Hladun and Lazarenko shut out Carol and Rebecca to win pool in Yucatan
Ukraine’s Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko stunned top-seeded Brazilians Carol Solberg and Rebecca Cavalcanti in the Pool A final at the Yucatan Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour and became the lowest seeded team to advance directly to the women’s eighthfinals in Mexico, as main draw action got underway on Thursday in Puerto Progreso.
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16th-seeded Hladun and Lazarenko hammered out an emphatic 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) shutout of the Brazilian favorites. The Ukrainians dominated in attack, with nine successful spikes from Lazarenko and another seven from Hladun, but prevailed mostly from the serving line with six aces from Hladun and four from Lazarenko, against none for Carol and Rebecca. Before that, in their opening Pool A matches, the Ukrainian duo achieved a 2-0 (22-20, 21-14) victory over Italy’s Reka Orsi Toth and Giada Bianchi with the help of another seven aces (six from Lazarenko), while the top-seeded Brazilians put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) sweep of their game against Mexico’s Yeray Yamilet Vidaurrazaga and Maria Jimena Ramirez. As pool winners, Hladun and Lazarenko booked a direct ticket to the eighthfinals, while pool runners-up Carol and Rebecca and Orsi Toth and Bianchi, who finished in third place after a hard-fought three-setter against the home team, advanced to Friday’s sixteenthfinals.
Second-seeded Spaniards Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno lived up to their status and topped Pool B. In the pool winners’ match, the Paris 2024 Olympians mastered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) shutout of Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Jana Milutinovic. The third place in the pool went to American qualifiers Devon Newberry and Jaden Whitmarsh, who upset Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Niina Ahtiainen in straight sets in the pool losers’ game.
Third-seeded Dorina Klinger and Ronja Klinger of Austria topped the final Pool C standings, but not before battling their way through two tough three-setters, coming back from a set down in each of them. First, they produced a 2-1 (15-21, 23-21, 15-13) win over German qualifiers Louisa Lippmann and Linda Bock. Then, they achieved a 2-1 (12-21, 21-16, 15-11) win over Paraguayan Olympians Giuliana Poletti and Michelle Valiente. French Olympians Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard also progressed to the knockout rounds after knocking out Lippmann and Bock in straight sets.
Pool D was marked by four straight-set matches. In the final, 13th-seeded Julia Scoles and Lexy Denaburg of the United States delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) upset of fourth-seeded Wang Jingzhe and Xia Xinyi of China. Another American pair, Madelyne Anderson and Brook Bauer, also advanced from this pool after eliminating German qualifiers Melanie Paul and Lea Kunst in the third place match.
In the company of three US pairs, fifth-seeded Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte finished Pool E runners-up. The direct ticket to the eighthfinals went to 12th-seeded Kimberly Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst, who celebrated a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) sweep of the pool final against the Europeans. Qualifiers Madison Shields and Xolani Hodel beat compatriots Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen for the third place in the pool.
Another American team, sixth-seeded Toni Rodriguez and Kylie Kuyava-De Berg, reached the Pool F final, but there they suffered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) shutout at the hands of 11th-seeded Italians Valentina Gottardi and Claudia Scampoli. Czechia’s Marketa Svozilova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, on the other hand, shut out USA’s Savannah Simo and Abby Van Winkle for the third place.
Seventh-seeded Andressa Cavalcanti and Taina Bigi of Brazil achieved a 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-10) turnaround in the Pool G final against Clemence Vieira and Aline Chamereau. Before that, the French Olympians, who arrived from Wednesday’s qualifications, upset 10th-seeded Brazilians Vitoria Rodrigues and Hegeile Almeida in another three-setter, 2-1 (21-14, 17-21, 15-7). In yet another tie-breaker match, Vitoria and Hegeile earned their spot in the elimination rounds with a win over American qualifiers Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips.
Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Tanja Huberli of Switzerland and her new teammate Leona Kernen survived two tie-breakers to top the standings in Pool H and jump to the eighthfinals. First, the ninth-seeded Swiss team came back from a set down to beat the Spanish pairing of another Paris Olympian, Paula Soria, with Belen Carro of Spain by 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-12). Then, Huberli and Kernen squeezed out a tight 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 17-15) victory over home favorites Susana Torres and Atenas Gutierrez of Mexico. To make the sixteenthfinals, qualifiers Carro and Paula shut out fellow qualifiers Yan Xu and Zhou Mingli of China.
The sixteenthfinal round will get underway at 14:00 local time (20:00 UTC) on Friday. The eighthfinals are scheduled for later in the day.
Photo Credit: volleyballworld.com
