Men's and women's Olympic beach volleyball quarterfinals wrapped up Wednesday at Eiffel Tower Stadium. Below are the details from each match.
Women's quarterfinals: Canada def. Spain
Brandie Wilkerson/Melissa Humana-Paredes blew past Spain's Daniela Alvarez/Tania Moreno in straight sets (21-18, 21-18) to reach the women's semifinals.
Canada, who qualified for the Round of 16 as a "lucky loser" team, has now rung off three straight wins. Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes stunned Kristen Nuss/Taryn Kloth of the United States before rolling past Spain on Wednesday.
While the Spaniards lost in the quarterfinals, expect Alvarez/Moreno to make an Olympic return, as the duo still have one more season to complete at TCU before graduating college.
Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes continued their strong play, displaying perfect chemistry on offense and defense. The two reached the quarterfinals with different partners in Tokyo, but now have a chance at a podium spot together as they advance to the semifinals.
Women's quarterfinals: Brazil def. Latvia
Brazil’s Ana Patrica/Duda dominated Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova, 21-16, 21-10, in the women’s quarterfinals at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Brazil erased a 6-0 Latvian lead with ease in the first set. A 3-0 run and then a 4-0 run brought Ana Patricia/Duda right back into the set, one they took comfortably.
The second set was all Brazil, as the duo ran through Graudina/Samoilova en route to a statement victory. Brazil out-attacked Latvia by seven and Duda put on a dazzling defensive display with nine digs.
Ana Patricia/Duda have yet to lose in the tournament, and the Brazilians show no signs of slowing down as they prepare to face Australia tomorrow.
Men’s quarterfinals: Norway def. Spain
Tokyo gold medalists Anders Mol/Christian Sorum defeated Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira in straight sets (21-16, 21-17) to advance to the men’s semifinals.
Mol/Sorum controlled the match from start to finish, utilizing a variety of offensive techniques to outduel the experienced Spaniards.
Herrera’s Olympic run comes to an end at the quarterfinals in what was a record sixth Olympic appearance in Paris.
The Norwegians have proven to be one of, if not the best teams in the field yet again in Paris and will look to use their big-match experience to fuel another gold medal run.
Men's quarterfinals: Qatar def. USA
Americans Miles Partain/Andy Benesh fell to Qatar’s Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan in the quarterfinals (21-14, 21-16) and were eliminated from the men’s beach volleyball tournament at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
The loss means that no U.S. beach volleyball team, men’s or women’s, will reach the Olympic podium for the first time ever since the sport debuted.
Qatar wore out the U.S., taking a lead and holding on for the straight sets victory. Partain/Benesh had promising moments throughout the match but couldn’t build enough momentum to combat the sharp play of the Qataris.
Younousse/Tijan will face world No. 1 team David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who they defeated earlier in the tournament.