Haiyang, China, July 19, 2018 – Amanda Dowdy and Irene Pollock were among the four USA pairs that topped their pools to advance to the next round of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Haiyang Open on Thursday.
Dowdy/Pollock started their day with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) win over China’s Li Zhaoxin/Dong Jie and made a successful finish in Pool F with a 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-10) victory over Canada’s Julie Gordon/Sophie Bukovec.
“It was hard-fought,” said Pollock of their second match. “It was definitely a battle against a great team. We’ve been training with them over the last couple of days, but we stayed together and pushed through it.”
“The next round is going to be fun,” Dowdy said. “Everyone’s good at this point. We are both excited. We just have to keep on improving in this tournament.” Meanwhile, Caitlin Ledoux and Sarah Sponcil also got through two Pool H victories against France’s Lezana Placette/Alexia Richard 2-0 (22-20, 21-14) and Japan’s Yui Nagata/Minori Kumada 2-1 (21-14, 15-21, 15-11).
Second seeds Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen and third seeds Betsi Flint/Emily Day each had a bye in the first round and earned straight-set victories over Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong/Khanittha Hongpak 2-0 (21-9, 21-9) and Norway’s Victoria Faye Kjolberg/Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland 2-0 (21-15, 21-14), respectively.
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In other pools, Chinese top seeds Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi rallied from a set down to beat Israel’s Noy Chorin/Anita Deev 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-9) after a bye in the first round, while Germany’s Sarah Schneider/Cinja Tillman posted victories against Japan’s Keiko Urata/Mai Tanaka 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) and compatriots Karoline Frohlich/Viktoria Seeber 2-0 (21-16, 21-19).
Australia’s Phoebe Bell/Jessyka Ngauamo eased through to the next round after posting straight-set wins over Latvia’s Varvara Brailko/Anete Namike 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) and Lithuania’s Urte Andriukaityte/Irina Zobnina 2-0 (22-20, 22-20) in Pool E.
Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee also won in straight sets against Canada’s Helene Rancourt/Sarah-Jeanne Meunier-Bedard 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) and Germany’s Lisa Arnholdt/Leonie Welsch 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) in Pool G.