Lucerne, Switzerland, May 13, 2015 - First of two days of pool play for the women competing in the US$150,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Lucerne Open 2015 is complete with 11 Beach Volleyball pairs undefeated heading into Thursday’s matches where the top three teams for each group advance to Friday’s elimination bracket.
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
In addition to the final 16 women’s pool play matches Thursday, the Lucerne Open competition schedule will also feature the opening group matches for the men where eight pairs advanced from Wednesday’s qualifier to the “money” rounds. The final matches of the Lucerne Open will be played Sunday on Lake Lucerne Lido courts.
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 Sunday for topping the Lido podium while the second-place pair shares $8,000.
SWISS STANDOUT
Headlining the undefeated pairs on the Lake Lucerne Lido courts with 2-0 match marks are two Swiss teams - eighth-seeded Tanja Goricanec/Tanja Huberli (Pool B) and 15th-seeded Isabelle Forrer Anouk/Anouk Verge-Depre (Pool H). Goricanec and Huberli defeated teams from Spain and Russia Wednesday while scored victories over tandems from the United States and Finland. If both teams win their final pool play matches Thursday, the Swiss ladies will also earn a first-round elimination “bye” Friday.
2015 FIVB WORLD TOUR GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
The inaugural Lucerne Open is the second event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour as the international circuit opened the season in China last month where Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas captured the gold medal in Fuzhou for Canada’s first-ever women’s gold medal finish on the international circuit.
Seeded 10th this week in the Lake Lucerne tournament, Broder and Valjas opened play Wednesday by defeating seventh-seeded compatriots Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-12) in a 50-minute match. Broder Valjas validated the win with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win in 36 minutes over 26th-seeded Victoria Kjolberg and Janne Kongshavn of Norway to guarantee themselves an advancement from Pool G to the elimination rounds.
OTHER UNBEATENS
Also winning a pair of matches each Wednesday were the teams of second-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany (Pool B), third-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain (Pool C), fourth-seeded Karla Borger/Britta Buthe of Germany (Pool D), fifth-seeded Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands (Pool E), sixth-seeded Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany (Pool F), ninth-seeded Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia (Pool H) and 17th-seeded Victoria Bieneck/Julia Grossner of Germany (Pool A).
5-0
Bieneck and Grossner have now compiled a 5-0 match mark this week in the Lucerne Open. The German pair had to win a country quota match Monday along with two qualifying matches Tuesday. Bieneck and Grossner defeated a team from Finland in their first match Wednesday before upsetting top-seeded Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 15-8) in 42 minutes.
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.