Tokyo Olympics 2021

Precisely how long is the “honeymoon phase” of a beach volleyball partnership? One season? One tournament? One road trip’s worth of tournaments?

There is no exact answer, although Kerri Pottharst, a three-time Olympian who won both a bronze and gold medal for Australia in 1996 and 2000, respectively, has declared the honeymoon phase to be definitively over for Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes.

“They have arrived,” Pottharst said on Saturday evening in Torquay, Australia.

They’ve arrived, all right. That night, Cheng and Hughes put the final exclamation point on their debut stretch of tournaments, a three-event November swing that saw them win an AVP Tour Series in Huntington Beach, a Challenge in Torquay, and then an Elite 16 in Torquay — all without losing a single set.

“We’re going to take these two wins, proudly go home, show off our gold medals, enjoy Christmas with our families,” Hughes said afterwards. “Most importantly, we’re going to get back to work because we’ve got a big year next year.”

Hughes and Cheng will undoubtedly begin the 2023 season as the favorites in the eyes of most to qualify for the Paris Olympics, particularly given the fact that their route to gold in Torquay included victories over Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth in the semifinals, and Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles in the finals.

“We’re ready,” Cheng said of being the hunted come 2023. “We’re very ready.”

Torquay Elite 16 Notebook

The other Torquay honeymoon: There was another honeymoon phase in Australia, this one enjoyed by Flint, Cheng’s former partner, and Scoles, the rookie who has had a standout season on both the AVP and Beach Pro Tour. Unlike Cheng and Hughes, Flint and Scoles did not have two tournaments of experience heading into the Elite 16, yet they were equally as dominant prior to the finals, sweeping five straight opponents, including Germany’s No. 2 duo of Julia Sude and Isabel Schneider in pool play and Australia’s top pair in Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy in the semifinals. In just four international tournaments, Scoles has advanced to the medal rounds in three, winning bronze in Dubai with Katie Horton and silver in Torquay with Flint.

More honeymooning! Torquay, though windy and rainy and gray and sometimes cold and sometimes warm, was quite the honeymoon destination for Americans this fall. Joining Cheng and Hughes and Flint and Scoles on the honeymoon trip was Miles Evans and Paul Lotman, who had never played together prior to the Elite 16. No matter: They finished fourth, losing to Italians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri in the bronze medal match. While the disappointment of losing the bronze surely stings, the event was a massive victory for both, especially Lotman, who in three events and six weeks has become the No. 3 ranked player in the United States. Since playing his first Beach Pro Tour event in Dubai in October, Lotman has vaulted, most notably, Tri Bourne, Trevor Crabb, Andy Benesh, Miles Partain, Chase Budinger, Troy Field, and even Taylor Crabb, who helped Lotman launch his international career with a fifth and third in Dubai Challenge events. Whether Lotman chooses to pursue a run at the Paris Olympics is, at the moment, unknown, but at the very least, he has become a viable contender to do so.

Artacho, Clancy bring home yet another medal: Traveling to and from Australia is not easy, nor is it easy on the bank account. As such, the beach world doesn’t see a ton from Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, Australia’s top-ranked team and the silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics. But when they do play, they’re nothing shy of tremendous, as their bronze in Torquay made it three consecutive medals on the Beach Pro Tour, and four straight when including the Commonwealth Games. Their run began with a bronze at the Gstaad Elite 16, which preceded gold at the Espinho Challenge, which was followed by a silver at the Commonwealth Games — and then three months off. Their bronze in Torquay, claimed with a thrilling 14-21, 21-19, 15-13 win over Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, helped the Australians jump to No. 4 in the world.

Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth qualify for World Tour Finals: With a fourth in Torquay, Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth jumped up to No. 8 in the world, supplanting Sarah Sponcil and Terese Cannon as the No. 1 team in the United States. More important: Their No. 8 rank qualifies them for the World Tour Finals, which will be held in Doha, Qatar January 26-29. The prize purse for those finals? $400,000, with $150,000 to the winners. They are the only Americans in the field, for either the women or the men, although two wild card spots remain for both genders. It would seem likely that one would go to Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, given their dominance over the past two weeks.

Note: World Rankings are calculated differently than entry rankings. The World Rankings are a team’s total of their best eight finishes in the last 365 days; the entry rankings used for events are the best three of the team’s last four finishes. The Olympic rankings, when qualification begins in 2023, are a separate system, which includes the team’s best 12 finishes from the Olympic qualification period.

AVP Central Florida delivers volleyball in … December?

The AVP has been the dominant domestic beach volleyball tour in the United States since 1984, when a group of players banded together with an agent named Leonard Armato and formed the Association of Volleyball Professionals. They retook control of the tour, wrested power from the promotional company, Event Concepts, that had been running it since 1976, and began running their own events. Over the next 38 years and 582 tournaments, never had there been a tournament held in December. Until last weekend.

The AVP’s 2022 season, and its inaugural under the ownership of Bally’s, extended the year all the way through the first week of December, making it the longest-running season in the tour’s history. This wasn’t entirely the plan, of course, as the schedule was initially set to conclude in September. But after a number of players were injured at the Atlantic City Tour Series in mid-July, the AVP scrapped the Pro Series in September and swapped in Central Florida’s Hickory Point Beach in December instead.

“It took about 20 years for you guys, but you finally came to Central Florida,” said Phil Dalhausser, who won with Taylor Crabb. “It’s great, I have a bunch of kids from my Academy and obviously the family is here. Let’s come back next year.”

If they do, the question would be when.

AVP Central Florida Notebook

Put the one seed on the barbie:  Given the timing of the AVP Central Florida Pro Series, strange things were bound to happen. And strange things did. A number of players and teams had taken a mini off-season beginning immediately after the Gold Series in Chicago, which is held annually on Labor Day weekend. They practiced sparingly, if at all, in the lead-up to Central Florida. Others continued training throughout, making Hickory Point Beach prime grounds for upsets and career-highs and lows. Both occurred, most notably with top-seeded Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner going 0-2, losing to Caleb Kwekel and Dylan Zacca in the first round, then to Bill Kolinske and Cody Caldwell in their next match.

To find the last time a one seed bowed out in last place, you’d have to go all the way back to Tempe, Arizona in 2004, when Sean Rosenthal and Larry Witt, carrying the one seed for the first time in their careers, lost both of their matches, to Ed Ratledge and Chad Mowrey, then to Adam Roberts and Matt Heath.

Note: Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena were the top seeds in Atlanta in 2021, and they also finished last. However, I did not include that here because their second loss, which was preceded by a stunning upset at the hands of Mike Groselle and DR Vander Meer, was a forfeit.

Highs abound in Central Florida: With the low taken care of, let’s take a look into the many, many career-highs had in Central Florida.

• Phil Dalhausser etched his name into history yet again, joining just Kent Steffes and April Ross as the only players to win three tournaments with three different partners in a single season.
• Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend set career-highs with their third place finish, losing only to Tri Bourne and John Hyden in the semifinals. Their previous high in a Pro or Gold Series was a fifth in Chicago.
• JM Plummer and I also set career-highs in Tavares with our fifth-place finish, a massive step up from our previous best of thirteenth. Same goes for Seain Cook, whose only Pro or Gold Series main draw came in Manhattan Beach this year, where he and Noah Dyer finished 25th. He took fifth in Central Florida with Logan Webber.
• Dylan Zacca’s main draw debut was an excellent one, beginning with the upset he engineered with Caleb Kwekel over Schalk and Brunner in the opening round. The ninth-place finish is a career-best for both of the 20 year olds.
• For the women, you’d almost have to search to find a single player who didn’t set some career milestone or other. Carly Kan and Jen Keddy made their first quarterfinal, then semifinal, then final, then earned their first victory. Both of their previous bests were ninth-place finishes.
• Third-place finishers Carly Skjodt and Katie Dickens also improved upon their previous bests of ninth. Carly Wopat’s third with Megan Rice marks the best of her career, as does the seventh enjoyed by Iya Lindahl and Tiffany Creamer, and the ninth from Avery Poppinga and Marine Kinna.

NORCECA starts Thursday

Just when you thought this beach volleyball season might alas be over, the show goes on. The final event of the 2022 season — maybe, who knows — will take place this weekend in the Dominican Republic this weekend, with the NORCECA Continental Championships. Only one team per country is permitted, and the United States is sending Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner, and Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint.

The stiffest competition for the men will be Canada’s top pair of Dan Dearing and Sam Schachter, Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz, and Mexico’s Juan Virgen and Miguel Sarabia. For Flint and Scoles, their most notable competition will be Canada’s Amanda Harnett and Marie-Alex Belanger and Cuba’s Charlot Nahomi and Dayani Zerqueira.

Brazil coasted into the quarter-finals of the World Cup as an exuberant first-half performance helped them to a 4-1 win over South Korea on Monday night.

Tite’s side were boosted by the return of Neymar – who suffered an ankle injury in the opening win over Serbia – and the 30-year-old announced his return with a penalty that moved him one goal behind Pele’s international record of 77 (13), which doubled Brazil’s lead after Vinicius Junior’s cool opener (7).

Richarlison then netted his third goal of the tournament after some of the most exquisite build-up (29) and it was 4-0 before the break when West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta guided in a shot to get in on the act (36).

But with the job already very much done by the break, the momentum slowed after it. As a result, South Korea did not let their heads drop and they had a brief moment to celebrate when Seung-Ho Paik reduced the deficit with a thumping strike (76).

Unsurprisingly, it was not enough to inspire a comeback from Paulo Bento’s side, who exit after having reached the knockout stages for the first time since 2010

Brazil, meanwhile, advance to the last eight of the tournament, where a clash with Croatia awaits on Friday afternoon.

Neymar later revealed he had feared his tournament was over after his injury, saying: “When I got injured, I had a very difficult night.

“I was thinking of a million different things and I was afraid I might not be able to play in this World Cup again, but I had the support of all my colleagues, my family and I tried to look for strength where I could not find it.

How Brazil sauntered into the quarter-finals

As the final match at Stadium 974 before it is dismantled began, the high tempo of the opening exchanges hinted this would be a competitive affair. Less than 15 minutes in, it became abundantly clear that would not be the case.

Brazil were soon very much in the groove when Raphinha brilliantly rode a challenge on the left-hand side of the box and sent a low ball skidding through a group of players to Vinicius Junior, who took one touch to control the ball and caressed it home with his second.

And it was two very shortly afterwards when Neymar successfully dispatched a penalty to move closer to a historic milestone after Richarlison had been caught by Woo-Young Jung.

The major setback made South Korea grow more fearless, with Alisson producing a heroic save to push away Hee-Chan Hwang’s stunning goalbound effort from 25 yards. At the same time, gaps began to emerge at the back, which were subsequently punished.

Brazil’s third oozed the South American flair that will undoubtedly see it featured among the goals of the tournament. Richarlison juggled the ball with his head and coolly finished after the slickest of exchanges between Thiago Silva and Casemiro. If that didn’t end Korean hopes, Paqueta certainly did when he guided Vinicius Junior’s scooped cross home.

Tite’s men tried to build on their simply unassailable lead after the break, but an inspired performance from goalkeeper Seung-Gyu Kim prevented them from extending their advantage – and their opponents even managed to take a smidgen of gloss off the victory late on, when substitute Seung-Ho Paik rattled in a consolation from 25 yards after a corner was cleared into his path.

But this was Brazil’s night and it is they who inch closer to glory after an imperious performance in Doha.

Bento steps down from South Korea role

South Korea coach Paulo Bento announced his departure from the role in the wake of his side’s World Cup defeat to Brazil.

The 53-year-old, who took over in August 2018, said he had already made the decision to bow out after the tournament prior to travelling to Qatar.

Bento said: “We just have to think about the future, and it will not be with the national team of South Korea.

“I have just announced to the players and to the president of the South Korean federation and this was a decision I had already taken since September that was set in stone.

“Today I have confirmed it and I have to thank them for everything they have done. They have given their very best and I have been very pleased and proud to have been their manager.”

However, at the end of the press conference, a spokesperson seemed to contradict Bento by saying that he had misspoken and had not quit.

Tite: No disrespect meant by dancing – it helps me adapt with players

Brazil coach Tite said his dance celebration during his side’s emphatic win was an expression of pure joy at his side’s bold attacking performance – and would help him bond with his young team.

Brazil’s players rushed over to the dugout after Richarlison put the five-time world champions 3-0 up inside 30 minutes and Tite briefly joined in their dancing.

“We try to adapt to the characteristics of the players,” the 61-year-old said when asked about his moves at a news conference. “They are very young and I try to adapt a bit to their language, and part of their language is dancing.”

He said his players told him before the game that they would make him dance with them if they scored.

Not everyone was impressed. Sky Sports’ Roy Keane, speaking on ITV, said: “People say it’s their culture. But I think that’s really disrespecting the opposition.”

Tite was at pains to stress that was not the case.

“There’s no interpretation other than happiness at the goal, happiness for the team, happiness for the performance,” he said. “There was no disrespect for the opposition nor towards (South Korean coach) Paulo Bento for whom I have a lot of respect.”

Player of the match – Vinicius Junior

The 22-year-old Real Madrid forward had been one of the brightest attacking sparks in Brazil’s subdued group-stage performances, so it was perhaps no surprise that he would play a key role when Tite’s men finally turned on the style.

Vinicius Junior showed composure when he took a touch and placed his shot into the net in a high-pressure environment and the assist he picked up came from a moment of brilliance too, with his scooped cross well finished by Lucas Paqueta.

Brazil players display banner in support of Pele after victory

Brazil’s players displayed a banner in support of Pele on the pitch as they celebrated their victory at Stadium 974.

The squad unfurled the banner, which featured just one word – ‘Pele!’ – alongside a picture of the Brazil great, following their 4-1 triumph.

Speaking after the match, Vinicius Junior said: “Lets hope we can carry on dancing all the way to the final. And we are also sending a big hug to Pele. Let’s hope he recovers quickly.”

Pele had earlier sent a message to his compatriots ahead of the match.

The three-time World Cup winner said on social media he would be watching the game from the hospital in Sao Paulo where he was admitted last week.

There were concerns over the 82-year-old’s health when news outlets in Brazil reported that he had been moved to palliative care, but an update from doctors about his treatment for colon cancer was followed by a message on Pele’s Instagram page that he was “strong” and which called for calm.

Ahead of Monday evening’s last-16 tie, Pele recalled memories of his World Cup debut in 1958, when the 17-year-old helped Brazil lift the Jules Rimet Trophy in Sweden.

He wrote on Twitter: “In 1958, I walked the streets thinking about fulfilling the promise I made to my father. I know that today many have made similar promises and are also going in search of their first World Cup. I’ll be watching the game from hospital and I’ll be rooting for each one of you. Good luck!”

Injury affected Pele’s contribution to the 1962 and 1966 World Cup finals, but he returned to lead Brazil to a third triumph in Mexico in 1970 as part of what is widely regarded as the greatest international team of all time.

Neymar: I was afraid I might not have played again at this World Cup

Following Brazil’s victory on Monday night, Neymar spoke about the ankle injury he suffered against Serbia during their opening game of the World Cup.

“When I got injured, I had a very difficult night,” he said. “I was thinking of a million different things and I was afraid I might not be able to play in this World Cup again, but I had the support of all my colleagues, my family and I tried to look for strength where I could not find it.

“First of all, I would like to thank God for the strength I have to be back on the pitch, to be able to train and to be able to do everything I needed to do to be on the pitch again. Thank you to my physiotherapist, my colleagues, to all of those who encouraged me over the last few days.

“I’m very happy to be back on the field of play and I’m very happy to have played well. We are very happy with our performance. We wanted to move to the next round, we wanted to win and that’s what we got.

“I did not feel any pain on my ankle tonight. I’m very content with my performance. That said, I think we can always improve and that’s what I try to do. I’m not 100 per cent satisfied with today, we needed to aim for more.”

Brazil’s potential route to the World Cup final…

Quarter-finals – Friday December 9
Croatia vs Brazil – Kick-off 3pm

Semi-finals – Tuesday December 13
Netherlands or Argentina vs Croatia or Brazil – Kick-off 7pm

Brazil underscore favourite status – Opta stats

• Brazil scored four goals in a knockout round game at the World Cup for the first time since 1998 (4-1 vs Chile), scoring more goals in the opening 36 minutes of this match (4) than they did in their three group-stage games combined (3).
• Korea Republic are winless in all seven of their World Cup games against South American sides (D2 L5) – only Scotland (8) have faced such nations more often without ever winning in the competition.
• Neymar became just the third Brazilian to score in at least three editions of the World Cup (2014, 2018, 2022), along with Pelé (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970) and Ronaldo (1998, 2002, 2006).
• Brazil led 3-0 after just 29 minutes, the earliest they’ve gone three goals ahead in a single World Cup match. In the end, it was just the second time they’ve scored four goals in the first half of a World Cup match, also doing so against Mexico in 1954.

What does the result mean?

Brazil now advance to the World Cup quarter-finals, where they will face Croatia for a place in the semi-finals of the tournament on Friday.

Kick-off at the Education City Stadium will be at 3pm.

We’re headed into the NCAA Tournament round of 16 and we’ve got some great coaching perspective on Thursday’s matches.

TCU had a tremendous season under first-year coach Jason Williams, whose Horned Frogs played Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas and Baylor this season. They lost to Wisconsin this past weekend in the second round.

Penn State is in the round of 16 and first-year coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s Nittany Lions play Wisconsin again after beating UMBC and UCF.

When the coaches leave, Emily Ehman of the Big Ten Network and ESPN and VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog go over each of Thursday’s matches:

Showtime officially confirmed its Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs Hector Garcia-led pay-per-view on January 7th earlier today, and details of the undercard have also leaked ahead of today’s press conference. Jaron Ennis battles Karen Chukhadzhian for the interim IBF welterweight title in the co-feature, while Rashidi Ellis battles Roiman Villa and Demetrius Andrade returns against Demond Nicholson.

This isn’t the blockbuster showdown Ennis (29-0, 27 KO) was probably hoping for, but it’s not by design. Chukhadzhian (21-1, 11 KO) is the highest-ranked available contender at no. 4, as no. 2 is vacant and no. 3 Vergil Ortiz Jr is gearing up to fight Eimantas Stanionis for the WBA “world” title. The German-based Ukrainian hasn’t lost since a split decision in his second pro bout, with his biggest win coming over Sergei Vorobev in 2020.

“Boots” is probably still going to stomp a mudhole in his behind, but rankings-wise, he’s the best Ennis can get until his turn in the mandatory rotation comes around. Seeing as Keith Thurman and the Stanionis-Ortiz winner are next in line, that could be a while.

“Speedy” Rashidi (24-0, 15 KO) faces his first real test since 2020’s win over Alexis Rocha in Villa (25-1, 24 KO). “Flaca de Oro” has a very Colombian record on paper, but he beat the tar out of Janelson Bocachica on ShoBox last September. This is a really nice, potentially explosive matchup.

Same can’t be said for Andrade (31-0, 19 KO) against Nicholson (26-4-1, 22 KO). “Boo Boo” could have defended his middleweight title against Janibek Alimkhanuly or challenged Zach Parker for the interim super middleweight title and a potential shot at Canelo. Instead, he gets the guy whose biggest accomplishment in years was slightly loosening the wheels on the doomed Edgar Berlanga hype train.