Wood, Youngs and Partners Advance at Marseilles

Former UC Irvine standout Ali Wood and teammate Danalee Bragado of Redondo Beach advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIVB tour stop in Marseilles, France.

Wood and Bragado won both their matches on Friday at the double-elimination tournament, including a 15-9 victory over Manhattan Beach’s Barbra Fontana and Lisa Arce, eliminating them from the competition. Wood and Bragado will play fellow Americans Liz Masakayan of San Diego and Elaine Youngs, formerly of El Toro High. The winners must win two matches to advance to the semifinals, also today.

Also advancing were Tarzana’s Jennifer Jordan and Annett Davis, whose first loss in the tournament came in the fourth round to Australia’s Kerri-Ann Pottharst and Natalie Cook, 15-10. Jordan and Davis will meet the winner of the match between Australia’s Tania Gooley and Pauline Manser and Japan’s Yukiko Takahashi and Mika Saiki.

In the men’s draw, Sinjin Smith (Manhattan Beach) and Carl Henkel (Redondo Beach) were eliminated after losses to two Brazilian teams. They lost to Jose Loiola and Emanuel Scheffer, 15-7, and to Paulao Moreira da Costa and Jefferson Bellaguarda, also 15-7.