Brazil and Switzerland will be represented by two pairs each in the women’s quarterfinals at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite16. The last-eight line-up was completed after a number of intriguing games delighted the spectators on Friday.

Saturday’s battles for the spots in the semifinals will set Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands against Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland, Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar of Australia against Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli of Switzerland, Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller of Germany against Barbara Seixas and Carol Solberg of Brazil, and Talita Antunes and Rebecca Silva, also of Brazil, against Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina of Latvia.

· All the matches of the Ostrava Elite16 are available to watch live or on demand on Volleyball TV.

The events in Pool B took an unexpected turn in the last leg. Earlier on Friday, Brazil’s Eduarda (Duda) Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos achieved their second win, a hard-fought 2-0 (25-23, 21-18) over Graudina and Kravcenoka. At the same time Clancy and Mariafe claimed their first victory, a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-13) comeback against USA’s Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil. However, the Brazilians failed to make use of their advantage as the only unbeaten team in the pool ahead of the last matches. The Aussies kept calm on the way to an emphatic 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Duda and Ana Patricia to guarantee themselves the first place on point ratio. The Brazilian duo’s last chance of progressing evaporated with Kravcenoka and Graudina’s hard-earned 2-1 (24-22, 15-21, 15-10) victory over the Americans, which meant that they also finished above Duda and Ana Patricia in the standings and punched their ticket to the playoffs.

Both Pool C tickets to the quarterfinals were up for grabs through the end, as all four teams got there with a 1-1 win-loss record, following the morning results. In the second-leg matches, Heidrich and Verge-Depre squeezed out an epic 2-1 (22-20, 20-22, 17-15) victory over Muller and Tillmann, while Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes claimed a narrow 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) victory over third-seeded Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske of USA. So it was winners take all in the afternoon deciders. The Germans stayed focused on the way to a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) clean slate against the Americans, while the Olympic bronze medallists from Switzerland played catch-up in each of the sets to gain a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win over the world champions from Canada.

“It was a tough group and we played three tough games. We knew we had to win that last games, because otherwise we would be out. So we gave it all for the win and I think that was our best game in the pool,” Heidrich said after the match.

“We kept believing until the end and I think that was the key to our success,” added Verge-Depre. “We tried to keep the pressure on the other side, but we were down 12-9 at the timeouts in both sets. It was not easy to handle, but we are really happy we did it!”

The last leg of Pool A matches were also played on Friday. Barbara and Carol secured the runner-up position in a direct clash with Brazilian compatriots Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria Rodrigues. After winning an extended first set, the world’s number two team cruised through the second to claim a 2-0 (23-21, 21-12) victory and leave their compatriots out of the playoffs. The world’s top-ranked team, Stam and Schoon finished their pool campaign unbeaten, but Poland’s Kinga Wojtasik and Katarzyna Kociolek made them work for their third win on Friday. The Dutch pair came back from a set down to celebrate at the end of an overtime tie-breaker with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 16-14) victory. It was the third tie-breaker the Poles lost by the narrowest of margins in the pool and will have to leave the tournament without a win in the main draw.

Talita and Rebecca mounted a dramatic comeback towards a 2-1 (13-21, 22-20, 15-10) win over Brunner and Huberli in Friday’s Pool D first-place decider. Both teams had already qualified for the playoffs on Thursday and will play in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The competition programme on the penultimate tournament day will start at 11:00 local time. The semifinals will be played later on Saturday to determine the match-ups for the two medal games on Sunday.

Ostrava Elite16 - schedule and results

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