Sochi, Russia, May 6, 2016 - Friday was not a day for the men’s teams that won their pool here Thursday at the US$150,000 Sochi Open as six of the eight group titlists failed to win a match during the opening elimination rounds on the four Beach Volleyball courts at Sport Inn in this Black Sea coastal resort setting.
The only two pool winners to survive were eighth-seeded Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia (Pool H) and 27th-seeded qualifiers Yaroslav Koshkarev/Ruslan Bykanov (Pool F) as the eight pool winners from Thursday earned “byes” to the second-round of Friday’s elimination bracket. The second- and third-place finishers from each group made up the first-round pairings and those winners advanced to the afternoon and early evening matches.
Semenov and Krasilnikov rallied from a first-set defeat to oust sixth-seeded Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor of Poland 2-0 (23-21, 21-18) in 39 minutes. The Poles were the No. 1 team on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranking lists, but relinquished the top spot after losing to Semenov and Krasilnikov for the second-time on the international circuit. Losiak and Kantor opened play Friday with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 41 minutes over the 15th-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo and Paolo) of Italy.
In Friday’s last match on the Sport Inn center court with spirited Russian fans, Koshkarev and Bykanov rallied from a first-set setback to oust 20th-seeded Grant O'Gorman and Sam Pedlow of Canada 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, 16-14) in xxx minutes. Koshkarev and Bykanov, who are playing together for the first-time since the 2013 season, are guaranteed a fifth-place finish in Sochi for their best placement together in four FIVB events.
Playing on the same side of the elimination bracket, Semenov/Krasilnikov will play 11th-seeded Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter of Canada in an opening match Saturday while Koshkarev/Bykanov challenge fifth-seeded Alex Ranghieri/Adriana Carambula of Italy. While Koshkarev/Bykanov have never played the Italians, Binstock and Schachter have defeated Semenov and Krasilnikov two of three times on the FIVB tour. The only Russians win was the last match between the two teams at an August 2015 stop in the United States.
NO. 1 NOW
Assuming the tour ranking leadership from the Poles were Ranghieri and Carambula as the Italians won twice Friday, including a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win in 36 minutes over fourth-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia (Pool D), the Sochi Open defending champions after winning the gold medal in the inaugural event last September.
Earlier Friday, Ranghieri and Carambula eliminated 17th-seeded Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin of Russia 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) in 34 minutes. With the two wins Friday, Ranghieri and Carambula have 3,210 FIVB ranking points for the 2015-2016 season while Losiak and Kantor are second with 3,160 points.
After defeating 12th-seeded Markus Bockermann/Alexander Walkenhorst of Germany 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) in a 40-minute opening elimination match Friday, Binstock and Schachter ousted second-seeded Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira of Spain (Pool B) 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-13) in a 50-minute “Sweet 16” match. It was the Canadians third-straight FIVB win over Herrera and Gavira.
OTHER QUARTER-FINALS
In the bottom-half of the Sochi Open elimination bracket, seventh-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel of Poland will be challenged by ninth-seeded Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo of Italy while third-seeded Tri Bourne/John Hyden of the United States meet 13th-seeded Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson of France. While Bourne/Hyden lead the FIVB series with the French 3-1, the Poles and Italians’ head-to-head on the world tour is tied 3-3.
Fijalek and Prudel defeated a pair of teams from Austria Friday, including top-seeded Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) in 39 minutes and 19th-seeded Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl (Pool C) 2-0 (25-23, 21-11) in 40 minutes. With Lupo celebrating his 25th birthday Friday, the Italians defeated 31st-seeded qualifiers Iaroslav Gordieiev/Mykola Babich of the Ukraine 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in 33 minutes and 10th-seeded Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik of Germany (Pool G) 2-1 (21-19, 22-24, 15-13 in 56 minutes.
Before defeating 28th-seeded Nikita Liamin/Ilya Leshukov of Russia (Pool E) 2-0 (21-12, 32-30) in 43 minutes to advance to Saturday’s schedule, Bourne and Hyden eliminated 24th-seeded qualifiers Alexey Sidorenko/Alexandr Dyachenko of Kazakhstan 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) in 34 minutes. The French victories Friday were over 26th-seeded qualifiers Edgars Tocs/Rihards Finsters of Latvia 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) in 31 minutes and 13th-seeded Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz of Poland (Pool A) 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-11) in 48 minutes.
Following Friday’s two elimination rounds for men and women, Saturday’s schedule will feature quarter- and semi-final matches. The medal matches will be Sunday where the winning men’s and women’s pairs will each share the $11,000 first-place prizes.
UP NEXT
The final four FIVB World Tour qualifying events begin with a stop next week in Turkey (Antalya, 10-15 followed by events in the United States (Cincinnati, May 17-22), Moscow (May 24-29) and Germany (Hamburg, June 7-12). Also counting towards Olympic qualification will be the European championships June 1-5 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.