Playing not too far from home in the first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event of the 2025 season, American women’s teams are dominating the tournament held in Quintana Roo, Mexico, as the country will have four of the eight teams competing in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Duos from Austria, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland also overcame the Round of 12 at the Playa del Carmen on Friday and will also enter the fourth day of action targeting the medal rounds in Mexico.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite live on VBTV

Three of the four American teams that made it to the quarterfinals took the long route on Friday, winning a pair of matches to earn their spots among the best eight duos of the tournament.

Among them were top-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, who topped Brazilians Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes 2-0 (21-12, 21-17) in the Round of 18 and then swept (21-16, 21-16) Ukrainian qualifiers Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko in the Round of 12.

Their quarterfinal opponents and compatriots, Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen also played twice, but needed to go through five sets as they defeated Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte in the tie-breaker (23-21, 19-21, 15-9) in the Round of 18 before beating the Austrian Klinger sisters Dorina and Ronja in two sets (21-19, 21-19) in the Round of 12.

Playing together for the first time on the Beach Pro Tour, world champion Kelly Cheng and her temporary partner Molly Shaw also had a long day, which started with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) Round of 18 win against Chinese Xinyi Xia and Zingzhe Wang and ended with a three-set (18-21, 21-14, 16-14) victory over compatriots Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft in the Round of 12.

VW Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite: Match Schedule and Results

New Swiss team eliminates Olympic champions

The next opponents of Cheng and Shaw in Quintana Roo, the new Swiss duo formed by Paris Olympic bronze medalist Tanja Hüberli and 19-year-old Leona Kernen produced a huge result in the Round of 12. The two, who took silver at last week’s Yucatán Challenge in their team debut, took reigning Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil down with a two-set (21-18, 21-18) victory.

Despite losing their Round of 12 matches, the Klinger sisters and Americans Cannon and Kraft also made it to the quarterfinals as the two best losing sides considering the combined rally point ratio from the pool matches and the Round of 12 match.

The Europeans will play Brazilians Carol Salgaod and Rebecca Cavalcanti, who prevailed over Paraguayan Olympians Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti in straight sets (21-17, 22-20), while the Americans will meet FIVB World Ranking leaders Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann of Germany, who needed three sets (21-17, 18-21, 15-11) to send Dutch Raisa Schoon and Emi van Driel home.

Besides the quarterfinals, which will all be held between 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT) and 15:00 (20:00 GMT), the semifinals will also take place on Saturday, with the medal matches completing the tournament’s schedule on Sunday.

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