Hosts the United States had a productive day on Thursday at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Newport Beach Elite, seeing eight of their nine women’s teams advance to the tournament’s elimination rounds and three of them do so as the winners of their pools, earning direct spots in the quarterfinals.

Kelly Cheng/Molly Shaw, Taryn Brasher/Kristen Nuss and Terese Cannon/Megan Kraft went undefeated in pool play and are now one win away from the medal rounds in California. Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos were the only non-American team to win their pool.

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Cheng and Shaw finished first in Pool C after they took down FIVB World Ranking leaders Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes of Brazil on Thursday. The Americans benefited from the homecourt advantage to top the Brazilians 2-1 (21-14, 17-21, 15-5) and claim the top spot.

Their compatriots Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips also advanced after beating Brazilian veterans Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima in straight sets (21-14, 21-15) and will compete in the Round of 12.

In Pool A, Brasher and Nuss emerged on top with a perfect campaign of three wins and no sets dropped. They got two of those results on Thursday, beating Germans Sandra Ittlinger and Anna-Lena Grüne 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) and repeating the two-set (21-14, 21-14) victory against the Austrian Klinger sisters Dorina and Ronja a few hours later.

The Chacon sisters Alaina and Morgan advanced in third place after they took Ittlinger and Grüne down in straight sets (21-11, 21-19) and will now try to survive the Round of 12.

The top team in Pool D, Cannon and Kraft had only one match on Thursday, but it was an intense one, in which they prevailed over Brazilian Olympians Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti in the tie-breaker (21-15, 19-21, 15-13).

Despite losing their last pool play match to compatriots Sara Hughes and Ally Batenhorst in the tie-breaker (16-21, 21-19, 15-9), Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen also advanced and will play in the Round of 12.

In order to win Pool B, Duda and Ana Patrícia needed to defeat Americans Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) and Germans Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann also in two sets (21-14, 21-17) on Thursday. Donlin and Denaburg also advanced, as did their compatriots Jaden Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry, who secured a big 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-10) win over Bock and Lippmann.

With that, five American teams will be in action in the Round of 12 on Friday – Donlin/Denaburg and Chacon/Chacon will play each other, Whitmarsh/Newberry will face Carol and Rebecca, Harward/Phillips will meet the Klingers and Quiggle/Loreen will challenge Thamela and Victoria.

Beach Pro Tour Newport Beach Elite - Match Schedule & Results

After the Round of 12 is completed, the quarterfinals will also be held on Friday in California. The semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for Saturday.

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