Chase Budinger, Miles Evans land huge qualifying victory at Doha Elite16

It wasn’t the prettiest.

It didn’t have to be.

Of all of the metrics in an increasingly quantified era of sports, there is, in reality, only one that matters: Does the tally go in the W column, or does it reside in the L? On Tuesday evening in Qatar for the season-opening Doha Elite16, Miles Evans and Chase Budinger notched a pair of tallies on the proper side of the ledger, punching a most invaluable ticket into the week’s main draw.

During their first win, a 21-15, 19-21, 16-14 seesaw over Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Leo Dillier, Budinger and Evans survived after ceding a 13-11 lead in the third, allowing it to be flipped into a 13-14 deficit.

Didn’t matter. They won anyway, rattling off three straight for the win.

Three hours later, against countrymen Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk? Much the same. Bourne and Schalk pushed out to a 7-5 lead in the third, after splitting the first two sets, 21-18, 23-25. Didn’t matter. Budinger and Evans flipped the lead again, retaking it at 10-9, an advantage they wouldn’t cede.

Survive. Advance. Main draw.

Budinger and Evans will now have three more matches in Doha, in Pool D against Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl, Qatar’s Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan, and Italy’s Sam Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai.

The only other American men’s team in the tournament, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, endured no such stress on Tuesday. They could sit back and enjoy the action either in person or on Volleyball TV(they did) Wednesday, however, they have a date with the best in the world, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, and another bout with hard-hitting Australians Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert, who emerged from the qualifier. Their final match of pool will come against the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot.

As a refresher on the format, three teams will advance into the playoff rounds from each pool. The top seed will earn a bye into the quarterfinals.

 

Nuss-Kloth, Cheng-Hughes open season at Doha Elite16

Joining Budinger and Evans, and Brunner and Crabb, in the main draw are Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, and Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, who top pools B and C, respectively.

Nuss and Kloth will play Italians Marta Menegatti and 2023 Rookie of the Year Valentina Gottardi. They will play twice on Thursday, against Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Carol Salgado, and Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner, who made it out of Tuesday’s qualifier, as did older sister Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader.

Like Nuss and Kloth, Cheng and Hughes have only a single match on Wednesday, against Brazil’s Taina Silva and Victoria Lopes. Their double-header on Thursday will be against the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam and Brazil’s Agatha and Rebecca, who qualified on Tuesday.

Also qualifying on Tuesday evening was Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova and Tina Graudina, the former USC National Champ who swept Austria’s Klinger sisters, Dorina and Ronja, in the final round of the qualifier. The Klingers swept Canada’s Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec in the first round (21-15, 23-21).

Only one team held their seed for the men’s qualifier. That was Budinger and Evans. The remaining three qualifying spots featured a smattering of upsets, though such a word is something of a misnomer at the Elite level; upsets tend to be on-paper only.

The Netherlands’ Steven Van de Velde and Matthew Immers swept top-seeded Robin Seidl and Moritz Pristauz of Austria (21-17, 21-14), while Hodges and Schubert fended off thirteenth-seeded Swiss Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer (15-21, 21-18, 15-7). Italians Daniele Lupo and Enrico Rossi authored a first-round upset over No. 7 Joaquin and Javier Bello (17-21, 21-14, 15-5) and then met No. 15 Arthur Canet and Teo Rotar, the young French pair who did legitimately shock Brazil’s Guto Carvalhaes and Pedro Salgado (21-17, 14-21, 15-7). It was the veterans, however, who prevailed, winning 21-12, 21-19 over Canet and Rotar.

All matches of the Doha Elite16 will be streamed on Volleyball TV. To get a 20-percent discount, use the code SANDCAST20. Click here for the schedule and viewing links.

 

Chase Budinger, Miles Evans land huge qualifying victory at Doha Elite16 Volleyballmag.com.