Olsztyn, Poland, August 28, 2015 – Kinga Kolosinska and Monika Brzostek set a new career best by reaching the semifinals of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Olsztyn Grand Slam on Friday.
The Polish pair delighted the home crowd with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win over the USA’s Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat to set up a semifinal showdown on Saturday against the Netherlands’ Marleen van Iersel and Madelein Meppelink, who defeated world champion pair Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas 2-0 (21-17, 24-22).
“It was the first time this season that we reached a quarterfinal, so the fact we’ve reached the semifinals is even bigger,” Kolosinska said.
“It doesn’t matter who we are playing we will focus on our own game.”
Kolosinska and Brzostek’s previous best was a quarterfinal finish at the 2014 Moscow Grand Slam. They also reached the last eight of the Prague Open that year and in 2011 won European U23 silver.
The pair enjoyed plenty of support from the centre court crowd, who braved the rainy conditions to cheer them on.
“We’re so happy with this match and can’t wait for tomorrow,” Brzostek said. “We hope the weather is better so that even more fans will come.
“We have two more matches tomorrow, so we will give our best and hopefully we will have the same energy as we had today.”
Larissa and Talita march on
In the second semifinal Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes will take on Dutch qualifiers Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist, who knocked out the USA’s Kerri Walsh and April Ross with a 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-8) victory.
The Brazilians remain on course for their fifth World Tour gold of the year just a week after they won the Long Beach Grand Slam. In the quarterfinals they defeated Canada’s Kristina Valjas and Jamie Lyn-Broder 2-0 (21-16, 21-15).
“We’ve played very well here so far,” Larissa said. “Today we won both our matches and Talita is playing very well and tough to play against. Now our focus is on the match tomorrow and we always think that we have a little bit more for tomorrow.”
With less than a year until the start of the Rio de Janeiro 2016, Olympic Games Larissa and Talita are well aware of how important ranking points are in their quest to play on Copacabana Beach.
As host Brazil has one guaranteed spot, but with only a maximum of two teams per National Olympic Committee, Larissa and Talita face stiff competition from Agatha and Barbara and Juliana Felisberta and Maria Antonelli for one of the two places.
“This season is very important for Brazilian players because the qualification for the Olympic Games and this tournament is the last Grand Slam,” Larissa added.
“It is good for the Games as we have three very good teams, but it means we always need to improve because all the teams are very close in quality. It is stressful, but it is what we do.”
For all the women’s Olsztyn Grand Slam results, click
here