Beach Pro Tour

Four more US pairs advance to women’s main draw in Nuvali

Two Lithuanian duos and one each from the Netherlands and Poland also successful in Thursday’s qualifiers

Published 01:21, 28 Nov 2024

Alaina Chacon in Nuvali (photo: Kimberly Pauig)

Six American teams will compete in the women’s main draw at the Nuvali Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after as many as four pairs representing the United States pushed through Thursday’s qualifiers in the Philippines. European duos – two from Lithuania and one each from the Netherlands and Poland – picked up the remaining vacancies.

Watch the Nuvali Challenge on VBTV.

USA’s Piper Ferch & Madison Shields were the lowest seeded team to qualify. Competing under number 27 in the qualification bracket, they started off with a 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 15-10) comeback against Yeva Serdiuk & Daria Romaniuk of Ukraine in the first round and went on to produce a 2-0 (24-22, 21-10) sweep of their second-round match with Netherlands’ Lisa Luini & Desy Poiesz.

In their deciding matches, 15^th-seeded Americans Alaina Chacon & Molly Phillips mastered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) upset of second-seeded Australians Stefanie Fejes & Jana Milutinovic, while their 14^th-seeded compatriots Carly Kan & Devanne Sours stunned third-seeded Australians Jasmine Fleming & Elizabeth Alchin in a 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) sweep.

Qualification bracket leaders Molly Shaw & Toni Rodriguez went through the first round with a bye and, in the second, the US duo dominated in an emphatic 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) shutout of France’s Elsa Descamps & Romane Sobezalz.

In the only second-round game that was pushed to three sets, Lithuania’s Daniele Kvedaraite & Jekaterina Kovalskaja, seeded eighth, squeezed out a narrow 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 16-14) comeback win over Ukraine’s Inna Makhno & Iryna Makhno.

Another Lithuanian pair, 10^th-seeded Ieva Dumbauskaite & Ieva Vasiliauskaite, cruised through the qualifiers without dropping a set. In the deciding match, they achieved a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) victory over Poland’s Marta Lodej & Julia Kielak.

19-year-old Noa Sonneville was the youngest player to celebrate success in the Nuvali qualifiers. She and her 21-year-old partner Brecht Piersma of the Netherlands, seeded 12^th, stamped their main draw ticket with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-14) shutout of France’s Alex Merle & Saofe Duval, while 20-year-old Poles Malgorzata Ciezkowska & Urszula Lunio, seeded 13^th, claimed a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) win over fourth-seeded Chenoa Christ & Hanna-Marie Schieder of Germany.