COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 17, 2018) – U.S. beach national teams had some good match results, but did not take home any giant cowbells from the Gstaad Major, an FIVB five-star event in Switzerland.
Medalists in Gstaad traditionally receive large cowbells as part of their prize.
Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb played for the bronze medal in the men’s tournament, but fell to Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo, 21-18, 21-18 and finished fourth.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Crabb said. “We played them in pool play; it went to three. That’s what we expected here. They made a few more plays than we did.”
The U.S. pair beat Nicolai/Lupo in pool play (15-21, 21-17, 15-12) and also beat their top-seeded U.S. teammates Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (22-24, 21-17, 15-13).
Crabb/Gibb won their second-round match by injury forfeit and beat Latvia’s Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs in the third round (21-17, 19-21, 15-13). They fell to the tournament winners, Anders Mol/Christian Sørum of Norway, in the semifinals, 17-21, 23-21, 16-14.
On the women’s side, Alix Klineman/April Ross and Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman both lost in the third round.
Klineman/Ross lost to tournament winners Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada, 21-15, 21-15. Larsen/Stockman fell to Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Santos, 14-21, 21-12, 15-13.
“I thought we came out strong in the first set,” Stockman said. “We kind of got outplayed in the second and third sets. Duda definitely went back and was ripping her serves and got in a good rhythm. That took us out of our rhythm.”
Larsen/Stockman, who had to win two country quota matches and two qualifying matches to get to the main draw, beat Germany’s Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur in pool play (21-19, 21-19). Sude/Laboureur went on to win the silver medal.
After beating their U.S. teammates Summer Ross/Sara Hughes, they won their pool and got a big second-round win over Brazil’s Maria Antonelli/Carolina Solberg Salgado, 21-23, 26-24, 15-13.
Klineman/Ross won their pool with victories over Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Basquerizo (20-22, 23-21, 15-7) and Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Joana Heidrich (21-18, 22-20).
RESULTS FROM GSTAAD
Women
1 Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes CAN
2 Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur GER
3 Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson CAN
5T. Alix Klineman/April Ross
5T. Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman
9T. Summer Ross/Sara Hughes
17T. Nicole Branagh/Kerri Walsh Jennings
25T. Lauren Fendrick/Emily Day
DNQ Kelly Claes/Brittany Hochevar
DNQ Amanda Dowdy/Irene Pollock
Men
1 Anders Mol/Christian Sørum NOR
2 Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira ESP
3 Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo ITA
4 Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb
5T Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena
17T Chase Budinger/Sean Rosenthal
17T John Hyden/Theo Brunner
DNQ Bill Kolinske/Miles Evans
WORLD UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Emily Sonny and Torrey Van Winden (Cal Poly), members of the U.S. Collegiate Beach National Team, took bronze at the World University Championships in Munich, Germany.
Sonny/Van Winden, seeded second, went 3-0 in pool play. They did not lose a set until the semifinals, when they fell to third-seeded María Belén Carro / Paula Soria of Spain, 29-27, 21-13.
In the bronze medal match, Sonny/Van Winden beat No. 9 Zoé Vergé-Dépré/Esmée Böbner of Switzerland, 21-19, 21-16.
U.S. Collegiate Team members Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss (LSU), seeded 32nd, finished fifth
Coppola/Nuss won their pool, during which they beat top-seeded Leonie Klinke/Leonie Körtzinger of Germany, 21-17, 16-21, 15-11). In the third round, Coppola/Nuss ran up against Canada’s Nicole and Megan McNamara, who both play at UCLA. Coppola/Nuss battled, but fell, 17-21, 21-18, 15-13.
The U.S. pair came back to win the fifth-place match over Switzerland’s Fabienne Geiger/Anja Licka, 25-23, 21-13.
Both U.S. men’s teams at the Championships made it out of pool play.
Colton Cowell/Brett Rosenmeier (Hawaii), seeded 28th, won their first-round match over No. 10 Fan Yang Mark Shen/Kingsley Tay of Singapore, 21-14, 21-15. They fell in the second round to Australia’s No. 9 Paul Burnett/Maximilian Guehrer, 21-14, 21-12. They came back to beat Poland’s No. 2 Mateusz Lysikowski/Mateusz Paszkowski for 13th place, 21-18, 12-21, 15-12.
Jon Justice/Adam Wienckowski (Florida State), seeded 19th, lost in the first round to Spain’s No. 16 Óscar Jiménez/Hugo Rojas, 22-20, 21-11. They went on to finish 18th.
U19 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Devon Newberry/Lindsey Sparks had the best U.S. finish at the FIVB U19 Beach World Championships, placing fourth. The pair went 2-1 in pool, then won three straight matches into the semifinals, where they lost to Netherlands’ Emi van Driel and Raisa Schoon, 21-13, 21-16. In the third-place match, Newberry/Sparks fell to Alvarez/Moreno of Spain, 10-21, 21-18, 15-12.
The U.S. team of Maya Harvey/Megan Kraft, the youngest team in the tournament at 16 and 15 respectively, made it out of the qualifier and tied for ninth.
On the men’s side, Jason Gibbs/Jacob Titus lost in the qualifier. Tim Brewster/John Schwengel went 1-2 in pool play and did not advance.
FIVB THREE-STAR IN HAIYANG, CHINA
Seven U.S. teams are in Haiyang, China, for the FIVB three-star event on July 18-22.
U.S. Teams in Haiyang
Women’s Main Draw by Ranking
2 Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen
3 Betsi Flint/Emily Day
7 Amanda Dowdy/Irene Pollock
22 Bree Scarbrough/Aurora Davis
24 Caitlin Ledoux/Sarah Sponcil
Men’s Main Draw by Ranking
3 Stafford Slick/Casey Patterson
4 Bill Kolinske/Miles Evans
Chase Budinger/Sean Rosenthal
Men’s Qualifiers by Ranking
7 Adam Roberts/Troy Field