Eight U21 women’s eighthfinalists in Puebla already known

The women’s pool stage at the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Puebla is now over and eight undefeated pool winners – Czechia’s Katerina Pavelkova & Anna Pavelkova, USA’s Zoey Henson & Sarah Wood and Sally Perez & Avery Jackson, Hungary’s Chiara Honti-Majoros & Stefania Kun, Canada’s Ruby Sorra & Ofure Odigie, Netherlands’ Floor Hogenhout & Mila Konink, Brazil’s Carolina Sallaberry & Julhia Perandre and Austria’s Lia Berger & Lilli Hohenauer – 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 Mexico on Saturday.

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Czechia’s Katerina Pavelkova & Anna Pavelkova were the first team to book a spot in the eighthfinals by topping their pool. In the deciding match for the first place in Pool A, the Czech twins, who turned 20 earlier this month, overcame the overwhelming home support for their opponents Naomi Cruz & Angelica Torres of Mexico and celebrated a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) victory. The Mexican duo finished pool runners-up and will be joined by Germany’s Mareet Maidhof & Sophia Neuss, the lucky losers from Wednesday’s qualifications, who won the survival match against Paraguay’s Mayra Perez & Valentina Schmeda to finish third in the pool, into the sixteenthfinals.

“It was such an incredible atmosphere! So many fans came to cheer on Mexico and it was really fantastic, even though they didn’t cheer for us!” Katerina Pavelkova told FIVB.com after the team’s deciding third win in the pool. “I enjoyed it. Now we are hungry for more. Can’t wait to play tomorrow and as many more times as we can…”

“I can only agree. For us, it was also a good experience to play under the pressure, when the whole stadium cheers for the opponent,” Anna Pavelkova added. “It was a tough match. They fought for every ball and we are really happy that we managed to win.”

The most exciting duel for a ticket to the eighthfinals was delivered in Pool G. After a 54-minute battle, Brazil’s Carolina Sallaberry & Julhia Perandre outlasted Switzerland’s Muriel Bossart & Leona Kernen to emerge with a tight 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 19-17) victory. The third place went to New Zealand’s Kiana Stevenson & Tineke Hinton, who shut out Mozambique’s Nadia Julio Bango & Veronica Carlos Roque to stay in contention.

Another hard-fought three-setter decided the first place in Pool E. Canada’s Ruby Sorra & Ofure Odigie mounted a 2-1 (13-21, 21-19, 15-13) comeback against France’s Saofe Duval & Romane Sobezalz to triumph as pool winners. German qualifiers Clara Dressen & Mila Jancar took the third place after defeating Guatemala’s Naomi Monney & Danna Aguilar in straight sets for it.

A three-set comeback decided the winners in Pool C as well. American qualifiers Sally Perez & Avery Jackson achieved a 2-1 (16-21, 21-14, 15-6) turnaround against Poland’s Natalia Okla & Julia Radelczuk and booked their spot in the eighthfinals. Sofia Izuzquiza & Adriana Serrano of Spain beat Fakhr Imane & Bouysfi Fatima Zahra of Morocco for the third place and will play in the sixteenthfinals.

Another American pair, Zoey Henson & Sarah Wood, mastered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) sweep of the Pool B first-place decider against Latvia’s Liva Ebere & Deniela Konstantinova, while Brazilian qualifiers Marcela Barbosa & Maria Clara stayed alive in the competition with a straight-set win over Argentina’s Morena Abdala & Victoria Sancer.

Hungarian qualifiers Chiara Honti-Majoros & Stefania Kun faced few issues in their last Pool D match against Venezuela’s Aidana Ramirez & Valeria Figueredo and left them winless at the bottom of the pool with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) shutout, themselves finishing first undefeated. In what proved to be a direct duel for the second place, Thailand’s Suchipha Rittila & Samitta Simarongnam took out Costa Rica’s Aliza Aguilar & Laura Molina in straight sets, as both sides advanced to the sixteenthfinals.

Netherlands’ Floor Hogenhout & Mila Konink put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) shutout of Australia’s Jasmine Rayner & Jolie Du Plessis in the crucial match for the top of Pool F. The survival game for the third place in the pool offered an exciting three-set battle, which went the way of Kyrgyzstan’s Roza Rasulbek Kyzy & Aiturgan Aitbekova against Egypt’s Mariam Saleh & Rawan Abdelmaguid.

The first place in Pool H went to Austria’s Lia Berger & Lilli Hohenauer, who hammered out a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) victory over the other contenders for it, Japan’s Mei Mori & Noa Utsugi. Yezet Romero & Esthephannie Castillo of Peru took the third place in the pool, knocking Kalia Alvarado & Joaneliz Maisonet of Puerto Rico out of the tournament in a straight-set decider.

Women’s main draw action in Cholula is set to resume on Saturday at 09:00 local time (15:00 UTC). The day’s program will offer the first three elimination rounds to set up the semifinal line-up for Sunday.

2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship: schedule and results

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