Lucerne, Switzerland, May 13, 2015 - Ninth-seeded Ekaterina Birlova and Evgeniya Ukolova opened play here Wednesday by defeating Yulia Abalakina and Ksenia Dabizha 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) and in a 34-minute All-Russian match in women's Pool H at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Lucerne Open 2015.
Birlova and Ukolova are playing in their 30th FIVB World Tour event as the Russians captured a pair of international gold medals at the 2012 Austrian Grand Slam in Klagenfurt and the 2013 Anapa Open in Russia.