NVL Columbus day one recap - Articles

Most of the higher-seeded teams sailed through Friday at NVL Columbus (Ohio). The top four women’s seeds made the winners-bracket semifinals. No. 4 Kimberly Hildreth/Maryna Samoday beat No. 1 Raquel Ferreira/Karolina Marciniak 21-19, 15-21, 15-12. “That’s a team we’ve been waiting to play all year,” Hildreth. “I train with Raquel, and I’ve played with Kaya a lot, so I know them better than anyone. We’ve been playing together for two weeks, and we’re undefeated for the four tournaments, so I felt really confident coming into this match.” No. 2 Kristen Batt-Rohr/Priscilla Piantadosi-Lima outlasted No. 3 Chara Harris/Jennifer Snyder 21-13, 13-21, 15-10 to earn the second semifinal spot. Some of the lower-seeded teams had success as well. No. 12 Kyra Lancon/Lindsey Shepard upended No. 5 Lauren Dickson/Jayna Duke 21-16, 13-21, 15-10. No. 10 Julia Colina/Kaitlyn Leary sent No. 7 Kimberly Hohl/Johanna Schatz to the contenders bracket 21-16, 21-14. No. 15 Amy Grabiec/Kristin Heldt eliminated No. 7 Hohl/Schatz 21-16, 21-16. No. 16 Erin O’Connor/Heidi Pfeiffer eliminated the No. 8 Christina Alessi/Molly Menard 21-16, 21-18. “Heidi and I felt no pressure going in,” O’Connor said. “Our goal was to qualify and we did that, so from there we were just pumped for some high-quality competition. The energy and overall atmosphere were awesome. The NVL is definitely a family style tour and even though it was our first time in the main draw everyone was really welcoming. We had a blast!” On the men’s side, No. 1 Dave Palm/Eric Zaun and No. 2 Piotr Marciniak/Skylar DelSol marched into the semifinals....

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