Lucerne, Switzerland, May 11, 2015 - The first of seven days of FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour competition was held here Monday with seven women’s Country Quota matches being played in the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Lucerne Open 2015 on the Lake Lucerne Lido side courts.
Women’s pairs from Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Spain, Thailand and the United States won matches to advance to Tuesday’s qualification rounds where the 32-team preliminary rounds will start at 9 a.m. (local time). Tuesday’s competition schedule will also include men’s Country Quota matches to set the field for Wednesday’s qualification tournament.
WINNING TEAMSTeams earning spots in the women’s qualifier Monday were Vivian Cunha/Zinaida Liubymova of Azerbaijan, Magdalena Dostalova/Karolina Rehackova of the Czech Republic, Victoria Bieneck/Julia Grossner of Germany, Ayumi Kusano/Shinako Tanaka of Japan, Angela Lobato/Paula Soria of Spain, Khanittha Hongpak/Rumpaipruet Numwong of Thailand and Amanda Dowdy/Kendra Van Zwieten of the United States.
With two of the seven matches being determined by forfeit (Azerbaijan and Czech Republic), Tuesday’s best matches featured the contests between the Spaniards and American rivals. Lobato and Soria posted a 2-1 (21-10, 18-21, 15-13) victory in 52 minutes over Spanish compatriots Amaranta Navarro and Ester Ribera. Dowdy and Van Zwieten posted a come-from-behind 2-1 win (18-21, 22-20, 17-15) in 62 minutes over American rivals Ali McColloch and Emily Stockman.
MOVING AHEADWith eight pairs advancing from Tuesday’s qualifier, the “money rounds” for the women begins Wednesday with pool play leading to Friday’s opening two elimination rounds. The women’s quarter- and semi-finals will be played Saturday with the medal matches being played Sunday along with the men’s “final four” contests on the Lucerne Open center court.
The US$150,000 Lucerne Open is the second event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour as the international circuit played its first match last month in Fuzhou, China. This week’s double gender FIVB World Tour event is also the second event on the qualifying schedule for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The gold medal teams in each gender in the Lucerne Open will each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500.
SWITZERLAND FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORYWhile this is the FIVB World Tour’s first event on Lake Lucerne, the international circuit has a long history in the picturesque mountain village of Gstaad, Switzerland that dates back to 2000 for the women and 2001 for the men. Gstaad will host a SWATCH FIVB “Major Series” event for men and women July 7-12, a week after the conclusion of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in The Netherlands.
ON THE HORIZON
Following this week’s play in Switzerland, the men take a week off while the women proceed to the Czech Republic for the US$75,000 Prague Open May 20-24. The men rejoin the women on the international circuit in Moscow May 26-31 for the first of five grand slam stops on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar.