Fort Lauderdale Major pool play to be completed on Thursday

Fort Lauderdale, USA, February 9, 2017 - Thursday’s schedule at the $600,000 Fort Lauderdale Major will feature 24 men’s (16 pool and eight elimination) and 30 women’s pool play matches as the 2017 FIVB World Tour season opens the international beach volleyball season. The women's elimination rounds will begin on Friday.

The men’s semifinal and medal matches will be staged Saturday.  The women’s final four matches will be Sunday as the winning pairs will split the $50,000 first-place prizes.

Twelve men’s teams posted 2-0 pool play records here Wednesday along with two women’s pairs - fourth-seeded Julia Grossner/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany and 13th-seeded Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat of the United States in Pool D.

Men’s teams with 2-0 marks include top-seeded Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena of the United States, 15th-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin of Russia (Pool B), 14th-seeded Theo Brunner/Casey Patterson of the United States (Pool C) and ninth-seeded qualifiers Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho of Brazil (Pool H).

Four men’s groups have two teams tied atop the standings with each deadlocked pair playing each other Thursday morning, including Pool D (fourth-seeded Gustavo Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg of Brazil and 13th-seeded Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland), Pool E (fifth-seeded Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak of Poland and 13th-seeded Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter of Canada), Pool F (sixth-seeded Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain and 11th-seeded Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb of the United States ) and Pool G (seventh-seeded Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk of Canada and 10th-seeded Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai of Italy).