Porec, Croatia, June 4, 2015 - Brazil and Germany had two women’s teams each capture pools here Thursday at the US$800,000 Porec Major, inaugural SWATCH Beach Volleyball Major Series event, to advance to the second-round of elimination play with a “bye” for winning their group in the FIVB World Tour event.
Being played in the heart of the colorful Croatian coastal city on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the group winners are guaranteed a ninth in this week’s event along with 360 points. Also advancing to Friday’s first-round of elimination are the second- or third-place finishers in pool with each team guaranteed a 17th and 240 points in the second “major” event in the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Led by Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca of Brazil (Pool A), four of the top eight-seeded teams netted pool titles as the fifth- (Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic), sixth- (Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands) and the eighth-seeded (Maja Rosko/Antea Tadic of Croatia) pairs finished last in their group to place 25th.
Meppelink and Van Iersel, the reigning European champions and the No. 1-seeded team in the upcoming FIVB “senior” World Championships (June 26-July 5) at four sites in The Netherlands, finished second in last week’s Moscow Grand Slam where the Dutch dropped the gold medal match to Talita and Larissa.
Joining Talita and Larissa as Brazilians with first-round “byes” were third-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas (Pool C). With the Porec Major being the fifth stop on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar, both Brazilian teams have claimed gold medal finishes this season. Agatha and Seixas topped the Prague (Czech Republic) podium two weeks ago before Talita and Larissa’s title in Moscow.
German pairs advancing from the pool play rounds as group winners were second-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler (Pool B) and Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (Pool D). For the second-straight week, Laboureur and Sude had to qualify for a FIVB World Tour Main Draw as the Germans also posted a country quote win Monday to currently sport a 5-1 Porec Major match mark.
Other teams winning their pools Thursday were seventh-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain (Pool G), ninth-seeded Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy (Pool H), 21st-seeded Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia (Pool E) and 22nd-seeded Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy of Australia (Pool F).
Thursday’s schedule for women will conclude with eight first-round elimination matches featuring the second-place finishers in the pool against third-place teams from their groups. Switzerland is guaranteed a spot in Friday’s second-round of elimination as two teams from the land-locked European country face each other. Here is the schedule.
• Melissa Humana-Paredes/Taylor Pischke, Canada (19th-seeded) vs. Taru Lahti/Riikka Lehtonen, Finland (28, qualification 10th-seed)• Fan Wang/Yuan Yue, China (10) vs. Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat, United States (20)• Maria Antonelli/Juliana Felisberta, Brazil (4) vs. Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, Canada (18, Q2)• Emily Day/Jennifer Kessy, United States (16) vs. Monika Brzostek/Kinga Kolosinska, Poland (27)• Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Germany (12) vs. Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, Canada (17)• Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr, Switzerland (15) vs. Tanja Goricanec/Tanja Huberli, Switzerland (23)• Carolina Horta/Liliane Maestrini, Brazil (24, Q3) vs. Barbara Hansel/Stefanie Schwaiger, Austria (30)• Karla Borger/Britta Buthe, Germany (11) vs. Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, Argentina (25, Q6)
The Porec Major will stage medal matches Saturday for women and Sunday for men. The winning teams in both genders will share the $57,000 first-place prize along with gathering 800 “valuable” points that will help determine the field for the season-ending SWATCH Major Series event in the United States at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Following this and next week’s SWATCH Major Series event in Norway (June 9-14), the FIVB World Tour crosses the Atlantic Ocean for an event in the United States in St. Petersburg, Fla. (June 16-21). The June schedule ends with the start of the world championships in The Netherlands (June 26-July 5).