Dutch stars Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon scored their first win since Stam’s return from a long injury-prompted absence and will be back in Elite main draw action on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour on Thursday. They passed successfully through Wednesday’s qualifications at the Rio de Janeiro Elite to join another team from the Netherlands, two from the host nation Brazil and duos from Czechia, Paraguay, Poland and the United States in claiming the main draw vacancies.

· Watch the Rio de Janeiro Elite on VBTV

Stam & Schoon returned to Beach Pro Tour action together last week in Joao Pessoa, but then they failed to win their qualifying match. Now, in Rio de Janeiro, the Dutch pair, seeded 12^th in the qualification bracket, achieved a 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-12) comeback against fifth-seeded Americans Kylie Kuyava-De Berg & Xolani Hodel. While Stam led the way with a total of 21 points, Schoon impressed with five aces towards a 13-point tally.

Brazilian wild cards Andressa Cavalcanti & Taina Bigi, seeded 16^th in the 16-team qualification bracket, managed to upset the top-seeded Australian pairing of Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist Taliqua Clancy with Jana Milutinovic. The home team managed to do it in straight sets, 2-0 (21-19, 21-13), with Taina contributing 19 points.

Third-seeded Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte also suffered an upset. 14^th-seeded Paraguayan Olympians Giuliana Poletti Corrales & Michelle Valiente knocked them out with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-13, 15-12) comeback win.

In another three-set upset, Brazil’s Thainara Feitosa de Oliveira & Talita Simonetti, seeded 10^th, delivered a 2-1 (21-17, 17, 15-8) victory over seventh-seeded Americans Hailey Harward & Molly Phillips.

The match between second-seeded Marketa Svozilova & Marie-Sara Stochlova of Czechia and 15^th-seeded Carol Horta & Elize Maia of Brazil was even pushed to the overtime of the tie-breaker, but the European side persevered to live up to their higher ranking and celebrated a 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 16-14) win.

The remaining three games were resolved in straight sets. Another Paris 2024 Olympic team conceded a defeat and was knocked out of contention. France’s Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard fell in a hard-fought 2-0 (25-23, 21-18) qualifier against Poland’s Natalia Okla & Urszula Lunio. 11^th-seeded Wies Bekhuis & Emi van Driel of the Netherlands beat sixth-seeded Elizabeth Alchin & Georgia Johnson of Australia by 2-0 (21-12, 21-18), while USA’s Corinne Quiggle & Chloe Loreen produced a 2-0 (21-13, 21-19) shutout of New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald.

Women’s main draw action in Rio is set to start on Thursday, with the first games serving off at 09:00 local time (12:00 UTC).

VW Beach Pro Tour Rio de Janeiro Elite: women’s main draw list
VW Beach Pro Tour Rio de Janeiro Elite: match schedule and results

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