THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, AUGUST 2—Four of the top under 19 men’s teams in the beach volleyball world, representing Estonia, Poland, Spain and the United States, won their quarterfinal matches today to advance to tonight’s semifinals of the 2008 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships, presented by RICOH, for players under the age of 19. The gold medal and bronze medal matches for both genders in this double gender event will be held on Sunday at Hommerson Beachsport Stadion in the seaside resort of Scheveningen in The Hague.

After winning their quarterfinal matches Saturday afternoon, tonight’s semifinals will see Estonia’s Kristo Kollo/Oliver Venno face Poland’s Marek Leznicki/Damian Wojtasik in the first match followed by the semifinal between Spain’s Victor Bouza/Jesus Castizo and USA’s Jeff Carlson/Tony Ciarelli on the Scheveningen centre court.

Entering tonight’s semifinals, the Kollo/Oliver team is undefeated and have needed only two sets in each match to record a 5-0 record and Leznicki/Wojtasik is also 5-0 winning four of their five matches in two sets.

Bouza/Castizo has a 4-1 record while Carlson/Ciarelli, the last team from the qualifier still playing, has compiled a 7-1 record. Bouza/Castizo’s sole loss was to Estonia’s Kollo/Oliver (18-21 and 17-21) in the first main draw pool play match while Carlson/Ciarelli’s only loss was to fellow Americans Maddison McKibbin/William Montgomery (10-21, 19-21) in the second of three main draw pool play matches.

Estonia’s Kollo/Venno, the 2007 under 18 European Champions, were the first team to advance to the semifinals as they defeated Mexico’s Jesus Salas/Jesus Valdes in their quarterfinal matchup, 21-13 and 21-14 in 31 minutes.  The Mexicans, who had to qualify to get into the main draw, finished the tournament with a 5-3 record, though in their final qualifying pool play match they had to retire and forfeit, because one player was seriously dehydrated, after losing the first set 20-22 and being tied at 21-21 in the second to a team from Costa Rica.

Poland’s Leznicki/Wojtasik advanced to meet the Estonians after defeated USA’s McKibbin/Montgomery, 21-13 and 21-16 in 30 minutes. McKibbin/Montgomery will leave The Hague with a 4-1 record in the 2008 SWATCH FIVB World Championships.

Spain’s Bouza/Castizo, second to the Estonian’s Kollo/Oliver in last year’s under 18 European Championships, moved to the semifinal by beating Russia’s Anton Anosov/Anton Botin, 21-15 and 21-17 in 36 minutes. The Russians leave the international tournament with a 2-3 final record.

USA’s Carlson/Ciarelli surprised home country favorites from the Netherlands, stunning the partisan crowd while defeating Johan van der Poel/Christiaan Varenhorst, 23-21 and 21-19 in 40 minutes. In both sets, Carlson/Ciarelli overcame large deficits, four points in the first and six in the second to pull out the victory and advance undefeated to the semifinals. Van der Poel/Varenhorst reluctantly leave centre court in Schevenginen.

Van der Poel/Varenhorst had made the quarterfinals by upsetting favoured Yaimell Borrell/Sergio Gonzalez of Cuba, 21-15, 22-24 and 15-12 in a 60-minute second round match Friday night.

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.