Pablo Herrera & Adrian Gavira, who triumphed at the first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event of the season in La Paz last week, climbed three spots up the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking to number 11. The Spanish team have not been this high in the ranking since early November and the only time they have been higher since the launch of the Beach Pro Tour last year was back in May, when they were in number seven for a week.

With the first place in La Paz, Herrera & Gavira earned 800 points. However, their ninth highest points result had to be dropped from their score, which meant they lost the 460 points that came with their ninth place at the Doha Challenge last year. So netting 340 points, the Spaniards’ new total of 5,680 points pushed them up from 14th to 11th, 140 points short of the top 10.

Because of Yorick de Groot’s injury, he and Stefan Boermans had not competed together since May 22, but with the good results just before that, they never dropped below the top 100. Upon returning to the Tour, the Dutch pair snatched silver in La Paz and netted 760 points towards a new total of 2,040, shooting 15 positions up the chart to number 74.

La Paz bronze medallists Robin Seidl & Moritz Pristauz had a successful first tournament together, which brought them their first 720 points, with which the Austrians stormed the World Ranking straight into number 168.

Another first-time partnership, Trevor Crabb & Theodore Brunner, made the top 200 by finishing fifth in La Paz. The new American pair entered the chart in position 197 with 600 points.

Their compatriots Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss collected 800 points with their triumph in La Paz, but similar to Herrera & Gavira, lost the 460 they had gained at the Itapema Challenge in April. They netted 340 points to improve their total to 6,300, but stayed in number seven, now 470 below sixth-ranked Nina Brunner & Tanja Huberli of Switzerland and 600 above eighth-ranked Cinja Tillmann & Svenja Muller of Germany. The seventh place is Kloth & Nuss’s highest ranking since they started competing internationally about a year ago. Currently, they are the highest ranked US duo.

For La Paz silver medallists Savannah Simo & Toni Rodriguez, the event in Mexico was only their second appearance on the Beach Pro Tour as a team. To their 340 points from the Doha Elite16, the Americans added 760 for the second place in La Paz, which adds up to a 119th place in the World Ranking.

Bronze medallists Taina Bigi & Victoria Lopes of Brazil shifted three spots up, from number 37 to number 34. Among the teams that shared the fifth place, France’s Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard climbed eight positions to return to the top 25, while USA’s Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng (in position 42) and Brazil’s Talita Antunes & Thamela Coradello (50) made the top 50 for the first time.

Last week’s Mount Maunganui Beach Futures winners also improved their ranking. New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley & Alice Zeimann earned 400 points, but net-gained only 160 to improve to 3,536 and rise two positions up to number 39 in the women’s chart. China’s Ha Likejiang & Wu Jiaxin, however, netted 340 of their 400 points and ascended from 75th to 62nd on a new total of 2,368 on the men’s side.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Women

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Men

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