George & Andre take silver, Renato & Vitor Felipe claim bronze
Hodges & Schubert triumph at Jurmala centre court
Thomas Hodges & Zachery Schubert brought their fairy-tale campaign at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge to a happy end by winning their first gold medal on the Tour. Starting the tournament as the 12th-seeded team in the qualification bracket and moving on as the 20th seed in the 24-team men’s main draw, the Australians won eight consecutive matches in Latvia, five of them in tie-breaker clashes, to triumph on top of the podium. In addition to this historic gold, Hodges & Schubert have two silvers and a bronze from their 2022 Beach Pro Tour campaign.
· Watch Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge replays on VBTV.
Two Brazilian duos completed the podium. Top-seeded Andre Stein & George Wanderley took the silver, their fifth medal on the Tour so far, as well as second from Jurmala alone, after their bronze from the 2022 Elite16 event in the Latvian city.
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship 2022 silver medallists Renato Lima & Vitor Felipe finally made it to their first Beach Pro Tour podium by winning the bronze in Jurmala on Sunday.
The Jurmala Challenge 2023 men’s podium
In the first set of the gold medal match, Andre & George established total control on the court and cruised to an emphatic win to take a 1-0 lead. The second set was quite competitive through 15-14 Brazil’s way, when Hodges & Schubert broke away with four points in a row, before Schubert hammered two back-to-back aces to close the set and level the score. After 8-8 in the tie-breaker, the Aussies went on a five-point run and never looked back. It was Schubert again, who delivered the championship winner with a spike kill for 2-1 (10-21, 21-16, 15-12).
Andre’s fantastic tally of nine kill blocks within a match-high 26 points did not suffice to stain the finale of Hodges & Schubert’s fairy tale. Hodges himself produced 23 points, including four blocks and two aces, while Schubert finished with 16.
“It’s pretty incredible!” exclaimed Hodges after the final. “We decided to play it game by game. Every game in qualification was tough, and then in pool play and each different phase was just one game at a time. That’s how we played and I think it showed down there on the court. It’s amazing! We stuck at it. We knew we were playing good volleyball and when some of the games didn’t go our way, we just had to keep playing, game by game, point by point, and we got there.”
“The crowd really helped us get back into the game,” added Schubert. “This amazing crowd has been here all day, supporting us, cheering, and we couldn’t have done without them.”
Schubert spikes past Andre’s block
The bronze medal match was also decided in the tie-breaker. In an all-Brazilian affair, Renato & Vitor Felipe took the first set, but then their opponents Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano fought back in the second to level the score. A fierce battle unfolded in the third set. After a few changes in the lead and the gap never exceeding two points, Renato & Vitor Felipe had the final say to celebrate a 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-13) victory and their first Beach Pro Tour medal. Arthur topped the match charts with 22 points, followed by Renato with 21 and Vitor Felipe with 20.
Vitor Felipe in action during the bronze medal match
Both semifinals earlier on Sunday also featured three-set duels. In the first one, Hodges & Schubert produced a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-12) victory over Vitor Felipe & Renato. Hodges raised six kill blocks to add to 17 successful spikes and an ace towards a match high of 24 points.
On the other side of the net, Vitor Felipe tallied 23. Then, George & Andre and Evandro & Arthur offered a nail-biting all-Brazilian clash, in which each of the sets was decided by the narrowest of margins and two of the three went to overtime: 2-1 (26-24, 19-21, 17-15). Each of the four players scored 20+ points. Evandro topped the charts with 28 points, including five kill blocks and an ace. Arthur added another 22. George produced three aces towards a 27-point tally, while Andre chipped in with three stuffs, an ace and 14 kills in attack.
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