Amsterdam, the Netherlands, June 30, 2015 – Second seeds Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes are in line to meet their former partners Juliana Felisberta and Maria Antonelli in the Netherlands 2015, FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships second knockout round.
The last time Larissa and Juliana played at a World Championships, they left victorious with the gold medals from Rome 2011.
The Brazilians’ 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) win over Swiss duo Tanja Huberli and Tanja Goricanec on Tuesday means that they top their pool, but Juliana and Maria Antonelli missed out on first place after they lost to Germany’s Julia Sude and Chantal Laboureur in their final pool match.
Larissa and Talita stay in Amsterdam after finishing top of their pool, but Juliana and Maria Antonelli had no guarantees and it was only the drawing of lots that put them on course for a mouth-watering encounter.
“At this tournament and you have the four cities, but you don’t want to move too much,” Talita said. “We’ll now just play here and hope we do enough to reach the finals in The Hague.”
Larissa and Talita will take on Australia’s Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Nicole Laird, while Juliana and Maria Antonelli will face Goricanec and Huberli.
Karla Borger and Britta Buthe also made it through as a top team in their pool. The 2013 silver medallists defeated Russia’s Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Birlova 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) to top Pool J.
Ukolova and Birlova and USA’s Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick also qualified from the group, with the American pair the best third-placed team.