Pairs from Brazil, Germany, Hungary and USA succeed in U21 women’s qualifiers

Marcela Barbosa & Maria Clara of Brazil, Clara Dressen & Mila Jancar of Germany, Chiara Honti-Majoros & Stefania Kun of Hungary and Sally Perez & Avery Jackson of the United States were the four teams that passed through Wednesday’s women’s qualifications at the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Puebla successfully and secured their spots in Thursday’s main draw action.

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Inspired by the support of the Mexican crowd on the center court stands, Marcela & Maria Clara achieved hard-earned victories in both their qualification matches on Wednesday. First, they overcame the resistance of Canada’s Sophie Hancock & Emma Cudmore in a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) straight-setter. In a deciding duel for passage to the main draw, the Brazilians battled their way back from a set down and emerged with a nail-biting 2-1 (20-22, 21-13, 16-14) victory. The ending was particularly dramatic as a German match point was initially called in their favor, but after that decision was reversed, Marcela & Maria Clara managed to keep focused and turned the course of the set around to triumph. In a moment of fair play during the second set, Marcela was applauded by both spectators and referees for admitting a block touch, even way after the point was called in Brazil’s favor and the timeout taken was over.

“I did that because the ball touched me. I think it is important to have a clear game and that applies to all the games. So, I would do that again as many times as necessary,” Marcela told FIVB.com. “I am so happy and I would like to say thank you to everyone – my coach, my partner – since they were so important to me in these games and they will be in the next games for the whole tournament.”

“I have no words to describe what is happening. We thought we had lost this game, but I think we did what we had been working on and that’s it – we are in the main draw,” Maria Clara added. “I want to say thank you to the Mexican boys and girls for their amazing support. We are so excited to be here and I hope they continue to cheer for us tomorrow.”

The other German team in the women’s qualifiers, Dressen & Jancar, put together two straight-set wins to advance. They produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) shutout of Japan’s Niko Morikawa & Waka Yada and followed up with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) sweep of the decider against the home pairing of Alexa Bucio & Ashley Silva.

Last year’s U19 World Championship bronze medalist Sally Perez of the United States and her current partner Avery Jackson also delivered two straight-set wins to make it to the main draw. First, they achieved a hard-fought 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory over Finland’s Milja Henriksson & Ester Hirvonen. Then, they celebrated a convincing 2-0 (21-13, 21-17) sweep of their deciding game against Czechia’s Lucie Knoblochova & Adela Petrikova.

Hungary’s Honti-Majoros & Kun needed to win only one match in the qualifiers to progress to the main draw and they made sure they did not waste time. In only 27 minutes of play time, they hammered out an emphatic 2-0 (21-6, 21-15) victory over Latvia’s Deneva Sauberga & Rezija Puskundze.

Women’s main draw action in Puebla is set to serve off at 08:00 local time (14:00 UTC) on Thursday.

2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship: schedule and results

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