Four slots up for bids at Continental World Championship Qualifier

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, June 6, 2023.- The NORCECA Continental Beach Volleyball World Championship qualifier has lined up the Confederation’s top teams set to compete in Punta Cana June 7-8 for four slots per gender up for bids to the FIVB 2023 World Championship to be held in October at Tlaxcala, Mexico.

The entry list of twelve teams per gender representing 13 countries has standout names at the Continental NORCECA Beach Tour, the Beach Pro Tour and World Championships.

In the women’s field the number one seeded team is that of the United States, Kelley Kolinske, winner of several NORCECA and Beach Pro Tour medals, with partner Hailey Harward who have teamed up just this year. 

Canada’s Sophie Bukovec, silver medalist at the 2022 World Championship in Rome with former partner Brandie Wilkerson, is teaming up with Shanice Marcelle  who has been competing at the NORCECA Tour since 2021 and in several Beach Pro Futures events.

Allanis Navas and Maria Gonzalez of Puerto Rico have become a NORCECA force since 2018, reaching the NORCECA podium on six occasions and just this weekend won the first Under-23 NORCECA Beach Tour.

USA’s Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh lead the men’s list, they won the bronze medal this past Sunday at the Elite16 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and are competing at their first continental event.

The second seeded team is that of Olympian Samuel Schatcher and Dan Dearing, the number one team of Canada won the 2022 NORCECA Finals and several medals at the NORCECA Tour, finished second at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and qualified to the 2022 World Championship winning this event.

Cubans Jorge Luis Alayo and Nolsen Diaz have made it to the podium in each of the four NORCECA continental events they played in 2022, in this 2023 Varadero event (their only NORCECA this year), won this past weekend the first Under-23 NORCECA tournament and reached this year’s Saquarema Beach Pro Tour semifinals.