The pool stage of the women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Adelaide came to an end on Monday. The 12 pool winners and 12 pool runners-up booked their direct tickets to the sixteenthfinals. So did the four best-ranked third-placed teams in the final pool standings – New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald, Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser & Leona Kernen, Puerto Rico’s Maria Gonzalez & Allanis Navas and Netherlands’ Mila Konink & Desy Poiesz. The other eight third-placed duos shaped up the four match-ups for Tuesday’s round of 36, dubbed “the lucky loser round”, to fill the remaining four vacancies in the sixteenthfinals, while the 12 teams that placed fourth in their pools left the competition.

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Ninth-seeded Italians Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth bounced back from Sunday’s surprising loss at the hands of New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) shutout of unbeaten Americans Julia Donlin & Lexy Denaburg and surged to the top of the Pool I standings. The Kiwis achieved a 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-11) victory over winless Lea Monkhouse & Marie-Alex Belanger of Canada to knock them out of contention. Three teams finished on a 2-1 win-loss record each and the results between them placed Gottardi & Orsi Toth in first place, Donlin & Denaburg in second, and Polley & MacDonald in third, with all three pushing through to the sixteenthfinals.

The all-German battle for the first place in Pool H was pushed to an overtime tie-breaker and resulted in an upset. 17^th-seeded Linda Bock & Louisa Lippmann celebrated a 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 16-14) victory over eighth-seeded Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann after both teams had already secured their advancement to the sixteenthfinals. Puerto Rico’s Maria Gonzalez & Allanis Navas also progressed to the sixteenthfinals as one of the four best-ranked third-placed teams after a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) shutout of Argentina’s Brenda Churin & Morena Abdala in the direct duel for the third place in the pool.

In Pool J, Dutch standouts Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon secured the second place after achieving their second win on Monday, a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) shutout of Morocco’s Mahassine Siad & Dina Mellal, who exited the competition without winning a set. Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada pocketed their third straight-victory, a hard-fought 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) over France’s Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau, to top the pool and book a sixteenthfinal slot, along with Stam & Schoon. As a third-placed team, Vieira & Chamereau will play in the first elimination round on Tuesday against Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Giada Bianchi from Pool A.

Fifth-seeded Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia achieved their third straight-set win to top the final standings in Pool A. On Monday, they claimed a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) victory over Scampoli & Bianchi, who finished third in the pool on a 1-2 win-loss record. Japan’s Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami consolidated in the runner-up position on 2-1 with a 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) win over Susana Torres & Atenas Gutierrez, leaving the Mexicans bottom of the table without a set won and out of contention.

Also with three straight-set wins under their belt, 10^th-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland topped Pool K. In the deciding match against another set of sisters, Austria’s Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger, the Verge-Depres took a 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) victory, as both teams progressed to the sixteenthfinals. Australia’s Elizabeth Alchin & Georgia Johnson beat Dominican Republic’s Crismil Paniagua & Julibeth Payano by 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) in the deciding match for the third place and reserved their berth in the first elimination round, where they will face another Australian team, Jasmine Fleming & Stefanie Fejes, placed third in Pool G.

The all-South-American survival match for the third place in Pool A went 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in favor of Paraguay’s Michelle Valiente & Giuliana Poletti Corrales against Peru’s Gaona Arevalo & Allcca Merino, who were eliminated from the competition without winning a set. Michelle & Corrales will next try their luck in the round of 36 against Czechia’s Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova, who finished third in Pool C.

In the other first knockout round match-up, Australia’s Tara Phillips & Kayla Mears from Pool F will take on France’s Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard from Pool D.

The first women’s playoff match on Tuesday will serve off at 13:30 local time (03:00 UTC).

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships: schedule and results

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