Four U.S. Teams in Türkiye for Beach U19 Worlds
Four U.S. beach volleyball teams are in Dikili, Türkiye this week to compete at the FIVB U19 World Championships on Sept. 14-18
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 14, 2022) – Three U.S. beach teams will begin play in the main draw of the FIVB U19 World Championships on Thursday.
In qualifying matches on Wednesday, the U.S. girls team of Sophie Kubiak/Bailey Showalter won two matches to advance to the main draw.
In the first round, they beat Lill Kandimaa/Liisa Põldma of Estonia, 2-0 (21-19, 21-19). In the second round, they beat Maja Kruczek/Julia Kielak of Poland, 2-1 (14-21, 21-11, 19-17).
The U.S. boys team of Thomas Hurst/Caleb Blanchette ended their tournament with a loss to Olivers Bulgacs/Davis Teteris of Latvia, 2-1 (21-15, 17-21, 15-9).
“The game goes a lot faster than you think,” Blanchette said. “I was super nervous and tense at the beginning and I thought I was calm. Throughout the game, I became more relaxed and everythign flowed better. If I started like that, it would have had a different outcome.”
“You have to be prepared for any ball at any point and know when to stay disciplined versus reading on defense,” Hurst added. “Finally, being prepared to go 100 percent.”
On Wednesday night and Thursday morning in the United States, Kubiak/Showalter will begin pool play along with the U.S. teams of Myriah Massey/Ashley Pater and Ayden Keeter/Tread Rosenthal.
At 10:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Massey/Pater, seeded second, will play Ukraine’s No. 31 Kateryna Udovenko/Taisiia Kalchenko.
At midnight PT on Thursday, Kubiak/Showalter, seeded 32nd, will play Turkey’s top-seeded Ecem Aksoy/Doga Ocal.
At 3:10 a.m. on Thursday, 11th-seeded Keeter/Rosenthal will face No. 22 Kota Kurosawa/Teruki Ryujin of Japan.
Matches are being livestreamed on VolleyballWorld.tv.
U.S. Team for the Beach U19 World Championship
GIRLS
Name (Height, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
Sophie Kubiak (5-7, Louisville, Colo., Stanford, Rocky Mountain)
Myriah Massey (5-10, Pickerington, Ohio, Pickerington Central HS, Ohio Valley)
Ashley Pater (5-8, Bradenton, Fla., Univ. of Southern California, Florida)
Bailey Showalter (6-1, Snoqualmie, Wash., Univ. of Southern California, Puget Sound)
BOYS
Name (Height, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
Caleb Blanchette (6-5, Brentwood, Tenn., Ravenwood HS, Southern)
Thomas Hurst (6-3, Plano, Texas, University Prep, North Texas)
Ayden Keeter (6-2, Yorktown, Va., Webber International, Old Dominion)
Tread Rosenthal (6-7, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Austin, Texas, La Vista HS, Southern California)