Beach Season Begins with Five U.S. Pairs in Playoffs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 19, 2022) – The U.S. Beach National Team wrapped up involvement in its first international tournament of the season Saturday at the Beach Pro Tour’s Tlaxcala Challenge in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Five U.S. competitors advanced to the knockout bracket, with Emily Day/April Ross reaching the quarterfinals. They opened the tournament with a pair of 2-0 victories to win their pool then dispatched Germany’s Sarah Schulz/Chantal Laboureur for a quarterfinal ticket. There, they ran into 2020 Olympians Katja Stam/Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands and lost in three sets.

Four other American pairs reached the Round of 16: Corinne Quiggle/Sarah Schermerhorn, Lauren Fendrick/Emily Stockman, Sara Hughes/Kelley Kolinske, and Chaim Schalk/Theo Brunner. Quiggle/Schermerhorn had the longest route to the playoffs, winning twice in the qualifier before the main draw started. They opened pool play by upsetting the top-seeded Terese Cannon/Sarah Sponcil and then downed Brazilians Taiana Lima/Hegeile Almeida dos Santos to claim the pool title. The Americans’ run came to an end in the first playoff round.

Fendrick/Stockman and Hughes/Kolinske each went 1-1 in pool play. They both opened with 2-0 wins but lost their pool title matches, Fendrick/Stockman to Day/April and Hughes/Kolinske to Tokyo 2020 bronze medalists, Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland. In the Round of 16, they both fell to Brazilian pairs, but not before pushing their foes to extra points.

Schalk/Brunner also had a longer road to the playoff bracket. They lost their opening pool contest March 17 and had to play twice March 18 before the Round of 16 even began. Rebounding with a pair of 2-0 wins over Dutch teams, Schalk/Brunner then drew Brazilians Vitor Goncalves Felipe/Renato Andrew Lima de Carvalho, battling but falling 2-0 (21-19, 21-19).

Cannon/Sponcil, playing together for the first time since 2018, exited the tournament after pool play.

Nine other American pairs joined Quiggle/Schermerhorn in the qualifier. Five lost in the first round, and four lost in the second.

The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour continues next weekend with an Elite 16 tournament in Rosarito, Mexico. Eight American pairs – five women’s and three men’s – are scheduled to compete.