All U.S. Pairs Advance at Worlds; Two Win Pools

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 13, 2022) – Pool play at the 2022 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships concluded Monday in Rome, and the U.S. Beach National Team saw all seven pairs advance directly into the playoffs.

Sarah Sponcil/Terese Cannon head into the knockout round in style as they beat Tokyo 2020 silver medalists Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho del Solar of Australia to claim the Pool H title. The teams split the first two sets, but Cannon/Sponcil dominated the third-set tiebreaker for a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-6) match win. Sponcil/Cannon went undefeated in pool play, winning all but Monday’s first set and posting a 1.32 points ratio.

They join Sara Hughes/Kelley Kolinske as pool winners at the World Championships. Hughes/Kolinske won Pool F and finished pool play Sunday.

The Taylors, Taylor Crabb/Taylor Sander, booked their playoff ticket with a two-set win over Paraguay’s Gonzalo Melgarejo/Roger Daniel Battilana Villamayor. The win gave Sander/Crabb second place in Pool D with a 2-1 record.

Two American duos advanced despite losing their final pool match Monday. Emily Day/Emily Stockman took Brazil’s Talita Da Rocha Antunes/Rebecca Cavalcanti Barbosa Silva to three sets before falling, 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 15-7). Winning the second set proved critical for the Americans; they advanced as one of the four best No. 3 seeds in all the pools. Match points are the first tiebreaker in ranking No. 3 seeds, and set ratio is the second. Day/Stockman’s set ratio of 1.00 (four sets won, four sets lost) was second highest among the No. 3 seeds.

Chaim Schalk/Theo Brunner also took a set during a 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-6) loss to Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner. Like Day/Stockman, Schalk/Brunner broke pool with a 1-2 record and 1.00 set ratio.

Playing in the final match of the day, Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb fell to host country Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava, ceding the Pool F title. Bourne/Tr. Crabb still advanced out of pool via a 2-1 record and second-place finish.

The final U.S. competitors at the World Championships – Kelly Cheng/Betsi Flint – took second in Pool E and booked their playoff ticket earlier in the tournament. Like Hughes/Kolinske, they did not compete Monday.

With all seven teams advancing directly out of pool play, no U.S. pairing will compete in Tuesday’s Lucky Loser round, where the bottom eight third-place teams compete for four playoff berths. The U.S. will next take the sand at the Foro Italico Wednesday, June 15 for the Round of 32.