Sharing the same side of the net in an international event for the first time since 2016, the American Crabb brothers Trevor and Taylor had a promising start to their campaign at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Newport Beach Elite on Wednesday.

The two won their first Pool C match in California and got into a good position to continue to contend for a spot in the elimination rounds when pool play comes to an end on Thursday.

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Trevor, 36, and Taylor, 33, started their international careers together and competed in five FIVB World Tour events between 2015 and 2016. After almost a decade playing with different partners, the two reunited for this week’s event and were awarded a wildcard.

The Crabbs took the first step to making the most of the opportunity on Wednesday, taking down the 2024 European champions Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots of Latvia in the tie-breaker (16-21, 21-19, 15-13) in the first match in Pool C.

On Thursday, the Americans will complete their pool play campaign in Newport Beach with matches against Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci and Spain’s Adrián Gavira/Alejandro Huerta. The teams met on Wednesday and the Brazilians triumphed in straight sets (21-14, 21-13).

All four American teams win

The other three American teams that compete in the main draw this week also secured victories on Wednesday, producing a solid start for the host country. They only ones to end the day undefeated, however, were Paris Olympians Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who swept (24-22, 21-18) the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban in Pool D – German Olympic medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler topped Brazilians George Wanderley and Saymon Barbosa also in two sets (21-14, 21-16) in the other match of the day.

Fellow Paris Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans played twice on Wednesday and had mixed results, prevailing over Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in the tie-breaker (21-19, 19-21, 15-11) in their Pool A debut and falling to Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in two sets (21-18, 21-13) later.

The Asians downed Australians Thomas Hodges and Paul Burnett in straight sets (21-12, 21-15) in their first match and are guaranteed in the elimination rounds. Mol and Berntsen rebounded after their opening-match loss and defeated the Australians 2-0 (21-19, 21-18).

In Pool B, Chaim Schalk and James Shaw followed the same script of their compatriots, taking Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis down in three sets (21-17, 17-21, 15-11) in the first round and going down to Swedish Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson in two (21-17, 21-13) a few hours later.

The Europeans started their campaign in Newport Beach with a two-set (21-11, 21-12) victory against the English Bello twins Javier and Joaquin and are qualified for the next round. The fourth match of the pool had Carracher and Nicolaidis beating the Bellos in the tie-breaker (21-18, 21-23, 22-20).

Beach Pro Tour Newport Beach Elite - Match Schedule & Results

Pool play will be completed on Thursday, when the last 12 matches will be held. Pool winners will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked second and third will play in the Round of 12 – both will take place on Friday. The semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for Saturday.

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