Kraft and Cannon go for gold
Pro beach: Fast-rising American pair will play Brazil's Carol and Rebecca in Mexico Elite final
Third-seeded Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon have knocked on the door of a breakthrough gold medal since July of 2024 and will get another chance to stand on the highest step of the podium in a top-tier Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite tournament.
Kraft, 22, and the 6-foot-3 Cannon, 29, have gotten into the medal rounds in four consecutive Elite-level tournaments and earned silver medals in the Gstaad and Rio de Janeiro stops last season. They also were the runner-up in the lucrative BPT Finals in Doha in December, a 10-team event.
This weekend in the Quintana Roo tourney in Mexico, the American duo capitalized on a new quirk in a the format put in place for international-tour competitions this year, in which two teams who lost in the Round of 12 earned spots in the quarterfinals based on previous performance from matches played during the week.
Given a second shot, Kraft-Cannon won in the quarters and then swept fellow Americans Molly Shaw and two-time Olympian Kelly Cheng, seeded sixth, 18 and 19 on Saturday night in the semifinals on the picturesque-but-windy Playa del Carmen.
“The new format is interesting,” Kraft told the media. “We had to bounce back as quickly as we could. They’re a really good team and we knew they would give us a good game. We were happy to get a second life in the tournament and just tried to make the most of it.”
Their opponents on Sunday will be the battle-tested Brazilian duo of new partners Carol (Salgado) and Rebecca (Cavalcanti), seeded seventh. Veterans Carol, 37, and Rebecca, 31, each have represented their country in the Olympics, Carol in the 2024 Paris Games and Rebecca in 2021 in Tokyo.
They debuted as a team last week in the Challenge event on the Yucatan and finished ninth. In four knockout matches this week, Carol and Rebecca have dropped one set, and they blew past top-seeded USA Olympians Taryn Brasher (nee Kloth) and Kristen Nuss 17 and 11 in the semifinals.
“I’m so happy,” Carol told the media. “It’s been amazing to start this season with Rebecca and our new team. We’ve been working so hard and it’s just amazing to be in the final. We stayed together through adversity and found a way to play with this crazy wind here. I’m proud of how we handled it.”
Meanwhile, Brasher and Nuss will square off against Cheng and Shaw in an All-USA bronze-medal match. By any standard, this has been a fabulous showing for Kelly and Molly, who stepped into the partnership with Cheng after Sara Hughes tore her Achilles tendon. Defensive whiz Shaw, 28 (a Naperville native and Neuqua Valley product), has carried over her late-season 2024 success at the second-tier Challenge level with Toni Rodriquez (gold, silver and bronze in three tourneys) into 2025.
Also, James Shaw (he is married to Molly) has enjoyed quite a week, too. The 31-year-old former indoor star and veteran partner Chaim Schalk, seeded 19th, have bounced out of the qualifier to advance to the semifinals. The American pair got into the medal rounds with a victory in the quarters over reigning Olympic gold medalists and top seeds David Ahman and Jonatan Helvig of Sweden.
Futures gold for the Chacon sisters
Florida State products Alaina and Morgan Chacon put an exclamation point on a 7-1 week in the BPT Futures-level tournament in Coolangatta on Australia’s Gold Coast with a dominating sweep in the gold-medal match.
The Chacons (Indiana natives) destroyed the English pair of Kirsty Star and Daisy Mumby 6 and 16 in the final. The eighth-seeded sisters had to win two matches in the qualifier just to get into the main draw and their lone setback came in their second pool-play match to top-seeded Aussies Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson after they had assured themselves a spot in the knockout rounds.
It’s the first Beach Pro Tour first-place finish for either Chacon. They were third earlier in March at the Futures stop in New Zealand.
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