Let’s start with Chile
Cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt started the 2024 season with a first round (qualifier) exit in the Recife Challenge. They then took a 9th in the Saquarema Challenge, another first round (qualifier) exit in Guadalajara, and a 13th in the Tepic Elite 16. They then go 1-1 in pool play in Xiamen and face off with a talented Austrian team in the Round of 16.
A 3-set victory over Horl/Horst got them to their first quarterfinal of the 2024 season and a matchup with Norway’s Mol/Berntsen. Another 3-set victory brought them to the semis, where Germany awaited. In another thrilling 3-setter, Marco Grimalt overcame a hard head shot and a long medical timeout to prevail (21-18, 19-21, 12-15). Late Saturday night they then faced off against France’s Krou/Gauthier Rat and, to nobody’s surprise, went the distance again, winning gold in 3 sets (17-21, 21-18, 15-9).
One more note here, USA beach volleyball’er Kyle Friend was on the play-by-play for VBTV’s coverage of Chile-Germany semifinal and did a fantastic job.
Ittlinger & Borger Strike Back
We’ve talked a bunch in recent weeks about the German women’s race for the Olympics, made interesting by the resurgence of German legend Laura Ludwig and her partnership with indoor convert Louisa Lippman. As of last week’s blog, Ludwig & Lippman had passed Ittlinger & Borger in the Olympic standings, taking a 180 point lead in the race.
German’s Sandra Ittlinger and Karla Borger struck back, putting together 4 days of efficient beach volley, capping it off with an impressive underdog victory over Switzerland’s Verge-Depre/Mader in straight sets (22-20, 21-14.). Olympic standings have yet to be updated as of the time of this writing, but they should leapfrog Lugwig and Lippman with the result from Xiamen and re-take 2nd place for the German women.
One other note on Ittlinger/Borger’s run to Gold in Xiamen: Bet The Beach was winner of two consecutive Set Spread +1.5 bets in the semi’s and finals, both matches won in straight sets by the German women. Everybody wins!
USA Men Continue to Trade Blows
A few weeks ago, we highlighted the back-and-forth nature of the USA Men’s race for that second Olympic Spot. At the time, Trev and Theo had just won Gold in Guadalajara, a few days after a defeat to Chase and Miles in the NORCECA Qualifier #2. The #2 USA Men’s team then took a 9th (a usable finish) in the Elite 16 in Tepic, a tournament in which they found themselves seeded directly into the main draw. Meanwhile, Chase and Miles were knocked out in the 2nd round of the qualifier to Chile’s Grimalt cousins.
Fast forward one week, and the counter-punch lands. While Trevor and Theo lost in the round of 16 to Australia’s Hodges/Schubert, Chase and Miles make a run to the semifinals, only to lose their last two matches to France and Germany and take a usable 4th from China. Down 620 points as of last week’s tally, Chase and Miles should cut into that lead a little with the 4th.
Chase and Miles find themselves seeded directly into the main draw in Brasilia this coming weekend, an advantage that Trevor and Theo (seeded 3rd in the qualifier) can’t claim. Pretty fair to say this battle won’t be decided until the last tournament of Olympic Qualification, the Ostrava Elite 16, June 5-9.
Gambling Update
I had a decent weekend this past weekend in Xiamen, going 3-2 in bets but down $4.12 from my starting balance of $117.01. Still up $12.89 if you count the bonus bet from BetMGM, up $2.89 if you don’t.
I’m still liking the Set Spread Dogs a lot, as you can see below. Took my first set spread favorite in the semi’s, both sides were -300. Interestingly, my book is only offering me basic moneyline and first set odds right up until gametime. So most of my Set Spread bets come live, early in the first set, once they’re made available. We’ll see if that stays the same this weekend for an Elite 16.
Highest position of profitability (limited data for sure) is that Set Spread Favorite. I’ll mix in a few of those this coming weekend and see if we can continue that trend.
Next week I want to jump back to the AVP a little, with AVP Huntington right around the corner (May 17-19th). I want to talk a little about the qualification process for the new AVP League and get some odds up for the 8 teams per gender that will qualify for the league.
Chris DeTurk – April 30, 2024
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