Cape Town, Sudafrica - elite16 - Beach Pro Tour 2022 - News

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Nuss dives for a dig during one of the Americans' pool play matches

Eight of the 16 women’s teams that started the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday will take part in Saturday’s elimination rounds at the Grand Parade.

The matchups for Saturday’s quarterfinals were set after the conclusion of the pool play phase on Friday and teams from five different countries remain in contention. The semifinals will also be held on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s medal matches in South Africa.

· Watch all matches at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Cape Town live on Volleyball TV.

The four quarterfinal matches in Cape Town will have Brazil’s Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos against Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik and Tajda Lovsin, USA’s Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil facing compatriots Megan Kraft and Emily Stockman, Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss meeting Brazilians Talita Antunes and Thamela Coradello and French pair Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard challenging Japan’s Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe.

Among the strongest teams in pool play were Americans Kloth and Nuss. The winners of the Futures event in Coolangatta, Australia, and the Challenge tournament in Kuşadası, Türkiye, the two completed their Pool C campaign in perfect form, winning all their three matches without dropping any sets.

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Kloth sets during the match against Sponcil and Cannon

The 25-year-old Kloth and the 24-year-old Nuss had a double journey on Friday, which started with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) win over fellow Americans Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil and ended with another two-set (21-12, 22-20) triumph, this one against Japan's Asami Shiba and Takemi Nishibori.

“It’s been awesome so far,” Kloth commented. “We knew that the match against our fellow Americans was going to be a battle, as it’s always been, and that’s exactly what happened. We knew it was going to be back and forth and we’re excited to have won it.”

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The victory against their compatriots continued an interesting trend between the teams this season. There have been six encounters between them so far and the series is now even, with Kloth and Nuss prevailing in all three Beach Pro Tour duels and Cannon and Sponcil triumphing in the three American AVP matches reuniting the duos.

Cape Town is just the seventh international stop in the career of the Americans, who started competing overseas in 2022. Kloth and Nuss have been all around the globe with the Beach Pro Tour – in Australia, Brazil, Türkiye, Latvia, Switzerland and France – and are enjoying their first time in Africa.

“Every tournament has had a different feel this season,” Nuss commented. “This one has been super exciting with the announcers and the school kids that have been coming here. Having Table Mountain as a background and just being in the middle of the city is really amazing.”

Besides Kloth and Nuss, only two other teams ended pool play with perfect records – reigning world champions Duda and Ana Patricia, in Pool A, and fellow Americans Stockman and Kraft in Pool D. Ishii and Mizoe topped Pool B with two wins and one loss.