Nanjing, China, July 12, 2018 – Germany’s Rudy Schneider and Simon Pfretzschner were back in action on Thursday, when they took on Canada’s Cole Irwin/Robert Kemp to finish up their men’s pool play match in the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships at the Tangshan International Beach Sports Park.
After locking up a spot in the main draw with two straight-set wins in the qualification round, Schneider/Pfretzschner picked up right where they left off by winning their first two pool play matches on Wednesday and completing the sweep of all their matches in straight sets on Thursday afternoon. The Germans posted a 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) win over Irwin/Kemp to clinch the top spot in Pool A and advance to the Round of 16.
Three other pairs - Poland’s Dominik Poznanski/Mikolaj Miszczuk, Russia’s Alexey Gusev/Pavel Shustrov and Argentina’s Mauro Zelayeta and Bautista Amieva showed dominating performances, as they won each of their respective pool play matches without dropping a set.
Poznanski/Miszczuk completed their sweep of Pool E with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) triumph against Kazakhstan’s Nurdos Aldash/Abdulmajid Mokhammad, then Gusev/Shustrov made a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) blitz against New Zealand’s Keegan Maan Tai Joe/Ryan Gunn in Pool G, while Zelayeta/Amieva made short work of China’s Jiang Linghang/Yuan Xu 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) in Pool H.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:
FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships
Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner/Filip John also finished with three victories, after rallying from a set down in their three-set encounter with the second-seeded Brazilian duo Gabriel Zuliani/Gabriel De Abreu Lima Pisco 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 15-11) to finish on top of Pool B.
Italy’s kept their winning streak since the qualification round with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-9) finish against Norway’s Elvind Brekke/Nils Gunnar Ringoen in Pool D, while Thailand’s Phichakon Narathon/Phanupong Thanan made a break away from Austria’s Laurenz Leitner/Theo Reiter to claim a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory for leadership in Pool F.
After suffering from a loss to England’s Javier and Joaquin Bello on Wednesday, third-seeded Nathan Broch/Timon Gysin of Switzerland bounced back to win Pool C after defeating USA’s Timothy Brewster/John Schwengel 2-0 (21-11, 21-11).