SANTA ROSA, Laguna --- Latvian pair Ardis Bedritis and Arturs Rinkevics overcame the punishing heat and relentless fightback by favored Americans Chase Budinger and Trevor Crabb, 22-20, 21-18, to book a quarterfinal seat in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge men’s division on Saturday at the Nuvali Sands Courts here.
The Latvians played with discipline and calculated movements, preserving their energy to endure the harsh temperatures that reached as high as 36 degrees Celsius and a hellish heat index that rose to 41 degrees.
“In this heat, it’s just a survival game,” said Rinkevics, who had 17 points to complement Bedritis’ 23 points.
“So, our main concern and goal was not to make mistakes. And if there’s a rally, try not to lose the point easily or make a mistake,” he added.
Bedritis and Rinkevics stunned the No. 2-seeded Americans to set up Last 8 duel in the evening session, being played as of press time, against Australia’s Thomas Hodges and Ben Hood in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission under the leadership of chairman Patrick Gregorio.
The Aussie pair knocked out compatriots Joshua Howat and Luke Ryan, 21-13, 22-20, in their Round of 16 meeting.
Bedritis and Rinkevics outplayed the more experienced American pair, led by Budinger, a former tour champion and 2024 Paris Olympics campaigner.
Budinger committed two consecutive errors, followed by Bedritis’ off the block kill for match point, 20-17.
Crabb saved a point but Rinkevics found an open spot behind the Americans for the game-winning hit.
“So, we just try to keep the ball in play and try to play smart. They do have a good blocker and a good defensive player as well. But in this heat, we serve on the defender, and he has to run. It’s super hard. So, we tried to do that and it worked out,” Rinkevics said.
The Latvian pair started strong with a 10-5 lead in the opening set and stretched it to 16-12 before the Americans fought back to tie the frame at 20. Bedritis nailed a drop to reach the set point and eventually landed the set-clinching ace.
In other quarters pairings, top seed Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov of Israel take on Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Yves Haussener while Paul Pascaruic and Alexander Horst of Austria battle Julian Friedli and Jonathan Jordan of Sweden.
Germans Maximilian Just and Lui Wust face off against comrades Phillip Huster and Sven Winter for the last semi finals berth.
Elazar and Cuzmiciov survived Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar and Sofyan Rachman Efendi in three sets, 21-15, 20-22, 15-5, while Pascaruic and Horst took down their comrades Julian Horl and Laurenc Grossig, 21-19, 19-21, 15-10.
Heidrich and Haussener eliminated Piotr Kantor and Filip Lejawa of Poland, 22-20, 21-13, while Friedli and Jordan outlasted Germans Jonas and Benedikt Sagstetter, 21-15, 13-21, 15-11.
Just and Wust beat Americans Timothy Brewster and Logan Webber, 21-13, 21-17, while Huster and Winter ousted Ukraine’s Anton Moiseiev and Vitalii Savvin, 21-17, 21-16.
Meanwhile, Davidova and Khmil booted out USA’s Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, 21-11, 21-23, 15-13, in the women’s division of the Nuvali Challenge hosted by the City of Santa Rosa and backed by Medical City South Luzon and Jersey Haven.
