VIS scholarship holder, David Schumann, has bowed out of the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in 9th place, despite nearly causing a major upset to the US team.
Schumann, alongside playing partner Chris McHugh, nearly unravelled the reigning Olympic and defending World Champions’ campaign when they reached match point 14-13 to the Americans in the third set, giving the Australians an opportunity to take the win.
The pair eventually lost 16-14 in what was an impressive match for the duo after making a comeback from 21-14 in the opening set.
Schumann said the atmosphere and the situation of his first World Championships was initially a bit overwhelming.
“But it was good to show that when we bring our best game we can compete with those guys, the best teams in the world. Because I’m so small everyone is pretty big and intimidating,” he said.
Meanwhile, VIS scholarship holder Louise Bawden and playing partner Taliqua Clancy, were knocked out of the Championships after a tough match against Brazil.
In a strong start, the Australians took the first set with a confident 22-20 win, before the Brazilians were able to fight back and take the second set 21-18. From that point forward, the Australians struggled to regain the momentum with the Brazilians taking the win in a 15-12 final set, leaving the Australians to finish 17th overall.
VIS athlete, Bawden, said that although they did their best, it wasn’t quite enough.
“At these tournaments it’s important not to have expectations about your opponents, because everything is here with an absolute goal to win every match,” she said.
“It’s always hard to win games in World Championships, and so we came in with an open mind and a strong plan on how to play our game.”
Photo: Volleyball Australia
