DOHA, Qatar, October 10, 2025.- USA’s title defense received a significant boost on Friday after their two girls’ duos qualified for the semifinals of the ongoing FIVB Beach Volleyball Under 18 World Championship in Doha, Qatar.
A total of 40 matches—16 Round of 24, 16 Round of 16, and 8 quarterfinals–were played on Friday to determine the four semifinalists in each gender.
The semifinals and medal matches will be played on Saturday to determine who will eventually be crowned the world champion.
The USA pair of Jordyn Scribner and Ella Grimes stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches without losing a set from the qualification phase to the quarterfinals. On Friday, they defeated Puerto Rico’s Itzamar Arana Martinez & Anabella Isabelle Valentin Miranda 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in the Round of 16 before sweeping aside Brazil’s Isabela Sallaberry Cavalcanti & Ana Beatriz Sanches Francelino 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) in the quarterfinals.
“Every game is important so we have to keep working, play hard and fight for every point. We are fired up and ready to bring it home,” said USA’s Ella Grimes.
Their compatriots, the Junk twin sisters, Avery and Addison, had to dig deep to reach the last four. After beating Hungary’s Emese Kiss-Bertók & Réka Pádár in straight sets (21-15, 21-15) in the Round of 16, the Junk sisters faced their first real test of the competition in the quarterfinals against Germany’s Anna-Chiara Reformat & Rika Dieckmann, rallying from a set down to edge them out by 2-1 (19-21, 24-22, 15-13).
In the other two quarterfinals, both Belgium and The Netherlands battled from a set down to advance to the semifinals. While Belgium’s Lente Thant & Simone Vervloet overcame Italy’s Sofia Bruzzone & Micol Lafuenti 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-09), the Netherlands’ Esmee Radstake & Jara Both emerged 2-1 (20-22, 21-17, 15-10) winners over Canada to lose their first set of the competition.
In Saturday’s semifinals, the Junk sisters will take on Radstake & Both of the Netherlands while USA’s Scribner and Grimes will face off with Belgium’s Thant & Vervloet
FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results
In the men’s competition, NORECA teams concluded their campaign, with USA’s Smithe/Essert defeating Canada’s Panasiouk/Kim 2-0 (21-19, 22-20) to advance to the Round of 16 where they fell to Ukraine’s Skrypnychenko/Lunkan in a battle to three sets 1-2 (21-19, 17-21, 13-15). Mexico’s Escoto/Bojorquez lost to Latvia’s Silavs/Liepins B. 1-2 (18-21, 21-19, 10-15).
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