Another day, another example of dominance by the USA women at the Volleyball World Hamburg Eiite16.
Third-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth overpowered France’s Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard 21-13, 21-18 Friday and moved into the German tournament’s Saturday round of eight.
Fifth-seeded Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes beat Thailand’s Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee and Taravadee Naraphornrapat 21-19, 21-15 to also finish pool play 3-0 to move into the round of eight.
And also there are top-seeded Brazilians Ana Patricia and Duda and second-seed Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.
All four await their opponents.
The lone American men’s pair, second-seeded Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, opened Friday by winning their second-pool play match 21-14, 21-16 over Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri.
But against 15th-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain, Benesh and Partain staged a tremendous battle before coming away with a 26-24, 16-21, 15-13 victory.
They lost a 20-16 first-set lead and it was back and forth throughout after that.
Benesh and Partain, who also await their Saturday opponent, won their last Volleyball World Elite 16, taking gold in Gstaad early last month.
Saturday women
Valentina Gottardi/Marta Menegatti Italy (13, Q1) vs. Tanja Huberli/Nina Brunner Switzerland (6)
Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia China (7) vs. Carol Salgado/Barbara Seixas Brazil (8)
Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann Germany (15, Q6) vs. Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova Latvia (9)
Svenja Muller/Cinja Tillmann Germany (4) vs. Lezana Placette/Alexia Richard France (14, Q10)
Round of eight
Ana Patricia Silva/Duda Lisboa Brazil (1) vs. TBD
Sara Hughes/Kelly Cheng United States (5) vs. TBD
Kristen Nuss/Taryn Kloth United States (3) vs. TBD
Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandie Wilkerson Canada (2) vs. TBD
Saturday men
Paul Henning/Sven Winter Germany (11) vs. Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen Netherlands (10)
Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira Spain (15, Q9) vs. Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner Czech Republic (3)
George Wanderley/Andre Loyola Brazil (9) vs. Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler Germany (4)
David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig Sweden (5) vs. Patrikas Stankevicius/Audrius…
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