Termoli, Italy, September 11, 2004 - Reid Hall and Adam Podstawka will be the only non-European team in the quarter-finals of the men's FIVB U-18 World Championships as the young Canadians scored a win over Joseph Dykstra and Mark Van Zwieten of the United States here Saturday morning on Rio Vivo Beach.
Also winning first-round matches in the 16-team single-elimination bracket were teams from host Italy, France, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain as two teams from highly-regarded Brazil were defeated in the third annual event for players 18 years old and under.
Hall and Podstawka, who posted a 2-1 record in pool play Thursday and Friday, scored a 21-15, 23-25 and 15-10 win over Dykstra and Van Zwieten. With the victory, the 10th-seeded Canadians play fourth-seeded Mario Ferrera and Luis Troncoso Martinez in the second of four quarter-finals matches Saturday afternoon with the winner advancing to Sunday's semi-finals.
With a guaranteed fifth-place finish, Hall and Podstawka will post Canada's best-ever finish in the FIVB U-18 Championships as Rio Vivo Beach hosts the third annual Worlds. Spain had posted fifths in the past two U-18 events in Greece and Thailand.
Ferrera and Troncoso Martinez eliminated the first Brazilian team Saturday as the Spaniards posted a 15-21, 21-11 and 15-12 win over second-seeded Guilherme Ferreira and Roberto Pitta. The Netherlands' Marco Daalmeijer and Daan Spijkers ousted 23rd-seeded Rodrigo Bernat and Diogo Pontes 24-22 and 21-15. Brazilians had won the 2002 U-18 Worlds in Greece and placed second last year in Thailand.
The 16th-seeded Daalmeijer and Spijkers play 19th-seeded Arunas Kirsnys and Arvydas Miseikis of Lithuania in the third of three All-European quarter-final matches. Top-seeded Andrea Collini and Pietro Pezzi play 11th-seeded Zbigniew Bartman and Michal Kubiak of Poland while 15th-seeded Baptiste Geiler and Renaud Ventresque of France challenge 18th-seeded Ingars Ivanovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia.
In intra-country clashes Saturday morning, Collini and Pezzi scored a 21-19 and 21-9 win over sixth-seeded Italian rivals Gabriele Parisi and Andrea Russo. Bartman and Kubiak eliminated 20th-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Grzegorz Pajak 21-18 and 21-19.
Geiler and Ventresque scored a 21-18 and 21-13 win over 24th-seeded Tim Oude Elferink and Jeroen Van der Linden of the Netherlands while Ivanovs and Smedins ousted ninth-seeded Alejandro Diaz Garcia and Juan Virgen of Mexico 21-13 and 21-17. In a centre court thriller, Kirsnys and Miseikis edged 12th-seeded Christoph Berger and Sebastian Schweighofer of Austria 23-21, 24-26 and 15-6.
The FIVB U-18 World Championships also features women's competition as both genders conclude play Sunday with the semi-finals and medal matches for both genders. |
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