American men rebound with qualifier success in Mexico

On Monday morning, Tri Bourne released a behind-the-scenes vlog on the SANDCAST YouTube page in which he pulled a move that was more befitting his former partner, Trevor Crabb: He guaranteed something that is, to put it lightly, a smidge difficult to guarantee.

“Men’s U.S. teams as a whole are all going to be better this year,” he said. “I guarantee that. Don’t worry U.S. fans, we got you.”

This came, of course, just days after Bourne and Chaim Schalk’s debut as a new duo fell flat, with back-to-back losses in the La Paz Challenge, while Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner finished fifth. The guarantee did not, as one rankled viewer suggested, age well.

Until Wednesday evening, anyway.

Both Bourne and Schalk and Brunner and Crabb advanced from the Volleyball World Tepic Elite 16 qualifier in Mexico, both needing second- and third-set comebacks in the final round to punch their tickets into the main draw.

“It was a gnarly day. It’s kinda crazy how insane qualifiers are these days,” Bourne said. “They’ve always been gnarly but now they’re insanely intense.”

They are qualifiers only in name. Six of the eight semifinalists from last year’s World Championships were relegated to Wednesday’s qualifier, and only Brunner and Schalk made it through to the main draw. Brazilians Renato Lima and Vitor Felipe, the silver medalists in Rome, fell to Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, while bronze medalists George Wanderley and Andre Loyola were knocked out by Brunner and Crabb. (Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, who won the World Championships, are directly into the main draw and the No. 1 seed at the Tepic Elite 16)

“There are no good draws in the main draw now. Now there’s no good draws in the qualifiers,” Bourne said. “We’re stoked to get through it.”

Bourne and Schalk’s road included victories over Austria’s top two teams. They swept Philipp Waller and Martin Ermacora (21-17, 21-15) before a three-set thriller with top-seeded Moritz Pristauz and Robin Seidl (16-21, 21-19, 15-13), who were coming off a bronze medal at the La Paz Challenge. Their win required a comeback from down 12-13 in the third set, with Schalk making a clutch dig on a magnificent Pristauz swing and Bourne sealing it with a match-winning block.

“Stoked to qualify, obviously,” Schalk said. “Good bounce back for us from the first…