King of the Court in Utrecht includes two USA women’s teams
Spectators are being asked to “refrain from singing, shouting or chanting loudly due to the risk of contamination.”
But there is an FIVB international beach volleyball tournament starting Wednesday in Utrecht in the Netherlands, a King of the Court competition.
It’s the first international event since FIVB Doha four-star in March and features 20 teams per gender competing over four days.
The field includes just two American teams as April Ross is pairing with Emily Day — her usual partner, Alix Klineman, is sitting this one out — and Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman. Larsen and Stockman won the 2018 Hawai’i King of the Court.
Each gender is broken into four groups.
Women
Group 1 — Margareta Kozuch, Laura Ludwig, Germany; Marta Menegatti-Julia Orsi Toth, Italy; Marleen Van Iersel- Pleun Ypma, Netherland; Katja Stam-Raisa Schoon, Netherlands.
Group 2 — April Ross, Emily Day, USA; Joana Heidrich, Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland; Liliana Fernandez, Elsa Baquerizo, Spain, Megan and Nicole McNamara, Canada, Esmee Priem, Julia Wouters, Netherlands.
Group 3 — Agatha Bednarczuk, Eduarda Duda, Brazil; Barbora Hermannova, Marketa Slukova, Czech Republic; Victoria Bieneck, Isabel Schneider, Germany; Alexandra Jupiter, Aline Chamereau, France; Emma Piersma, Joy Stubbe, Netherlands.
Group 4 — Sanne Keizer, Madelein Meppelink, Netherlands; Kelley Larsen, Emily Stockman, USA; Belen, Soria, Spain, Michaela Kubickova, Michala Kvapilova, Czech Republic, Emi van Driel, Maxime van Driel, Netherlands.
Men
Group 1 — Pablo Herrera, Adrian Gavira, Spain; Quincy Aye, Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, France; Aleksandrs Samoilovs, Janis Smedins, Latvia; Dries Koekelkoren, Tom van Walle, Belgium; Ruben Penninga, Jasper Bouter, Netherlands
Group 2 — Alexander Brouwer, Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands; Martins Plavins, Edgars Tocs, Latvia; Esteban & Marco Grimalt, Chile; Ben Saxton, Grant O’Gorman, Canada; Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot, Netherlands.
Group 3 — Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, Norway; Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, Czech Republic; Piotr Kantor, Bartosz Losiak, Poland; Christiaan Varenhorst, Steven van de Velde, Netherlands; Dirk Boehle, Mart van Werkhoven, Netherlands.
Group 4 — Julius Thole, Clemens Wickler, Germany; Cherif Samba, Ahmed Tijan, Qatar; Enrico Rossi, Adrian Carambula, Italy; Mathias Berntsen, Hendrik Mol, Norway; Marco Krattiger, Florian Breer, Switzerland.
For those not familiar with the format we published a primer in our review of Hawai’i 2018.
Matches will be streamed at kingofthecourt.com and the FIVB YouTube channel.
The event is being put on by the Dutch company Sportworx, which operates under kingofthecourt.com. The concept started in 2017 and was held in Utrecht. In 2018, there were four events (Utrecht; Antwerp, Belgium; and two in the U.S., Hawai’i and Huntington Beach). There was no King of the Court in 2019.
As you would expect, there are plenty of COVID protocols. There will be 50 skyboxes. From the organizers’ website:
“King of the Court is the first event organized after COVID-19. However, the COVID-19 virus hasn’t disappeared yet, so taking place together on event stands it’s not doable. By using skyboxes, it is possible to keep the distance between ‘strangers.’ Within the skybox, you only attend together with your household or social environment.”
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