THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, AUGUST 1—Braving strong, gusty winds Friday along with the world’s best young men beach volleyball teams, the survival test yielded a sturdy field of eight teams from seven countries for Saturday’s Quarterfinals at the 2008 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships, presented by RICOH, for players under the age of 19. The semifinals will be held on Saturday and in the double gender event and the gold medal and bronze medal matches for both genders will be held on Sunday.

Christiaan Varenhorst/Johan van der Poel of the host country Netherlands advanced along with two teams from the United States (Maddison McKibbin/Will Montgomery and Tony Ciarelli/Jeff Carlson) and one each from Estonia (Kristo Kollo/Oliver Venno), Mexico (Jesus Salas/Jesus Valdez), Poland (Marek Leznicki/Damian Wojtasik), Russia (Anton Anosov/Anton Botin) and Spain (Victor Bouza/Jesus Castizo).

After completing three pool-play main draw matches on Friday, the field of 24 teams was paired to 16 for the afternoon single-elimination matches Friday to determine Saturday’s quarterfinal match ups.

The Netherlands is staging its first international event through Sunday as The Hague is the site of the double gender competition. Being presented for the seventh time in history, this year’s SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships is being held at the popular Hommerson Beachsport Stadion in the seaside resort of Scheveningen.

Home country favorites on Saturday will be the Dutch team of Varenhorst/ van der Poel who advanced with a 1-2 pool play record and then upset Cuban’s Yaimel Borrell/Sergio Gonzalez in three sets, 21-15, 22-24, 15-12 in a 60-minute elimination match. The Dutch team will now face USA’s Ciarelli/Carlson in the quarterfinals.

The Americans, 2-1 in main draw pool play advanced to Saturday by defeating Finland’s Joona Mannin/Markus Vaisannen, 21-18 and 21-15 in 34 minutes in the first round of elimination matches. Ciarelli and Carlson are one two of the four that came out of the qualifier still playing.  Ciearelli/Carlson won their qualifier pool with a 3-0 record.

Another of quarterfinalists is Kristo Kollo/Oliver Venno of Estonia. Winners of the 2007 under 18 European Championships are 5-0. On Friday, they defeated Netherland’s Lukas Snoek/Van Werkhoven 21-13 and 21-10 in 27 minutes in their final pool play match and then beat Germany’s Steffan Drossler/Thomas Just 21-13 and 21-10 in 32 minutes to advance to Saturday’s Quarterfinals.  The Estonians will meet Mexico’s Salas/ Valdes in one quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.  The Kollo/Oliver team has also played together in two FIVB Challenger Series events this year, with a best finish of fifth in Pamu in July.

Salas/Valdes were 2-1 in qualifying pool play, won their main draw pool with a 3-0 mark and moved to the quarterfinals by beating Switzerland’s Jonas Kissling/Michael Scherrer 21-18 and 21-18 in 36 minutes. The only match they lost was a/ injury forfeit in the second set. 

USA’s McKibbin/Montgomery have been perfect so far in the tournament, winning their three main draw pool play matches in two sets each before winning the first elimination match, a 21-15 and 21-11 victory in 30 minutes over Poland’s Marcin Golonka/Nikodem Kalucki. The Americans will meet Poland’s Leznicki/Wojtasik in their quarterfinal match.

Leznicki/Wojtasik were 3-0 in pool play and advanced to meet the Americans by defeating Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Francisco Montinaro, 21-17 and 21-13 in 32 minutes in their first elimination match.

The fourth quarterfinal match will have Spain’s Bouza/Castizo meeting Russia’s Anosov/Botin.  The Spainards, who were second to Estonia’s Kollo/Venno in last year’s under 18 European Championships, were 2-1 in pool play and their elimination match win was a 21-15 and 21-15 triumph in 34 minutes over New Zealand’s Sam Wallace-Boyd/Sam O’Dea.

After going 1-2 in pool play to earn their sweet sixteen spot in the field, Russia’s Anosov/Botin will continue playing after defeating Austria’s Peter Eglseer/Felix Koraimann 21-12, 17-21 and 15-8 in 44 minutes.

This year’s SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships are being produced by Free Time Promotion of Den Hoorn, the Netherlands in association with the FIVB and the Nederlandse Volleyball Bond. It is being presented by RICOH.