The 2022 international beach volleyball season is set to start tomorrow in Tlaxcala. We’ll get to see a new tour, a new host city and plenty of new teams as the Beach Pro Tour starts things off with the Challenge series.
Who is up for the challenge?
The Challenge series is the second tier in Volleyball World’s new system, but there will be a lot of top talent on the sand. The women’s draw features reigning Olympic gold medalist April Ross and her new partner Emily Day. Other Tokyo stars include bronze medal winning Swiss pair Joana Heidrich & Anouk Vergé-Dépré, Sarah Sponcil behind a new blocker in Terese Cannon, young Dutch dynamos Katja Stam & Raïsa Schoon and 2021 World Tour Finals champions Karla Borger & Julia Sude of Germany. That is a pretty impressive list for the non-elite tournament.
Partner switches mean other Olympians are stuck in the qualifiers. That is the case for Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson, Italy’s Marta Menegatti and her old partner Viktoria Orsi Toth. Czech star Barbora Hermannová is also getting started with a new partner, but made the main draw as the 15th seed. Miki Ishii of Japan is also in the main draw at the 11th position with her new partner.
Men’s Olympians in Mexico
On the men’s side we get to see Olympic pairs Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, Pablo Herrera & Adrián Gavira from Spain and local favorites Josue Gaxiola & Jose Rubio. Marco & Esteban Grimalt start the challenger series in the qualification round.
A bunch of other 2020 Olympians are playing in Tlaxcala with new partners. Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak were both Olympians with different partners, but join forces as the third seed.
Alison Cerutti & Bruno Schmidt part ways in the new season as do Daniele Lupo & Paolo Nicolai. They are all playing in Mexico with new partners. Nicolás Capogrosso, Christopher McHugh and Adrian Heidrich play with new partners in the qualifier. American defenders Taylor Crabb and Nick Lucena will experience life without Phil and Jake blocking in front of them.
The real challengers
Beach volleyball is much deeper than the Olympians and there are plenty of challengers looking to use Tlexcala to make their mark.
The top seed in the men’s tournament are young Dutchies Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot. They won Gstaad, took second in the Euros and their career is on a very impressive trajectory. Aleksandrs Samoilovs & Janis Smedins just missed out on Tokyo but they will definitely make a splash on the Beach Pro Tour. The always entertaining and difficult to defend Swedes, David Åhman & Jonatan Hellvig are in the main draw and Brazil’s brightest future star Renato is the top seed in the qualifier.
Women’s teams to watch
The new American partnerships include Sara Hughes & Kelley Kolinske and Emily Stockman & Lauren Fendrick. It will be very interesting to see who can emerge as the dominant American team this summer. Brazil has an amazing five teams in the main draw in their first taste of life without country quotas. Carol and Barbara lead the strong Brazilian contingent that only looks stronger next week at the Elite 16 level.
Two ways to enjoy
It all gets underway tomorrow morning Mexico time. Volleyball TV is offering a free 30 trial, so make sure you don’t miss out on that.
If any of these teams caught your eye or maybe you have another dark horse I didn’t mention, show the world your volleyball IQ by playing Beach Pick’em. You can make your Tlexcala picks right up until the opening serve. If you miss that deadline, make sure you create an account and play the first Elite 16 tournament next week. Sign up here.