Borger-Ittinger, Grimalts win Beach Pro Tour gold in Xiamen, China
Karla Borger and Sandra Ittinger of Germany and Esteban and Marco Grimalt of Chile won the respective titles Sunday at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge in Xiamen, China.
The USA came up medal-less after Chase Budinger and Miles Evans lost in the men’s bronze-medal match.
Second-seeded Borger and Ittinger beat ninth-seeded Swiss Olympians Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader 22-20, 21-14. In the match for third place, 10th-seeded Spainards Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno beat eighth-seeded Lithuanians Aine Raupelyte and Monike Paulikiene 21-16, 21-16.
The Grimalts, seeded 18th after getting through the qualifier, won 17-21, 21-18, 15-9 over 21st-seeded Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat of France in a final few would have predicted.
Second-seeded Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter of Germany beat fourth-seeded Budinger and Evans 15-21, 21-15, 15-13.
The respective winners split $10,000 each. Budinger and Evans took home $6,000.
Two USA men’s pairs won twice to get through the qualifier, Hagen Smith and Logan Webber and Jordan Hoppe and James Shaw.
Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb were in the main draw as the No. 3 seed and went 1-1 in pool play before losing to seventh-seded Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert of Australia in the first round of single elimination.
Smith and Webber in turn knocked out Hoppe and Shaw in three before getting swept by Pretzschner and Winter.
Two USA women’s pairs got through the qualiifer, Kylie Deberg and Hailey Harward and Alaina Chacon and Mariah Whalen. Deberg and Harward went 2-0 in pool play before losing in the first round of single eliminated. Chacon and Whalen went 0-2 in pool play.
The next stop on the Beach Pro Tour is this week’s Elite16 in Brasilia, Brazil. USA entries include Budinger and Evans, Crabb and Brunner and Miles Partain and Andy Benesh on the men’s side; and on the women’s Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes and Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss.
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