Last American Podium Sweep
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, January 31, 2021 - Six countries have
combined to claim gold on the men’s and women’s FIVB Beach
Volleyball World Tour podiums at a same event, and the last
American teams to accomplish the feat did so this week in FIVB
beach volleyball history.
Three years ago in Australia, the American tandems Amanda Dowdy
Lawson/Irene Pollock and Avery Drost/Chase Frishman earned spots
on the same Shepparton podium on February 4, 2018. The gold
medals were also the first and only World Tour titles for each
team.
Seeded fourth in the 2018 Shepparton Open, Lawson and Pollock
posted a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-7) semifinal win over top-seeded
Shaunna Polley/Kelsie Wills of New Zealand before defeating
seventh-seeded compatriots Caitlin Ledoux/Jace Pardon 2-1
(21-17, 18-21, 15-12) in the 49-minute gold medal match.
After posting a pair of qualifying wins to gain a spot in the
Shepparton money rounds, the 14th-seeded Drost and Frishman won
their next five main draw matches highlighted by final four
victories over two Australian teams starting with a 2-0 (21-19,
21-16) semifinal win over second-seeded Cole Durant/Zachery
Schubert.
In the men's finale against defending Shepparton champion and
top-seeded Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann, Drost and
Frishman scored a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) gold medal win in
34-minutes over the Australians.
While Lawson and Pollock were playing in their fifth of 15 FIVB
events together and Drost and Frishman were competing together
in an international event for the first-time. Drost and Frishman
also became the 16th men’s team in 373 World Tour events to win
an event gold medal after advancing from a qualifier.
Since the start of FIVB-sanctioned events in 1987, there have
been 79 World events where the winning men’s and women's teams
were the same country, including 15 such occasions for the
United States. Brazilian pairs lead the way with 60 sweeps on
the World Tour. Austria, China, France and Russia have each
posted one podium sweep. |