Three U.S. teams are into the second round of playoffs and two others are still in contention at the FIVB four-star Dela Beach Open in The Hague, Netherlands.
April Ross and Alix Klineman took the easy route, defeating Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Lisboa Duda 22-20, 21-14 to win pool D and the bye that goes with it.
Similarly, American compatriots Billy Allen and Ryan Doherty defeated Brazilians Pedro Solberg and George Wanderley 23-25, 21-16, 15-9 to win pool E and earn the first-round bye.
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes had a more difficult road to the second round, dropping a three-setter to the Dutch pair of Joy Stubbe and Marleen Van Iersel 23-25, 21-16, 15-9, dropping them into the first round of playoffs.
Claes and Hughes then took a first-round, three-set win against Russians Yulia Abalakina and Ksenia Dabizha 15-21, 21-17, 15-11.
Two more American teams have the opportunity to advance to the second round Saturday, as Casey Patterson and Stafford Slick defeated Kacper Kujawiak and Maciej Rudol of Poland 21-18, 21-17 to qualify for elimination playoffs.
Bill Kolinske and Miles Evans also won their final pool-play match over Dirk Boehle and Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands 22-24, 21-17, 15-9.
Two American pairs, Summer Ross and Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick and Karissa Cook, were eliminated. Ross and Sweat lost two matches, failing to earn the pool G bye after a three-set loss to Brazil’s Fernanda Alves and Barbara Seixas 21-16, 20-22, 15-11, and were eliminated by Niina Ahtiainen and Riikka Lehtonen of Finland 21-15, 21-19.
Fendrick and Cook failed to advance from pool following a 21-14, 21-16 loss to Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink of the Netherlands.
Saturday’s second-round matches feature Ross and Klineman against Svetlana Kholomina and Nadezda Makroguzova of Russia, Claes and Hughes against Alves and Seixas, and Allen and Doherty will face the winner of Jasper Bouter and Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands versus Danijel Pokersnik and Nejc Zemljak of Slovakia.
In the first-round men’s playoffs, Patterson and Slick face Christoph Dressler and Robin Seidl of Austria, while Kolinske and Evans face top-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands.
BVBinfo.com has full results and the schedule for men and women. Thanks to Nils Koepke for the video interviews.
