Another lightning stoppage will make for a long Sunday at AVP Atlanta

It’s gonna be a long Sunday at the AVP Gold Series Atlanta Open.

There was another lightning stoppage, that, unlike Friday, completely stopped the already-delayed action Saturday for the evening. Action ended at 7:37 p.m. and eventually called off at 8:58 p.m. with four matches rescheduled for Sunday.

Which means that the first match Sunday is at 8 a.m. Eastern with a very full slate ahead for the survivors.

Both winners-bracket and contenders-bracket matches left on both sides.

For the men, the last winners-bracket matches have ninth-seeded Evan Cory and Billy Kolinske playing fifth-seeded Chase Budinger and Troy Field, and sixth-seeded Paul Lotman and Miles Partain facing seventh-seeded Andy Benesh and Nick Lucena. 

Three of those pairs pulled off upsets in the previous round Saturday. Cory and Kolinske knocked off top-seeded Theo Brunner and Chaim Schalk 21-19, 25-23. Lotman and Partain beat third-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Casey Patterson 18-21, 21-18, 15-11, and Benesh and Lucena beat second-seeded Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb 22-20, 21-17.

Brunner and Schalk will try to stay alive against 13th-seeded Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend, while Dalhausser and Patterson must get past Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander, who eliminated Bourne and Crabb later Saturday 19-21, 21-14, 15-13.

The women’s side came closer to holding form Saturday. In the battles for spots into the semifinals, top-seeded Terese Cannon and Olympian Sarah Sponcil play fourth-seeded Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, and second-seeded Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske play sixth-seeded Zana Muno and Canadian Olympian Brandie Wilkerson. Muno and Wilkerson upset third-seeded USA Olympian Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint 21-12, 21-19.

The two contenders-bracket matches have 10th-seeded Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn playing 14th-seeded Deahna Kraft and Allie Wheeler, and Cheng and Flint playing seventh-seeded Julia Scoles and Geena Urango. Quiggle and Schermerhorn knocked out fifth-seeded Brazilians Larissa and Lili Maestrini 18-21, 21-18, 15-11. Wheeler, Cheng, Scoles and Urango are all former USC players.

Click here for the complete men’s results and schedule, and here for the women’s, courtesy of BVBinfo.com. You can also follow the tournament at https://avp.com/brackets/ and watch on the AVP YouTube channel.