Also overcoming the men’s qualifier in Shangluo on Tuesday were Italy’s Matteo Iurisci/Laurin Zoeschg, Latvia’s Karlis Jaundžeikars/Matīss Šalkovskis and Poland’s Jakub Krzeminski/Szymon Pietraszek – unlike the Americans, each of these teams had to win two matches to move forward.
FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results
In the women’s qualifier, 17-year-old Lily Davis and 18-year-old Myriah Massey had a smooth and clean day, going through their two matches without dropping any sets to qualify. The Americans were dominant in their debut, beating Malaysians Cadence Yu Heng and Rachael Yu Jie 2-0 (21-6, 21-8).
In the decisive match, Germans Rika Dieckmann and Clara Dressen were more of a challenge to the Americans, but they still managed to win, prevailing 2-0 (21-9, 26-24) to claim a spot in the main draw.
“Our first goal was advancing from the qualifier, so now we focus on the main draw,” Massey said. “I think that together we served aggressively and we stayed aggressive the whole time. I think that was the biggest thing. As for improvements, we can maybe do better in out-of-system setting, but the key is just staying aggressive, pushing each other a little bit and mixing up our defense.”
