GB Beach Volleyball

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bello brothers drawn against 2nd seeds  Crabb / Brunner in the round of 16 - a bit of a nasty draw but a few of the top seeds have been off their game this week and they didn't top their group.

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bello brothers come from behind - again - to keep their run going in Recife. They take out the 2nd seeds  Crabb / Brunner 2-1 (14-21 / 24-22 / 15-13).

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

The Bello brothers really lucked out with their quarter-final draw. Instead of facing the number 4 seed  George / Andre, they were up against the 20th seed  Varenhorst / Luini and they've come through in straight sets 23-21 / 23-21. 

 

A top 4 finish guaranteed, they'll face either 13th seeds  Schachter/Dearing or 6th seeds  Diaz/Alayo. Given they've already beaten the Cubans this weekend, they've got to feel pretty confident going into the match tomorrow. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bello brothers take bronze medal in Recife. 

 

Unfortunately, they weren't able to replicate their pool win over  Diaz/Alayo in the semi-final, going down in straight sets 21-18 / 21-15 but in the small final, they took out 5th seeds  Evans / Budinger in 3 sets (26-24 / 15-21 / 15-13)

[Cmon Mary 27]

They are back in action this week at Saquarema - this time seeded No. 3 so high hopes for a repeat performance.  If they do, then we have to consider them potential qualifiers if they can keep it going.  After this, they are at Guadalajara, Mexico then Xiamen in BPT Challenge events in April.  They have till 10 June I think to make Top 17 (max 2 per NOC, so can remove a lot of  & ).

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

31 minutes ago, Cmon Mary said:

They are back in action this week at Saquarema - this time seeded No. 3 so high hopes for a repeat performance.  If they do, then we have to consider them potential qualifiers if they can keep it going.  After this, they are at Guadalajara, Mexico then Xiamen in BPT Challenge events in April.  They have till 10 June I think to make Top 17 (max 2 per NOC, so can remove a lot of  & ).

Realistically, they will struggle to qualify via the ranking route. It's not impossible, but it's a very narrow path for them. They are currently over 2000 points shy of the last quota spot and this will get worse as more teams start their season.

 

Even a tournament win in Saquarema will only net them 400 points so to have any real hope of closing the gap, they will need to qualify for the Elite16 events in  Tepic and  Brasilia and pull off a couple of surprises in the main draw. 

 

I still think that they have a good chance of getting a quota, but it will likely come through the Continental Cup route. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bello Brothers are the 4th seeds and have been drawn against 21st seed  Bassereau/Lyneel in their first pool match.

 

Assuming they come through that safely, they'll face the winner of the match between 9th seeds  Schachter/Dearing and 16th seed  Herrera/Gavira

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Hmmmm.......So that didn't go as expected.

 

Bello brothers brought back down to earth with a bump losing out to Bassereau/Lyneel 2-0 (14-21/14-21). Their second pool match at the moment looks like it will be against the Canadian pairing of Schachter/Dearing.

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bello brother safely through their second pool match, defeating Schachter/Dearing 2-0 (21-17/21-14) 

 

That should be enough for them to progress to the knock-out stages. Not sure at this stage whether they'll be in the round of 18 or will go into the round of 16. Situation complicated by the fact that it looks like the Spanish pairing withdrew from their second pool match so Bassereau/Lyneel were awarded 2-0 walkover. 

Edited March 30, 2024 by Rafa Maciel

[Rafa Maciel 1,709]

Bellos finish 3rd in their pool so advance to the round of 18 where they will face  Diaz/Alayo. 

 

They were up against the Cubans twice last week - winning in the pool match but coming up short in the semi-final.