Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016 - It will be past and reigning FIVB world champions meeting in the first of two men’s Beach Volleyball semi-finals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as 2013 winners Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen eliminated compatriots Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst in two sets here late Monday afternoon in an All-Dutch “Elite 8” match.
Seeded second in the competition, Brouwer and Meeuwsen posted a 2-0 (25-23, 21-17) elimination win in 45 minutes over Nummerdor and Varenhorst, who finished second in the 2015 FIVB World Championships in the Hague after losing the gold medal match to Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil.
The top-seeded Alison and Bruno, who have won five of seven international meetings with Brouwer and Meeuwsen, earned their “final four” berth earlier Monday by out-lasting Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena 2-1 (21-14, 12-21, 15-9) in a 45-minute quarter-final match where the windy conditions played a key role in determining the outcome.
With Brouwer and Meeuwsen leading early in the opening set
with 12-9, 14-11 and 15-12 advantage, Nummerdor and Varenhorst rallied to tie
it at 16s and eventual had three serves for set stymied by their Dutch
rivals. With the set tied at 23s, a
Nummerdor fault and a Meeuwsen ace gave the 2013 world champions the lead.
Nummerdor, who finished fifth at the Beijing 2008 and fourth
at the London 2012 Olympic Games with Richard Schuill, and Varenhorst led early
in the second set before their rivals tied it at 6s and then took control with
a 5-1 run to make it 11-7. Brouwer and
Meeuwsen maintained the four-point cushion six more times in defeating
Nummerdor and Varenhorst for the fourth time in six international matches.
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