In the longest running and one of the most interesting matches of the eight women’s sixteenthfinals played on Tuesday at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide, 16^th-seeded Julia Donlin & Lexy Denaburg of the United States delivered a three-set win to upset 11^th-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland and knock them out on the way to the eighthfinals.

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After 49 minutes of play, Donlin & Denaburg celebrated a 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-11) comeback victory over Anouk & Zoe. With four aces and four kill blocks under her belt, Donlin piled up a total of 21 points to share the top scorer honors of the match with Anouk, whose tally included three kill blocks and an ace. Denaburg contributed another 20 points to the Americans’ win, all in swings. In Thursday’s eighthfinals, Donlin & Denaburg will challenge reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Lisboa (Duda). The sixth-seeded Brazilians achieved a narrow 2-0 (24-22, 21-19) victory over spirited Puerto Ricans Maria Gonzalez & Allanis Navas. Duda (three aces), Ana Patricia (three kill blocks) and Gonzalez (three kill blocks, one ace) all topped the scorers’ chart together with 17 points each.

In another three-set sixteenthfinal on Tuesday, Spain’s Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno overcame the resistance of another Swiss duo, Annique Niederhauser & Leona Kernen, and earned a 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-11) turnaround win. Tania led the winners with four aces and 22 kills in attack, while Annique produced a match-high 28 points, including six kill blocks and an ace. Next for Dani & Tania is an eighthfinal encounter with Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson. The 10^th-seeded Canadians mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) shutout of Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova & Anhelina Khmil with four aces from Melissa and a match-high 23 points from Brandie.

In a high-profile sixteenthfinal, ninth-seeded Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth of Italy achieved a 2-0 (21-12, 25-23) victory over eighth-seeded Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann, knocking the former world’s number one team out of contention. While Gottardi impressed with five kill blocks and three aces to tally a total of 16 points, Orsi Toth topped the chart with 23 points, including two aces. The Italians also prevented an all-German clash in the eighthfinals as Linda Bock & Louisa Lippmann are the next opponents coming their way on Thursday. Bock & Lippmann took out New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald in straight sets, 2-0 (21-15, 23-21). Bock led the German team with 19 points, including two aces, while Lippmann raised six kill blocks towards a 16-point tally. MacDonald was the top scorer of the match with 25 points.

Another German pair, 36^th-seeded Melanie Paul & Lea Kunst, were the lowest ranked team to qualify for the eighthfinals on Tuesday. They did so with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) shutout of Netherlands’ Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis. Paul led the way with four aces and 14 successful swings. On Thursday, Paul & Kunst will take on fifth-seeded Latvians Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova, who hammered out a 2-0 (21-9, 21-11) sweep of their sixteenthfinal against another Dutch duo, Mila Konink & Desy Poiesz. Anastasija and Tina fired five and four aces, respectively, to finish with 12 points each. Also with 12 points, all in attack, Poiesz was the leading scorer for the Netherlands team.

Sixteenthfinal action continues with the other eight matches on Wednesday, starting at 13:30 local time (03:00 UTC).

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships: schedule and results

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