Olsztyn, Poland, August 25, 2015 – FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships silver medallists Taiana Lima and Fernanda Alves had to fight hard to make it through to the Olsztyn Grand Slam women’s qualifiers and reach the main draw on Tuesday.
Lima and Fernanda were pushed hard in three sets and needed to be near their best to beat the USA’s Kimberly Dicello and Kendra Vanzwieten 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-11).
Their win takes the number of Brazilian teams in the Olsztyn main draw to five. Their compatriots the Salgado sisters, Maria-Clara and Carolina, joined them in the main draw with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) win over Italy’s Greta Cicolari and Giulia Momoli.
“Qualification is always hard because you play teams you don’t normally and there are some nerves,” Lima said. “Now we are into the main draw and that is important for us because there are so many Brazilian teams to compete against.
“Now it is like another competition and because all the teams are equally balanced we can relax and focus on our play.”
Eight teams in total qualified for the start of pool play on Wednesday.
Vanuatu’s Miller Pata and Linline Matauatu carried on where they left off from reaching the quarterfinals at the Long Beach Grand Slam last week by defeating young Austrian pair Katharina Schutzenhofer and Lena Plesiutschnig 2-0 (29-27, 21-10).
USA’s Jennifer Fopma and Brittany Hochevar meanwhile held their focus as the rain poured down to beat the Czech Republic’s Barbara Hermannova and Marketa Slukova 2-1 (21-14, 12-21, 15-12).
For the full women’s qualification results, click
here