Yangzhou, China, October 11, 2018 – Brazil’s Pedro Solberg and Bruno Oscar Schmidt scored a pair of victories, including the 2-1 (21-14, 24-26, 15-12) win over the United States’ Casey Patterson and Stafford Slick in the men’s pool play round of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Yangzhou 4-star.
The Brazilian pair also won their opening match in style against wildcards Li Zhuoxin and Zhou Chawei of China 2-0 (21-10, 21-11), leading all seeded teams with two victories, as top seeds Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse of Qatar dropped their first match to Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov and Iaroslav Gordieiev 2-0 (21-17, 21-16).
“Every time we play a wild card team, it’s different,” Bruno said. “They have the advantage because they are used to the wind and the sand. Once we started playing, we saw them struggle with the deep sand, so we knew how to take advantage of it to win the match.”
Gustavo Albrecht Carvalhaes (Guto) and Saymon Barbosa also came up with straight-set wins, including the 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) victory over compatriots Alison Cerutti and Andre Loyola Stein.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - YangzhouFIVB.com - Beach volleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramThe United States’ Ryan Doherty and William Allen also claimed twin victories. The first one is a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) win against Italy’s Marco Caminati and Enrico Rossi. They took the second one as Gordieiev was forced to retire due through injury.
Two Russian pairs - Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Konstantin Semenov/Ilya Leshukov - reigned in their respective pools with double straight-set wins.
Germany’s Philipp Arne Bergmann and Yannick Harms, Canada’s Samuel Pedlow and Sam Schachter, and the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner also posted double wins to occupy the top spot of their respective pools.