Apeldoorn, Netherlands, June 30, 2015 – With the last two of three men’s and women’s pools playing finishing Tuesday, Apeldoorn anxiously awaits Wednesday’s start of the single-elimination knockout rounds 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 MEN’S POOL POWER
The final two of three pools in each gender playing in Apeldoorn finished round-robin play 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 on Thursday.
Winning their respective men’s pools on Tuesday in Apeldoorn with 3-0 records were Latvia’s sixth-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Martins Plavins and USA’s 14th-seeded Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson. Winning the third men’s pool a day earlier in Apeldoorn with a 3-0 mark was Brazil’s third-seeded Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt. Brazil’s Cerutti/Schmidt.
In the first men’s final pool play match in Apeldoorn Tuesday, Latvia’s Samoilovs/Plavins came from nearly lost to definitely win in three sets over Chile’s 19th-seeded cousins Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, 19-21, 21-19 and 15-7 in 49 minutes.
In the second of the final pool matches, USA’s Gibb/Patterson held off the strong effort by Brazil’s youthful 11th-seeded Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe, both 24 years old, 21-12, 17-21 and 15-10 in 53 minutes. Gibb is 39 and Patterson 35.
Latvia’s Samoilovs/Plavins had a battle on their hands from the start against Chile’s E. Grimalt/M. Grimalt. The Grimalts came out very aggressive and pulled out the first set at the end and Latvia’s Samoilovs/Plavins returned the favor with the score switched in their favor before starting the third-set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker set, Latvia’s two-time Olympians used their experience and poise changing their tactics in the third set.
In the tiebreaker, Latvia’s Samoilovs/Plavins jumped all over the Chileans, scoring the first four points that seemed to rattle the Grimalts and when it looked like Chile might make a run, Samoilovs stepped up with two consecutive blocks and a kill to earn the victory and win the pool with an unblemished record.
In last pool play final, USA’s Gibb/Patterson continued their streak of three-set victories earning their seventh straight three-set win.
After USA’s Gibb/Patterson dominated the first set, Brazil’s Filho/Felipe wouldn’t quit and in the second set the Brazilians stayed close and after it was tied at 13-13, USA took a 15-13 lead when Brazil ran off six straight points to take the lead and score eight of the last 10 points to win the set.
In the tiebreaker set, USA scored the first three points and built up a 7-2 lead and were never headed after that although Brazil did close the gap to one point at 9-10 but USA’s Gibb then answered with two blocks of Felipe shots and Patterson scored the set’s final two points with a kill off the net and a cross-court kill.
All three pool-winning teams will now remain in Apeldoorn for Wednesday’s start of the elimination rounds and will be joined by five more as assigned by the drawing of lots held late Tuesday evening.
APELDOORN WOMEN’S POOL POWER
The final two of three pools in each gender playing in Apeldoorn finished round-robin play 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 on Thursday.
Both the men’s and women’s field are being reduced from 48 to 32 as the top two finishers in each pool along with the best eight of 12 third place finishers will advance to Wednesday’s start of the single-elimination knockout rounds in the four championship cities.
With unblemished 3-0 records, winning their women’s pools in Apeldoorn on Tuesday were Slovak Republic’s 14th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova and USA’s third-seeded Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross
That pair joins Brazil’s third-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas who clinched their pool with a 3-0 record on Monday night.
Slovak Republic’s Dubovcova/ Nestarcova won the battle of undefeated 2-0 teams Tuesday by winning in three sets over Germany’s 11th-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, 21-15, 13-21 and 15-9 in42 minutes.
In the finale of the third pool on Tuesday in Apeldoorn, USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross powered past Canada’s 22nd-seeded Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan in straight sets, winning 21-19, 21-13 in just 36 minutes.
All three pool-winning teams will now remain in Apeldoorn for Wednesday’s start of the elimination rounds and will be joined by five more as assigned by the drawing of lots held Tuesday afternoon.
APELDOORN DUTCH DELIGHT
With the evening capacity crowd on its feet numerous times, Tuesday’s action at the Apeldoorn Market Square included a Dutch delight match for the home-country fans as Netherlands’ 30th-seeded Michael van Dorsten/Steven van de Velde pulled off their second comeback victory in pool play that swelled the national pride above the joy the Dutch express in hosting this unique, four-city FIVB World Championships.
After losing the first set and scratching their way to an overtime win in the second, Netherlands’ van Dorsten/van de Velde, ralied again in the tiebreaker to win in overtime, defeating Russia’s 43rd-seeded Yaroslav Koshkarev/Dimitri Barsouk, 17-21, 22-20 and 19-17 in 48 minutes.
Netherlands’ van Dorsten put an exclamation point on his team’s second pool win, guaranteeing they will advance to the elimination rounds that thrilled their countrymen to no end after their exciting victory of Russia’s Koshkarev/Barsouk.
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 – Tuesday, June 30
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (seed, players, country, score, time)
POOL C in Apeldoorn
(27) Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird, Australia def. (46) Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema, Netherlands, 21-11, 21-15 (39)
(3) Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross, United States vs. (22) Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada, 21-19, 21-13 (36)
POOL K in Apeldoorn
(35) Karolina Baran/Jagoda Gruszczynska, Poland def. (38) Natalia Alfaro/Karen Charles, Costa Rica, 17-21, 23-21 and 15-9 (49)
(14) Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova, Slovak Republic def. (11) Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany, 21-15, 13-21, 15-9 (42)
2015 FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam – Netherlands
MEN’S RESULTS – Tuesday, June 30
Market Square Stadium – Apeldoorn, Netherlands
APELDOORN (seed, players, country, score, time)
POOL F in Apeldoorn
(6) Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Martins Plavins, Latvia def. (19) Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt, Chile 19-21, 21-19 and 15-7 (52 minutes)
(30) Michael van Dorsten/Steven van de Velde, Netherlands def. (43) Yaroslav Koshkarev/Dimitri Barsouk, Russia, 17-21, 22-20 and 19-17 (48)
POOL K in Apeldoorn
(35) Francisco Marco/Christian Garcia, Spain def. (38) Pablo Bianchi/Julian Azaad, Argentina, 16-21, 21-19 and 15-10 (50)
(14) Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, United States def. (11) Alvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe, Brazil, 21-12, 17-21 and 15-10 (53)