Qualifiers top women’s pools among a number of surprises in Veracruz

Seeding was broken many times on the opening day of the women’s main draw at the Veracruz Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, as the pool stage of the competition in Mexico was completed and three teams from USA and one each from Australia, Czechia, Netherlands, New Zealand and Ukraine topped their pools and progressed straight into the second knockout round. Two pairs that emerged from Thursday’s qualifiers were among them.

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Seeded 24^th in the 32-team main draw, New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald achieved two straight-set wins in Pool H to top the standings. First, they took out ninth-seeded Australians Elizabeth Alchin & Georgia Johnson by an emphatic 2-0 (21-14, 21-12). Then they squeezed out a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 24-22) win over Paraguayan Olympians Giuliana Poletti Corrales & Michelle Valiente in the pool final. Home pair Susana Torres & Atenas Gutierrez joined the Paraguayan runners-up into the sixteenthfinals as the pool’s third-placed team after downing Alchin & Johnson in straight sets, 2-0 (21-13, 21-13).

While it would not count as a surprise, two-time Olympians Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon, who also arrived from the qualifications, defeated two higher seeded opponents to finish first in Pool G. The 26^th-seeded Dutch duo started off with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) victory over seventh-seeded compatriots Mila Konink & Floor Hogenhout, and then hammered out a 2-0 (21-8, 21-18) shutout of 10^th-seeded Americans Abby Van Winkle & Deahna Kraft. Konink & Hogenhout finished third after knocking out Estonia’s Heleene Hollas & Liisa Remmelg in straight sets.

Yeva Serdiuk & Daria Romaniuk beat Inna Makhno & Iryna Makhno by a hard-fought 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) in an all-Ukrainian Pool F final, while 27^th-seeded Polish qualifiers Julia Kielak & Natalia Okla achieved a tough 2-1 (23-21, 12-21, 15-13) upset of Japan’s Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto for the third place to stay in contention.

Puerto Rican qualifiers Allanis Navas & Maria Gonzalez advanced to the sixteenthfinals as Pool E runners-up, while 21^st-seeded Americans Kylie Kuyava-De Berg & Xolani Hodel jumped directly into the eighthfinals after beating the Caribbeans in a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) pool final. The pool ranking leaders, fifth-seeded Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte, were knocked out of contention after losing to both Navas & Gonzalez and to 12^th-seeded Americans Kelley Kolinske & Madison Shields.

Another US duo, 20^th-seeded Alaina Chacon & Morgan Chacon, upset fourth-seeded Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova & Anhelina Khmil in a 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) Pool D winners match. Poland’s Marta Lodej & Urszula Lunio also moved on to the knockouts from that pool after eliminating Canadian qualifiers Darby Dunn & Alison Mckay.

The three highest seeded pairs did not allow any surprises and topped their Pools A, B and C after two wins each.

Third-seeded Marketa Svozilova & Marie-Sara Stochlova of Czechia produced a 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) sweep of the Pool C final against Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser & Menia Bentele. USA’s Hailey Harward & Molly Phillips shut out Belgian qualifiers Youna Coens & Ines Piret for the third place.

Second-seeded Taliqua Clancy & Jana Milutinovic of Australia battled it out for the top of Pool B in a 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-11) winners game against Czechia’s Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova. The other Czech duo in the pool, Katerina Pavelkova & Anna Pavelkova, also advanced in the tournament after sweeping the third-place match against Mexican wild cards Angelica Torres & Maria Ramirez.

Bracket leaders Corinne Quiggle & Chloe Loreen of the United States achieved a hard-fought 2-1 (21-23, 21-17, 15-13) victory over French Olympians Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard in the Pool A final, while an injury interrupted the All-Canadian third-place match in the tie-breaker, with Marie-Alex Belanger & Lea Monkhouse moving on to the elimination rounds and leaving qualifiers Tiadora Miric & Sophie Bukovec behind.

Women’s elimination phase action on Friday will serve off at 14:00 local time (20:00 UTC) with the first sixteenthfinal matches.

VW Beach Pro Tour Veracruz Challenge: schedule and results

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