Challenge - Bhubaneswar, IND - 2026

All three American duos on to Bhubaneswar Challenge women’s quarterfinals

Two pairs from Japan and one each from China, Romania and Ukraine also make the last eight India

Published 10:33, 06 Mar 2026

USA’s Allysa Batenhorst

All three American pairs competing in the women’s tournament at the Bhubaneswar Challenge on the 2026 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals. The last-eight lineup in India was completed by two teams from Japan and one each from China, Romania and Ukraine.

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Top-seeded Sara Hughes & Allysa Batenhorst are the only American duo to have suffered a loss at the women’s competition in Bhubaneswar so far – in their opening pool game on Thursday. They finished Pool A runners-up, but were lucky enough to skip the sixteenthfinal elimination round with a bye. The second challenge for the 2023 world champion and her current partner came in Friday’s eighthfinals from Japan’s Sakura Ito & Mayu Sawame. The Americans got the job done in straight sets, 2-0 (21-12, 21-19), and booked their spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Batenhorst impressed with eight kill blocks and an ace towards a match-high 23 points. Hughes & Batenhorst will now have an opportunity to take revenge from Yeva Serdiuk & Sofiia Kurnikova for the loss they conceded in pool, as they will take on the Ukrainian duo again, this time in a do-or-die battle for a semifinal berth. Serdiuk & Kurnikova produced a hard-fought 2-0 (24-22, 25-23) victory in their eighthfinal match with China’s Jiang Kaiyue & Dong Jie.

Ninth-seeded Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig of the United States, who won their pool on Thursday, followed up with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) sweep of their eighthfinal match against 10^th-seeded Hungarians Lilla Villam & Stefania Kun, with a match-high 19 points from Koenig. Next, the American duo will take on third-seeded Yan Xu & Xia Xinyi of China, who produced a 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) eighthfinal shutout of fourth-seeded Ana Vergara & Sofia Gonzalez of Spain.

The third American pair, Natalie Myszkowski & Carly Kan, seeded 13th, won the only women’s tie-breaker match on Friday, a 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-12) eighthfinal against China’s Halaiti Kadeliye & Zhou Mingli. Myszkowski led the way with 25 points. Myszkowski & Kan will now lock horns with sixth-seeded Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto of Japan. The Asian team celebrated a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) sweep of their eighthfinal game against fifth-seeded Annique Niederhauser & Menia Bentele of Switzerland. Ren chipped in with four aces towards a match-high 16 points.

Second-seeded Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami were the other Japanese team to advance to the last eight. They delivered a merciless 2-0 (21-10, 21-7) shutout of Deepika Kandasamy & Pavithra Sudalaikasi, who had earlier upset eighth-seeded Sasikala Veerapathiran & Kanimozhi Lakshmanan in an all-Indian sixteenthfinal. Reika shined with five aces towards a match-high 17 points in their second knockout round match against Deepika & Pavithra. Seventh-seeded Romanians Beata Vaida & Francesca Alupei, so far the only gold medalists on the women’s 2026 Beach Pro Tour, who won last month’s Mount Maunganui Futures in New Zealand, will challenge the Japanese duo in the quarterfinals after managing a 2-0 (21-18, 22-20) victory over Germany’s Chenoa Christ & Sophia Neuss in the eighthfinals. Alupei topped the match chart with 20 points.