The main draws begin Friday at AVP New Orleans and the Volleyball World Saquarema Challenge in Brazil.
Four teams in each gender advanced out of the qualifiers Thursday in New Orleans.
On the women’s side, the pairs that got through are Brook Bauer and Katie Horton, Aurora Davis and Lydia Smith, Jessica Gaffney and Kelly Reeves, and Kim Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst.
The qualifier winners on the men’s side were Noah Dyer and Wyatt Harrison, Ian Satterfield and Jake Urrutia, Djordj Klasnic and Brian Miller and Andrew Denter and Jacob Landel.
Action at Coconut Beach in Kenner, Louisiana, begins at noon Friday with a couple of highlight matches on both sides. Local favorites and LSU products Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss play Bauer and Horton, while legendary Phil Dalhausser and his partner John Sutton play Paul Lotman and Silila Tucker.
Among the Olympians in action are Sarah Sponcil, Kelly Cheng, Brandie Wilkerson, Melissa Humana-Paredes, and Tri Bourne.
Cheng won last year with Betsi Flint. Now Cheng plays with Sara Hughes and Flint is paired with Julia Scoles.
Click here for the AVP New Orleans brackets.
In Brazil, eight pairs advanced on both sides into pool play but the USA men didn’t get any help.
Two USA men’s pairs got through, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans and Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, and they play each other to open pool play on Friday.
Also in their pool are Daniele Lupo and Enrico Rossi of Italy and Oscar Brandao and Alison Cerutti of Brazil.
The American pair of Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander lost a tough three-setter, 18-16 in the third, to Yves Haussener and Quentin Metral of Switzerland in the second round of the qualifier.
The other USA pair in the field is ninth-seeded Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb and they play Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins.
The only USA pair in the women’s qualifier lost in the second round. Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn lost in three to an Austrian pair. The women’s field includes Hailey Harward and Kelley Kolinske, who play Germans Karla Borger and Sandra Ittlinger in the first round of pool play.
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