TEPIC, Mexico, April 21, 2024.- Cuba’s Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo continued their fabulous season by snatching bronze at their first Elite16 main draw appearance after beating Germany’s Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers on Sunday in Tepic, Mexico.
13th-seeded Diaz & Alayo, who started the tournament from the qualifiers, delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) upset of fifth-seeded Wickler & Ehlers. Alayo contributed six kill blocks towards the victory to finish with 21 points, while Ehlers was the best scorer of the match with 23. It was the fourth consecutive final four finish on the Beach Pro Tour for the Cuban duo. In the previous three Challenge events, they collected two silvers and a fourth place. The Tepic tournament was the first time they played in an Elite16 main draw, and the bronze earned will help them a lot in their quest to climb up the provisional Olympic ranking and qualify for Paris.
In their semifinal match, Diaz & Alayo took the first set, but Brazil’s Andre Stein & George Wanderley mounted a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-12) comeback.
Swedish David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig defended the Tepic trophy edging Brazil’s Andre & George in three sets 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-10) to celebrate their seventh Beach Pro Tour gold.
In the women’s field, Switzerland’s Nina Brunner & Tanja Huberli celebrated their first-ever Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gold after defeating Netherlands’ Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon 2-1 (21-14, 19-21, 19-17) victory. Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg squeezed out a bronze victory over Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi 2-1 (22-20, 21-23, 25-23).
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