2016 Rio Olympics beach volleyball pool play schedule announced

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – From Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball), the first six days of the 2016 Olympic Games beach volleyball schedule was announced on Friday morning.

In coordination with the FIVB, the Olympic Organizing Committee and the Olympic Broadcast Services, the schedule for the first six days of pool play for beach volleyball at the 2016 Olympics was announced on July 15.

The schedule, available online via PDF here, is subject to change and still has match times that are subject to change.

All times on the schedule are listed in Rio local time, which is 1 hour ahead of Eastern Time, four hours ahead of Pacific Time.

Play begins for beach volleyball on Aug. 6, from the sands of Copacabana Beach, in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. For the U.S., which has four pairs competing on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team, Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson will compete on the same days as April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena will compete on the same days as Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat. Pairs will play one match per day during the pool play phase.

The U.S. will kick off officially with Gibb/Patterson facing Qatar at 3:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 6. The first midnight match, locally, will be played by Ross/Walsh Jennings when they play Austria on Aug. 6.

No two teams from one country can be seeded in the same pool. There are six pools per gender, a total of four teams in each pool. After pool play, the top two teams in the pool will advance to the Round of 16. Of the third-place finishers in each pool, the top two of those six will advance, based on match points, then by set ratio. The four remaining third-ranked teams in each pool will play a two-match lucky loser round (3rd ranked vs 6th ranked; 4th vs 5th), with the winners advancing to the round of 16. The fourth ranked team in each pool will be eliminated.

Men’s and women’s matches are mixed throughout the pool play round, which has three sessions per day for the first six days, Aug. 6-11. On the 11th, there will be four Lucky Loser matches to determine which final two teams, per gender, will advance to the round of 16, which is played Aug. 12-13. Quarterfinals are Aug. 14 for women and Aug. 15 for men. Semifinals will be played Aug. 16, followed by the medal matches on Aug. 17 for the women, 18th for the men. Closing ceremonies for all sports is Aug. 21.

2016 OLYMPIC POOLS ANNOUNCED
From Gstaad, Switzerland, the FIVB made the official announcement of pools for the 2016 Olympic Games on July 9.

On the women’s side, third-seeded April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings are in a pool with Switzerland, China and Australia. Fifteen seed Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat are in the pool with No. 1 Brazil, Poland and Russia.

Third seed Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena will face Italy, Mexico and Tunisia in the opening round. Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, the sixth seed, will play Spain, Austria and Qatar.

A total of 96 players from 24 countries will compete in beach volleyball, 48 men’s and women’s teams, respectively. This is the sixth edition of beach volleyball at the Olympic Games, since it’s inception at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Related Links
FIVB Rio 2016 beach volleyball schedule announced

FIVB Olympic draw completed for Rio 2016 Beach Volleyball competition