Elite16 - João Pessoa, BRA - 2025

Swedish-Norwegian clash shapes up in Joao Pessoa round of 12

Bassereau & Aye upset the number three team in the world as both French pairs win in Round of 18

Published 01:02, 20 Sept 2025

Pfretzschner, L./Winter (GER) vs. Mol, A./Sørum, C. (NOR) - Round of 18 #60036977

Norwegian stars Mol & Sorum at the Joao Pessoa Elite

Saturday’s men’s round of 12 at the Joao Pessoa Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour will feature an exciting clash between experienced Norwegians Anders Mol & Christian Sorum, the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking, and number four – Swedish rising stars Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson. Meanwhile, the number three team in the world, Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso, suffered an upset at the hands of France’s Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye in Friday’s round of 18 and dropped out of contention in Brazil.

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After unexpectedly finishing third in their pool, top-seeded Mol & Sorum are back on track. In their first knockout match, they earned a hard-fought 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) victory over Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter to set up a duel against the fourth-seeded talented youngsters Holting Nilsson & Andersson in the next round. Sorum was the best scorer of the match with 19 points to his name, all in swings.

15^th-seeded Capogrosso & Capogrosso, who lost to Holting Nilsson & Andersson in their pool final, were now eliminated from further participation by French qualifiers Bassereau & Aye, seeded 21^st in the 24-team main draw. The European duo produced a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) sweep with a match-high 20 points from Bassereau, including seven kill blocks and an ace. Bassereau & Aye will next meet Pool B winners, second-seeded Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands.

Capogrosso N./Capogrosso T. vs. Bassereau/Aye, C. - Match Highlights, 09/19/2025

The other French team in the tournament, Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, also pushed through to the round of 12. In the round of 18, they delivered a 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) win over American Olympians Miles Evans & Chase Budinger. On the way to the quarterfinals, Rotar & Gauthier-Rat will challenge eighth-seeded Pool E winners Steven van de Velde & Alexander Brouwer, also of the Netherlands.

Two of the three home teams that took part in the first elimination round survived in the competition. Qualifiers Vinicius Freitas & Heitor Barbosa were awarded a forfeit victory after their Polish opponents Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak withdrew from the match because of an injury. They will take on compatriots George Wanderley & Saymon Barbosa in an all-Brazilian round-of-12 duel.

Sixth-seeded Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci, who had finished sixth in Pool F, moved on to the round of 12 with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-11) win over Norway’s Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol. Evandro & Arthur Lanci will now try to stop the victorious quest of 24^th-seeded Portuguese qualifiers Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos.

Another Brazilian duo, qualifiers Andre Stein & Renato Lima, were knocked out by reigning Olympic champions David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig. The fourth-seeded Swedish jump-setters recovered from their loss to George & Saymon for the first place in their pool with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) shutout of Andre & Renato, and will next meet undefeated Austrian qualifiers Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger.