WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Sisters in Silver April Ross and Alix Klineman all but secure Olympic berth with sec- ond-place finish at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany BY TOM FEUER • PHOTOS FIVB FIVB he World Championships in Hamburg solid- World Championships ified two trends that have gripped the sport since Vienna, the site of the last global meet- Women Ting two years ago. The nexus of power which used to Gold — Sara Pavan/Melissa Humana Paredes (Canada) be firmly ensconced in the United States and Brazil Silver — April Ross/Alix Kineman (United States) has shifted and become increasingly more global. Bronze — Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (Australia) Secondly, the experience of playing on the biggest 4th — Nina Betschart /Tanja Huberli (Switzerland) stages in front of loud, boisterous crowds does not seem to carry as much value as it used to. Aside from Men American silver medalist Alix Klineman, who one Gold — Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy (Russia) could argue is a neophyte in the beach game having Silver — Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler (Germany) played internationally for all of 18 months, the six Bronze — Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (Norway) medalist teams featured at least one partner who was 4th — Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb (United States) 26 or younger, some of them with both. It was a truly disastrous World Championships for Brazil. As recently as 2015, five of the six medalists in the event came from the South American country. In Hamburg, the best finish by the green and gold were fifths by defending World Champion Andre Loyola and his young 22-year-old partner George Wanderley on the men’s side, and for the women, by Fernanda Alves and Barbara Seixas. For the Brazilian men things on the world tour are especially dire. Brazil has earned only one gold, one silver and two bronzes out of 27 possible medals in nine four star tournaments this or higher this calendar year through mid-July. All of the medalists on the men’s side came from Northern European countries. Showing a great deal of poise, Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and 22-year-old Oleg Stoyanovskiy won the gold medal in front of 12,000+ screaming, singing, chanting and swaying fans over the home country Germans, Julius Thole, 22, and Clemens Wickler, 24. After being eliminated in his quarterfinal match against those very same Germans, American veteran Phil Dalhausser, playing in his seventh World Championship since 2005 (he was injured in 2015) said that it was not only the loudest crowd he has ever heard on a volleyball court, but it was so ear splitting he could not make out his part- ner’s Nick Lucena’s calls. Am Rothenbaum stadium, built in 1999, was a terrific venue for the Worlds. The stadium was filled to capacity on center court for most of the last four days of the tournament. And while their country pride was in full throttle mode, the German fans were knowledgeable and appreciative of the high level volleyball that was exhibited. The one jeer that occurred in any of the big matches was directed at Stoyanovskiy when 34 digbeachvolleyball.com | 2019 #4 NEAR MISS: April Ross almost scooped up her second FIVB world championship, but dropped an emotional final with partner Alix Klineman. 2019 #4 | digbeachvolleyball.com 35 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WORLD CHAMPS: Canada’s Sarah Pavan celebrated the biggest win of her career when she put the finishing touches on a 23-21, 23-21 gold-medal victory over April Ross and Alix Klineman in Hamburg. Left, Viacheslav Krasilinikov and Oleg Stoy- anovskiy proved there was Russian medaling in 2019. GERMAN SKIES: Crowds in Hamburg were sold out repeatedly for the world championships despite a seating capacity of more than 13,000. 36 digbeachvolleyball.com | 2019 #4 he argued a call in the final. But the crowd was quickly quieted by the stadium DJ. For the Americans, the Worlds were a mixed bag. On the positive side, April Ross and Alix Klineman had a terrific run. Up until the final, it could be argued that Ross was playing the best volleyball of anyone in the tournament. The Southern California duo had one loss in pool play to Germany’s Karla Borger and Julia Sude, but were simply on fire all the way to the gold medal match where they ran headfirst into Can- ada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana Paredes. Not that much was expected of the Cana- dians going in. They were not even the highest ranked team from their own country, a desig- nation that went to the third seeded team of Brandie Wilkerson and Pavan’s former partner, Heather Bansley, who ultimately finished a disappointing 17th. As the ninth seeds, Pavan and Humana Paredes did not have an easy draw. They faced young Americans Kelly Claes (23) and the recent UCLA graduate, Sarah Sponcil (22) in pool play, a terrific back and forth battle won by the Canadians that went to extra points in two of the three sets. And the match of the entire tour- nament may have been in the semifinals when on the last game of the day, or in this case, night, Pavan and Humana Paredes defeated the Swiss duo of Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli, 19-17 in the third, a match that was one of the half dozen longest in the tournament at large. Given the way Klineman and Ross marched through the draw they were comfortable favor- ites for the final. In fact since October, Pavan and Humana Paredes had lost all three of their matches against the Americans. But it was the Canadians surprising strategy of going after Ross that proved to be decisive in both games which finished with identical scores of 23-21. “Mo played incredible defense today. She was reading them really well, controlling all of their ON FIRE: Trevor hard driven shots and we were able to turn a lot Crabb (above) of points and that was the big difference,” said and Tri Bourne Pavan. demonstrated Ross had an uncharacteristic six errors in the in Hamburg that gold medal match, something that is unheard they are not only of. “I am pretty upset,” Ross said. “To get here a team that can make it to Tokyo, and have it be Alix’s first World Championships but have the chem- it would have been so amazing to win the gold.” istry to get into “Things never felt totally in our wheelhouse or the medal mix.. comfort zone,” Klineman said after the match. “So I think when things felt uncomfortable we don’t translate that into the same momentum as when we are firing on all cylinders.” While the Americans may have been under- standably upset afterwards, there was a consola- tion in addition to their silver medal. They took home a bushelful of points, 1440 to be exact (by comparison an FIVB five star Major, of which there are only three in a calendar year, offers 1200 points to the winners). “This is the best I have ever done at a World Championships in an Olympic qualifying year, by far,” Ross said. “And it goes a really long way towards Tokyo so we are WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BAD DRAW: Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena started slow, but then caught fire before running into a Netherlands team in the quarterfinals that has beaten in their last four meetings. really proud about that.” Ross’ medal haul now includes an Olympic gold of a midsize split blocking team,” Bourne said after it was all over. “It kind and bronze and medals of every color in the Worlds including the gold in of depends on if one of those big guys is going to take over and be lights 2009 with her current coach Jen Kessy. out that match, because that puts a lot of pressure on us to be perfect. We The Olympics were in the forefront of everyone’s minds although the take a lot of pride in playing the giants. We like to slay the giants.” Worlds is actually a tougher tournament to win. Consider that in the Bourne and Crabb may have been the scrappiest team in the tour- Olympics, only 24 teams participate with a maximum of only two per nament. Four of their eight matches went to three sets, including the country. In Hamburg, with a more robust 48 team draw for each gender, semifinals against the Russians and the bronze medal game against the Nor- the competition included six women’s teams from the host country, as wegians. Bourne and Crabb’s biggest win came in the quarterfinals, where well as five USA and four Brazilian teams. On the men’s side the gauntlet down 12-8 and 14-11 in the third and decisive set, to the last Brazilian included four USA, Russian and Brazilian teams, and fWhile they may men’s team alive, Loyola and Wanderley, they pulled off a stunning upset. have been disappointed in their finishes, Sara Hughes and Summer Ross In general, the much maligned American men’s teams played very well. performed quite admirably taking fifth and the 960 points that came with All four of the U.S. squads made the round of 16. And inarguably the it. Hughes and Summer were eliminated by Klineman and April Ross in the biggest upset of the tournament was in the first round of single elimination quarters. when Stafford Slick and Billy Allen, who got into the Worlds draw only For Claes, playing this time with Sponcil, she matched her ninth place via the NORCECA route, stunned Brazilian defending World champion finish from Vienna two years ago with Summer Ross.