A titanic clash between the two mighty world powerhouses of women’s beach volleyball, Brazil and the United States, will spark excitement on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour on Sunday, as both women’s semifinals at the Joao Pessoa Elite in Brazil will feature home teams against American opponents. First, at 11:00 local time (14:00 UTC), Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti will take on Kelly Cheng & Molly Shaw. An hour later, the duel between reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) and USA’s Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft will get underway.

· Watch the Joao Pessoa Elite on VBTV

The American pairing of reigning world champion and two-time Olympian Kelly Cheng with her current teammate Molly Shaw is already on a roll of three consecutive wins over Brazilian opponents in Joao Pessoa. After beating Ana Patricia & Duda in their pool final on Friday, ninth-seeded Cheng & Shaw started their Saturday with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) sweep of their round-of-12 encounter with seventh-seeded Talita Antunes & Taiana Lima, and rounded it off with a dramatic 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-12) comeback upset of the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking, top-seeded Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, in the quarterfinals. In that three-setter, Cheng led her team with 19 points, including three kill blocks, while Victoria produced a match-high 29 points, including three aces.

Cheng & Shaw’s next opponent, 11^th-seeded Carol & Rebecca are the number two team in the World Ranking. On Saturday, they first disposed of Lithuanian qualifiers Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte in a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) round-of-12 shutout. Then, they put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) sweep of their quarterfinal encounter with third-seeded Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia. With 17 points to her name, Carol was the best scorer of that game.

Reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia & Duda also scored two straight-set victories on Saturday. In the round of 12, the fourth-seeded Brazilians delivered a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) win over Spanish Olympians Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno. With seven kill blocks and an ace towards a match-high 19 points from Ana Patricia, they hammered out a merciless 2-0 (21-10, 21-9) quarterfinal shutout of fifth-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland.

Eighth-seeded Cannon & Kraft were one of the two teams that lost their round-of-12 game, but still advanced to the quarterfinals. After conceding in a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) encounter with bracket leaders Thamela & Victoria, the American duo bounced back with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) shutout of Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada to set up a semifinal meeting with Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalists Ana Patricia & Duda. Cannon authored a match-high 21 points towards the victory in that quarterfinal.

The medal matches will be played later on Sunday, with the third-place game beginning at 16:00 (19:00) and the final showdown serving off at 18:00 (21:00).

VW Beach Pro Tour Joao Pessoa Elite: schedule and results

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