After the top-ranked pair of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross were knocked out of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the round of sixteen, three of the four remaining American teams followed in the quarterfinal rounds.
The sole remaining team, Nick Lucena and Theo Brunner, edged out Jefferson Santo Pereira and Cherif Younousee from Qatar to advance to the semifinals. They battled the 106 degree heat in the Netherlands to win in two straight tight sets, both with a final score of 21-19.
“That’s one of the best wins for me,” Lucena told TeamUSA.org. “It’s one of the coolest experiences I’ve had, to play in this square, play against that team and get a win in this tournament. It was awesome.”
Lucean and Brunner will face the number 3 seeded team, Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, on Saturday, July 4th. Lucean and Brunner, from Florida and California respectively, are seeded number 15.
Cerutti and Schmidt previously knocked out Americans Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson in the quarterfinals. John Hyden and Tri Bourne also failed to make it through the quarters, falling to the Dutch team of Reindor Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst in two consecutive sets.
On the women’s side, Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat couldn’t advance past the German team of Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler. The Germans will compete against Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Da Silva and Maria Antonelli for third place tomorrow, while the final will feature two additional Brazilian teams: Taiana Lima and Fernana Alves versus Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas De Freitas.