The Austrian duo Huber/Dressler leading the Middle European Teams at the Itapema 4-star

The last FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament of the year is a 4-star in Itapema, Brazil and is already well underway. On Wednesday the qualification bracket was played out to identify the eight teams per gender which joined the 24 teams that secured their Main Draw spot through the current ranking points.

After the second competition day, the Austrian duo Alexander “Xandi” Huber and Christoph Dressler are in the best possible position. With two wins against a couple of German teams they won their pool and advanced directly to the second round.

Their training partners from the “Lindwurm squad” in Klagenfurt, Austria Felix Friedl and Maximilian Trummer will face a Mexican team to try and secure the advancement to the elimination phase. Felix and Maxi won two qualifying matches against Japan and Ukraine, before losing their first match in the Main Draw to the Italian superstars Lupo/Ranghieri.

Also looking to advance to the elimination phase will be the Czech duo Vaclav Bercik and Jan Dumek, who will go against the biggest surprise of the tournament so far, the Italian Bonifazi/Benzi.

On the women’s side of the competition the new formed Czech team Barbora “Bara” Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova has already advanced to the elimination phase. After a win against a team from the USA and a tight three-set loss to a local Brazilian team they secured a second place in their respective pool.

Looking to take advantage of their second chance to advance out of the pool will be teams from Cyprus and Slovenia.

Erika Nyström and Daria Gusarova have entered the Main Draw after defeating the best Israeli team Anita Dave and Sofia Starikov in the 2nd qualification round. After losing the first pool match to the 2020 Continental Cup Winners from the Netherlands, they will face Spain to determine who advances to the elimination phase.

Slovenia’s national champions Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin will face the American duo Emily Day and Betsy Flint in their second pool match, after meeting the German stars Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller in their first encounter.

Results & Schedule (local times from Itapema, Brazil)
Main Draw
Pool Play
10:30 Friedl, F./Trummer (AUT) – Stephens/Sarabia (MEX)
09:40 Bonifazi/Benzi (ITA) – Bercik, V./Dumek (CZE)
08:50 Nyström Er./Gusarova (CYP) – Carro/Lobato (ESP)
08:50 Kotnik/Lovsin, T. (SLO) – Day/Flint (USA)

Huber, A./Dressler (AUT) – Pfretzschner/Sowa (GER) 2-1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-11)
Huber, A./Dressler (AUT) – Huster/Winter (GER) 2-0 (22-20, 21-18)
Lupo/Ranghieri (ITA) – Friedl, F./Trummer (AUT) 2-0 (21-14, 21-14)
Kramarenko/Hudyakov (RUS) – Bercik, V./Dumek (CZE) 2-0 (21-14, 21-19)
Stam/Schoon (NED) – Nyström Er./Gusarova (CYP) 2-0 (21-16, 21-14)
Müller/Tillmann (GER) – Kotnik/Lovsin, T. (SLO) 2-0 (21-17, 21-11)
Hermannova/Stochlova (CZE) – Andressa/Vitoria (BRA) 1-2 (21-15, 18-21, 11-15)
Hermannova/Stochlova (CZE) – Quiggle/Schermerhorn (USA) 2-0 (21-18, 21-18)

Qualification
2nd Round
Hörl/Leitner, L. (AUT) – Bonifazi/Benzi (ITA) 0-2 (10-21, 14-21)
Friedl, F./Trummer (AUT) – Iemelianchyk/Denysenko (UKR) 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-11)
Elazar/Ohana (ISR) – Aravena/Droguett (CHI) 0-2 (18-21, 10-21)
Dave/Starikov (ISR) – Nyström Er./Gusarova (CYP) 0-2 (20-22, 13-21)

1st Round
Elazar/Ohana (ISR) – Bialokoz/Batrane (ENG) 2-0 (21-19, 24-22)
Huerta, P./Jiménez (ESP) – Faiga/Day (ISR) 2-0 (21-19, 21-10)
Friedl, F./Trummer (AUT) – Takahashi/Malki (JPN) 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-12)
Hadar/Cuzmiciov (ISR) – Zdybek/Lewandowski (POL) 0-2 (15-21, 16-21)
Hörl/Leitner, L. (AUT) – Gladun/Zhuravel (UKR) 2-0 (21-12, 24-22)