Russians work hard to win Rubavu pool

The winners of four of the six men’s pools of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2-star event in Rubavu, Rwanda, were determined on Thursday, the first day of the main draw for both genders at the courts located on the shores of Lake Kivu. 

Maksim Hudyakov and Aleksandr Kramarenko succeeded in a very long and challenging day as the Russians downed two American teams to finish on top of Pool D. The Europeans opened their account in Rubavu with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) victory over Billy Allen and Andy Benesh and had to work even harder later in the day to take down Chase Budinger and Troy Field in a three-setter (18-21, 21-17, 23-21).

The Americans, however, saw Theo Brunner and Chaim Schalk win Pool A with their 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) victory against Austrians Moritz Kindl and Mathias Seiser. The European nation also had a team emerging victoriously from their group as Rio 2016 Olympian Alexander Huber and his partner Christoph Dressler defeated Denmark’s Jacob Brinck and Danien Thomsen 2-1 (21-23, 21-19, 15-9) in Pool C.

Pool A winners were Polish Milosz Kruk and Mikolaj Miszczuk, who needed all three sets (21-9, 23-25, 15-8) to prevail over the home team of Patick Kavalo and Olivier Ntagengwa.

The remaining two groups will complete their schedules on Friday and while a meeting involving USA’s Miles Evans/Billy Kolinske and Russia’s Anton Kislytsyn/Daniil Kuvichka will determine the Pool E winners, the top spot in Pool F will be decided between Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnki/Nejz Zemljak and Czech Republic’s Jan Dumek/Tadeas Tezzele. 

Laboureur and Schulz up to strong start

In the women’s tournament, just the first of two pool play matches for each team was played on Thursday. The pool finals and the matches reuniting the losers from the first duels will take place on Friday.

Among the teams that started the tournament in Rubavu well were Germans Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz. Playing together for just the second time on the World Tour, the two took an early lead in Pool A with their 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) win over Brazilians Angela Lavalle and Rupia Freitas. They will now play the Austrian Klinger sisters Ronja and Dorina, who downed Slovenians Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin in three sets (21-23, 21-19, 15-12) for the top spot of the pool. 

Pool F will see the home team of Charlotte Nzayisenga, a two-time FIVB World Championships veteran, and Valentine Munezero battling Valentyna Davidova and Diana Lunina of Ukraine for the first place. The duo from Rwanda secured a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) opening-match victory over Israelis Michal Barannik and Noga Maor while the Ukrainians prevailed in an all-European duel against Slovenia’s Tjasa Jangar and Klara Kregar, posting a straight-set (21-17, 26-24) victory.

USA’s Traci Callahan/Emily Stockman and Germany’s Svenja Muller/Sarah Schneider will face each other for the top spot in Pool B while Americans Emily Day and Sara Hughes and New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Alice Zeimann will clash for Pool C’s first place.

Pool D’s finale will reunite two American teams with Corinne Quiggle/Allie Wheeler and Aurora Davis/Sarah Schermerhorn facing each other after claiming two-sets wins in their opening matches. Pool E, on the other hand, will feature an all-European matchup for the first place with the Ukrainian twins Inna and Iryna Makhno meeting Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite.

The main draw in Rubavu continues on Friday and the medal matches in both genders are set to take place on Sunday, the last day of competition on the shores of Lake Kivu.

Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Rubavu
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
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