Eight U18 girls’ eighthfinalists in the Hague already known

The women’s pool stage at the 2026 FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championships in the Hague is now over and eight undefeated pool winners – China’s Qi Siyu & Zhuang Ming, USA’s Lauren Leach & Janie McCanna, Belgium’s Simone Vervloet & Tes Waegeneers, Germany’s Anna-Chiara Reformat & Sandra Otte, Brazil’s Clara Vieira Lawrenz & Luisa Ianegitz, Brazil’s Leticia Schwalb Machado & Kiara Vitoria Ernesto Jeronimo, Latvia’s Paula Krieva & Estere Zakite, and USA’s Sienna Castillo & Simrin Adams – have secured their direct passage to the second elimination round. Another 16 duos, placed second or third in the final pool standings, will contest the first knockout round in the Netherlands on Saturday.

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16-year-old Belgians Simone Vervloet & Tes Waegeneers, seeded third in the main draw bracket, were the first team to book a spot in the eighthfinals by topping their pool. Despite Waegeneers’s foot injury, the Belgian team cruised through Pool C with three straight-set wins. In their last match on Friday, they put together a 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) victory over Japan’s Ririka Imai & Hazuki Ichiyanagi. Meanwhile, Estonian “lucky losers” Keira Lukas & Susanna Rikand achieved a 2-0 (21-11, 22-20) win over Thailand’s Natthawiw Khampila & Sasithon Kaengkham, thus finishing second in the pool, advancing to the sixteenthfinals and leaving their winless opponents at the bottom of the pool standings and out of further contention. Imai & Ichiyanagi finished third and also progressed to the first elimination round.

“I'm happy that we won all our pool matches and that we are the winners of the pool, but I'm not so happy with the level we play right now,” Simone Vervloet, a bronze medalist at last year’s U18 World Championship in Doha, told the FIVB. “I know we can do better, but my partner Tes landed on someone's foot in our first training here and sprained her ankle, so it's actually hurting pretty bad. And I'm noticing during the game that it is bothering her. So, that's sad, but I'm actually pretty proud of her because she's having a lot of pain and still playing this level. I also feel bad for her because she tries to do her best, but she's not playing the level she normally plays and that's bothering her. We're figuring out how we can reduce the pressure on her and make her foot recover as fast as possible. So, happy to be in the round of 16, but it's just sad that she's playing her first World Championship and she is impossible to go her fullest because of her foot. But the physio here is pretty good and he said nothing is torn or broken, so that’s the good news.”

Pool H was the most competitive one of the eight. Five of the six matches were decided in tie-breaker third sets, including the three games among USA’s Sienna Castillo & Simrin Adams, Switzerland’s Anja Gahwiler & Noemi Eugster and Netherlands’ Karlijn van Osch & Jet Grooters, who finished on a 2-1 win-loss record each. By beating the home team in a 2-1 (21-17, 24-26, 15-13) three-setter on Friday, the American qualifiers emerged on top of the final pool standings to jump straight into the eighthfinals, leaving second-placed Gahwiler & Eugster and third-placed Van Osch & Grooters behind on point ratios and into the sixteenthfinal first elimination round.

Paula Krieva & Estere Zakite of Latvia, who also came into the main draw from Wednesday’s qualifications, were the lowest seeded team to win their pool. Seeded 26^th in the 32-team main draw, the Latvians won all three of their Pool G matches in straight sets. Venezuela’s Valeria Moreno & Mariana Chacin and Canada’s Julia McDougall & Natalia Casas finished first and second runners-up to Krieva & Zakite to stay in the tournament.

Qi Siyu & Zhuang Ming of China, Lauren Leach & Janie McCanna of the United States and Anna-Chiara Reformat & Sandra Otte of Germany cruised through their Pools A, B and D, respectively, without dropping a single set and are already looking to continue their victory quests in the second knockout round on Saturday.

Two Brazilian teams topped their pools unbeaten, each losing only a set in the process. Clara Vieira Lawrenz & Luisa Ianegitz booked their eighthfinal ticket from Pool E, while Leticia Schwalb Machado & Kiara Vitoria Ernesto Jeronimo did so from Pool F.

Women’s main draw action in the Hague is set to resume on Saturday at 09:00 local time (07:00 UTC). The day’s program will offer the first three elimination rounds to set up the semifinal line-up for Sunday.

2026 FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championship: schedule and results

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