highlights, 10/22/2025

Pool A was expectedly won by top-seeded Swedes Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson. They mastered two straight-set wins – 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) over English qualifiers Frederick Bialokoz & Issa Batrane and 2-0 (26-24, 21-7) over Brazil’s Adrielson Dos Santos & Arthur Da Silva – to jump straight into the round of 12. The big surprise in this pool was dropped in the third place match. Despite being higher seeded in the tournament, Mozambique’s Mondlane & Mingoi have far less international experience than Bialokoz & Batrane, yet they managed to beat them in straight sets, 2-0 (26-24, 21-18), and emerged as the only African team to advance to the men’s playoffs. In fact, it was the first ever Beach Pro Tour win for either of the two Mozambican players, who are also set to represent their continent at the upcoming FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships next month in Australia. Against the Englishmen, Mungoi put up a fantastic seven kill blocks to lead the team with a total of 18 points, while Mondlane added another 17, including an ace.

Bialokoz/Batrane vs. Mondlane/Mungoi - Match Highlights, 10/23/2025

Pool B also offered a surprising result, but in the match for the first place. After shutting out Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter in their first game, 14^th-seeded Czechs Tadeas Trousil & Jiri Sedlak upset second-seeded Brazilians Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci in the duel to top the pool. In the longest lasting match of the entire pool stage, Trousil & Sedlak squeezed out a tight 2-1 (21-19, 16-21, 16-14) victory after 52 minutes of play. Sedlak’s match-high 26-point tally featured as many as nine kill blocks and two aces. The Germans joined the Brazilians into the round of 18 after sweeping the third place game against Austrian qualifiers Robin Seidl & Philipp Sponer.

Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler, seeded fourth in Cape Town, cruised through Pool D on two straight-set victories. Brazil’s Vinicius Freitas & Heitor Barbosa and Czech qualifiers Tomas Semerad & Adam Stocek finished second and third in the pool, respectively, to stay in contention, while South African wild cards and home favorites Kemoloile Otsweleng & Mthokozisi Mndingi had to leave the tournament.

Eighth-seeded Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol of Norway coped with two pairs of French opponents to top Pool E. First, they beat qualifiers Elouan Chouikh-Barbez & Joadel Gardoque in an epic 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 21-19) three-setter. Then, they mastered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) upset of fifth-seeded pool leaders Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye. Both French teams also moved on to the playoffs, at the expense of Hungarian qualifiers Artur Hajos & Bence Streli.

In an all-Austrian Pool F winners match, sixth-seeded Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger celebrated 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) shutout of qualifiers Alexander Horst Moritz Pristauz, while the third place went to American qualifiers Timothy Brewster & Ryan Ierna after knocking out seventh-seeded Germans Paul Henning & Lui Wust with a narrow 2-0 (25-23, 23-21) upset.