Apeldoorn, Netherlands, June 29, 2015 – Three seed breakthroughs, two very close calls and winners of two pools were decided Monday in Apeldoorn as pool play ends Tuesday in the internationally-televised double-gender $1,000,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships the Netherlands 2015.
Featuring the world’s best players, this global biannual tournament is being anchored in The Hague, with pool play and three elimination rounds also being played in Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam.
A total of 48 women’s and 48 men’s teams have been split into 12 four-team pools for three rounds of pool play with plenty of promising matchups in 144 group matches among 12, four-team pools with three pools per gender in each city.
APELDOORN POOL POWEROne of three pools in each gender playing in Apeldoorn finished round-robin play on Monday with the other two for each finishing on Tuesday prior to the Drawing of Lots to determine bracket and venue placement for the knockout, single-elimination phase of the FIVB World Championships. The winners of each pool will remain in the city they started in for the elimination rounds up through the quarterfinals.
With an unblemished 3-0 record, winning their women’s pool was Brazil’s third-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas.
In Monday’s final showdown between two 2-0 teams to win their pool, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas overcame a first-set challenge and dominated the second to win in two sets over USA’s 19th-seeded Emily Day/Jennifer Kessy.
Switching tactics after the overtime first set, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas won in straight sets USA’s Day/Kessy, 22-20, 21-10 in just 36 minutes.
Winning their men’s pool Monday with a 3-0 mark was Brazil’s third-seeded Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt. Brazil’s Cerutti/Schmidt closed their pool play schedule Monday evening, to win the pool and remain unbeaten by winning in two sets over Austria’s 22nd-seeded Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, 21-19, 21-14 in just 35 minutes.
Entering Tuesday’s final day of pool play, both of the other men’s pools have one team each with a 2-0 record while the other two women’s pools each have two teams undefeated in each with 2-0 marks in Apledoorn.
The leaders of the other two men’s pools with 2-0 records are: Latvia’s sixth-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Martins Plavins and USA’s 14th-seeded Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson. They both will play their final pool play matches on Tuesday. Latvia’s Samoilovs/Plavins wil meet Chile’s 19th-seeded cousins Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt at 5 p.m. and USA’s Gibb/Patterson will play the last match of the day at 8 p.m. against Brazil’s 11th-seeded Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe.
Meeting in one of the women’s Apeldoorn pools with 2-0 marks will be USA’s third-seeded Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross and Canada’s 22nd-seeded Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
In the other women’s pool final match, the 2-0 teams meeting at 12 p.m. Tuesday will be Germany’s 11th-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany and Slovak Republic’s. 14th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova.
APELDOORN UPSETS
After a respite from seed breakthroughs Sunday, Monday’s action at the Apeldoorn Market Square got dicey as teams pushed for spots in the round of 32 elimination play. There was one women’s upset and two in the men’s competition.
In the lone women’s upset Monday, Cuba’s 43rd-seeded Lianma Flores/Leila Martinez upended Mexico’s 30th-seeded Bibiana Candelas/Claudia Rios in two sets, 21-15, 21-15 in 30 minutes.
The two men’s upset specials Monday in the Apeldoorn Market Square stadium saw Australia’s 46th-seeded Joshua Court/Damien Schumann upset Qatar’s 27th-seeded Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse, 21-19, 26-24 in 42 minutes. The second surprise saw Spain’s 35th-seeded Francisco Marco/Christian Garcia tumble Brazil’s 11th-Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe, 21-13, 16-21 and 15-13 in 54 minutes.
APELDOORN CLOSE CALL X6
For the second straight match in these FIVB World Championships, USA’s 14th-seeded Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson started slow and had to come back to seal their second pool victory. Monday, they struggled again but finally overcame Argentina’s 38th-seeded Pablo Bianchi/Julian Azaad, 19-21, 21-15 and 15-9 in 58 minutes.
After opening pool play in Apeldoorn Saturday with a three-set win over Spain’s Francisco Marco/Christian Garcia, USA’s Gibb Patterson found themselves behind but were able to pull out their sixth three-set victory in FIVB competition.
At the last FIVB World Tour stop in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA the week before the FIVB World Championships, USA’s Gibb/Patterson actually had to win four three-set matches including the last three--quarterfinals, semifinals and gold medal match all on the last day to win the gold medal in the event.
USA’s Gibb/Patterson tandem has now won six straight three-set matches.
USA’s Patterson commented after their most recent three-set victory, “It was a great win. It's always good to win whether it's clean or dirty, winning is winning so we're happy. We'll go back, study the next team we're going to play and get dirty again. We might need to start a little faster. Get on the team a little faster than we have been so that we don't have to go three, we can win in two. But a win's a win, we're fine with what we've got and it's tough.”
“The schedule is very different to even the last tournament we just played where we played three matches, quarters, semis and final in one day. So to play once, have a day off and then wait half a day to play, you get anxious. You might have a little more nerves than if you were playing more throughout the day.”
APELDOORN CLOSE CALL2
Close call no. 2 for a higher-seeded team came in the women’s match Monday evening when USA’s third-seeded Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross had to reach for the reserves and come from behind to knock off Australia’s youthful 27th-seeded Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird in three sets.
Legendary Walsh Jennings, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time FIVB World Champion and mother of thee, and Ross, who won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and was the 2009 FIVB World Champion, fell behind against the aggressive young Aussies who were able to hold off a USA comeback attempt. In the second set, the Americans changed tactics and won the set and in the tiebreaker they came from 11-12 down to score the final four points of the match and earn their second pool play win of the championships.
At the final whistle, USA’s Walsh Jennings/Ross pulled out the emotional win over Australia’s exuberant Artacho/Laird, 18-21, 21-15 and 15-12 in 47 minutes. Australia’s Artacho, 21 and Laird, 22 were the 2014 FIVB U23 World Champions. This is the first FIVB tournament that the Walsh Jennings/Ross duo has played in since the end of May when Walsh Jennings sustained a chronic right-shoulder injury.
APELDOORN CLOSE CALL3
Close call no. 3 for a higher-seeded team came in the women’s match Monday evening when Canada’s 22nd-seeded Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan tandem was almost shocked by 46th-seeded home-country favorites Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema.
In three close sets, the Dutch women enjoyed the support of a capacity crowd at the Apeldoorn Market Square stadium leading most of the first set by two or three points, exchanging the lead numerous times in the second before losing and then the Canadians held serve in the tiebreaker to earn their second pool play victory.
At the finish, Canada’s Bansley/Pavan, came from behind to ease past Netherlands’ hard-working Braakman/Sinnema, 19-21, 26-24 and 15-13 in 53 minutes.
FORMAT
With a total of 96 tandems (48 in each gender), two-person teams are competing for part of a $1 million purse as the Netherlands hosts an FIVB international event for the sixth consecutive year. Anchored in The Hague round-robin Pool Play is being played in The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam along with the first three rounds of elimination play for the 32 teams remaining per gender following three rounds of pool play. There are three pools (12 teams) from each gender in each city for the three rounds of pool play. For the 32 teams that advance to the single-elimination rounds, a Drawing of Lots will be held Tuesday in The Hague to determine the bracket draw and the venue for each team. The winner’s of each pool will remain in the cities where they have been playing through the quarterfinals.
The three elimination rounds through the quarterfinals will be held in each of the four participating cities. The quarterfinal winners in each gender will move to The Hague after Thursday’s matches. The women’s semifinals will be on Friday and the women’s medal matches will be held on Saturday. The men’s semifinals will be played Saturday and the men’s medal matches will be played on Sunday.
PURSE
The gold medal winning teams in each gender will earn $70,000 while the silver medalists will take home $52,000 with the bronze medalists netting $40,000 with $30,000 going to the fourth place finishers.
VENUE
All matches in Apeldoorn are being played on Market Square. A purpose-built stadium with a capacity of 2,000 seats was erected on the atmospheric square in the city centre. Market Square is overlooked by the modern town hall and is surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants.
2015 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam – Netherlands
WOMEN’S RESULTS – Monday, June 29
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (seed, players, country, score, time)
POOL C in Apeldoorn(3) Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross, United States def. (27) Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird, Australia, 18-21, 21-15 and 15-12 (47 minutes)
(22) Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada def. (46) Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema, Netherlands, 19-21, 26-24 and 15-13 (53)
POOL F in Apeldoorn
(43) Lianma Flores/Leila Martinez, Cuba def. (30) Bibiana Candelas/Claudia Rios, Mexico, 21-15, 21-15 (30)
(6) Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Brazil def. (19) Emily Day/Jennifer Kessy, United States, 22-20, 21-10 (36)
POOL K in Apeldoorn
(11) Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany def. (35) Karolina Baran/Jagoda Gruszczynska, Poland, 21-13, 21-12 (29)
(14) Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova, Slovak Republic def. (38) Natalia Alfaro/Karen Charles, Costa Rica, 21-17, 21-7 (31)
2015 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam – Netherlands
MEN’S RESULTS – Monday, June 29
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (seed, players, country, score, time)
POOL C in Apeldoorn
(46) Joshua Court/Damien Schumann, Australia def. (27) Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse, Qatar, 21-19, 26-24 (42)
(3) Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil def. (22) Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Austria, 21-19, 21-14 (35)
POOL K in Apeldoorn
(14) Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States def. (38) Pablo Bianchi/Julian Azaad, Argentina, 19-21, 21-15 and 15-9 (51)
(35) Francisco Marco/Christian Garcia, Spain def. (11) Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe, Brazil, 21-13, 16-21 and 15-13 (54)
2015 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam – Netherlands
WOMEN’S DAILY SCHEDULE – Tuesday, June 30
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (Time, seed, players, country)
POOL C in Apeldoorn
1 p.m. (27) Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird, Australia vs. (46) Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema, Netherlands
2 p.m. (3) Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross, United States vs. (22) Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada
POOL K in Apeldoorn
11 a.m. – (35) Karolina Baran/Jagoda Gruszczynska, Poland vs. (38) Natalia Alfaro/Karen Charles, Costa Rica
12 p.m. – (11) Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany vs. (14) Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova, Slovak Republic
2015 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam – Netherlands
MEN’S DAILY SCHEDULE – Tuesday, June 30
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (Time, seed, players, country)
POOL F in Apeldoorn
5 p.m. – (6) Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Martins Plavins, Latvia vs. (19) Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile
7 p.m. – (30) Michael van Dorsten/Steven van de Velde, Netherlands vs. (43) Yaroslav Koshkarev/Dimitri Barsouk, Russia
POOL K in Apeldoorn
6 p.m. – (35) Francisco Marco/Christian Garcia, Spain vs. (38) Pablo Bianchi/Julian Azaad, Argentina
8 p.m. – (11) Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe, Brazil vs. (14) Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States