Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard delivered the biggest upset of the first women’s competition day at the Brasilia Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. The French Olympians persevered through two three-setters, one in the qualifications and one in main draw pool play, to secure their advancement to the knockout rounds.
Elite16 - Brasilia, Brazil - 2025
Two tie-breaker wins push Placette & Richard to Brasilia Elite knockouts
Plenty of three-setters played on the first competition day as the women’s qualifiers and the first leg of pool play unfold
Published 04:36, 17 Apr 2025
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The qualifiers on Wednesday morning offered an interesting clash between the two teams representing the host nation France at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games last year. Placette & Richard battled it out for a 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 15-12) victory over their higher seeded compatriots Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau to book a spot in the main draw. Joining the top 24 of the tournament as the 22nd seed, the French pair faced third-seeded Americans Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft and battled on to produce a 2-1 (21-17, 12-21, 15-12) upset, capitalizing on a total of 10 aces in the match, six by Placette and four by Richard. This way, the French duo became the only team to score two wins on day one in Brazil. On Thursday, Placette & Richard will take on reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) for the first place in Pool C and a direct ticket to the second elimination round. The mighty Brazilians started their Brasilia campaign with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) win over Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte.
The seeding was broken in only one other pool match on Wednesday. In Pool A, 13th-seeded Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth of Italy mastered a 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) sweep of their game against 12th-seeded Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger of Austria. The Italians will now take on top-seeded Brazilians Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, who achieved a hard-earned 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-9) victory over Canadian qualifiers Marie-Alex Belanger & Lea Monkhouse.
In Pool B, second-seeded Taryn Brasher & Kristen Nuss of the United States cruised to a 2-0 (21-12, 21-17) shutout of Dutch qualifiers Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis, while Brazil’s Talita Antunes & Taiana Lima claimed a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) win over the other American team in the pool, Toni Rodriguez & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg.
Fourth-seeded Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia had to come back from a set down against Finnish qualifiers Taru Lahti-Liukkonen & Niina Ahtiainen on the way to a 2-1 (16-21, 21-13, 15-12) victory. Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli & Leona Kernen swept the other Pool D game on Wednesday, 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) against Brazil’s Andressa Cavalcanti & Taina Bigi.
The other Swiss team in the main draw, Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre, achieved a hard-fought 2-1 (17-21, 21-14, 16-14) turnaround against Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Giada Bianchi, who were the only team to get through the qualifiers with a bye. The Swiss will now challenge fifth-seeded Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti for the top of the Pool E standings. The Brazilian heavyweights hammered out a 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) shutout of Spanish qualifiers Belen Carro & Paula Soria.
An exciting North American duel will decide the first place in Pool F, where Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson will take on USA’s Kelly Cheng & Molly Shaw. The two teams delivered straight-set victories over opponents coming from the qualifications. Sixth-seeded Cheng & Shaw defeated Brazil’s Verena Figueira de Oliveira & Kyce Mikaele Martins Silva by 2-0 (22-20, 21-16), while the seventh-seeded silver medalists at the Paris 2024 Olympics beat USA’s Hailey Harward & Molly Phillips by an emphatic 2-0 (21-11, 21-15).
There was a lot of excitement at the beginning of the tournament, when the seven qualifying matches were played on Wednesday morning with spots in the main draw at stake. More than half of them, four, were pushed to tie-breaker resolutions, while in another one, both sets were pushed to overtime.
Thursday’s program in the women’s tournament in Brasilia will offer the second leg of pool play, where the winners of the first matches will compete for a direct passage to the round of 12, while the losers will fight for survival in the completion and a spot in the round of 18.
The women are battling it out to decide the Pool Winners and who advances to the next round! 🔥🏐
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