The race for USA’s second Mens Olympic Beach Volleyball qualification place is a tight one, and might come to a head in the play off for 9th in Brasilia!
The current FIVB Olympic rankings show Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena on 3,700 points while Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal are on 3,640 points, just 60 points behind.
Right now, Fuerbringer-Lucena have the advantage in seedings and this may have been the difference so far in Brasilia, where Gibb-Rosenthal have lost their second match in a close 3 setter to Erdmann-Matysik GER (7), while Fuerbringer-Lucena won fairly easily against Dollinger-Windscheif GER [13]. they both have tough matches coming up, but with no losses yet Fuerbringer-Lucena are already one round ahead and still have a second chance.
However, Fuerbringer-Lucena meet the Spanish team Herrera-Gavira next, and if they fail there, then Gibb-Rosenthal will have the opportunity to force a showdown in the playoff for 9th.