Olsztyn, Poland, August 29, 2015 – The Netherlands Marleen van Iersel and Madelein Meppelink will take on Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Olsztyn Grand Slam gold medal match on Saturday after both teams won their semifinals earlier in the day.
Van Iersel and Meppelink defeated Poland’s Kinga Kolosinska and Monika Brzostek 2-0 (21-16, 21-19), while Larissa and Talita overcome Dutch qualifiers Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) to set up a repeat of the Moscow Grand Slam final from earlier in the year.
The Dutch pair were playing in their fourth semifinal of the year, while it was the Polish teams first ever and van Iersel and Meppelink’s experience shone through throughout.
“I think the first set we played really well and put a lot of pressure on them,” Meppelink said. “In the second set our game got a bit sloppy and maybe we were a little bit nervous. It was a good win and we have a bit more experience of playing semifinals so maybe that made the difference at the end.”
It is the Dutch duo’s third final of the 2015 World Tour, but they will want to avoid a similar result to the Lucerne Open and Moscow Grand Slam, where they finished on the losing side both times.
“In the last two finals maybe we didn’t play like we could play,” van Iersel said. “We have to play the same level that we have been playing this whole tournament. We’re just going to go for it.”
Larissa and Talita will be chasing a fifth World Tour gold of the year just one week after they won their fourth at the Long Beach Grand Slam.
“They’re a strong team and playing well and it is another final against them,” Talita said. “We have to stay focused because we’ve just play one Dutch side and now we are playing the other.”
“It was a very good match,” Larissa said. “Today we played very well and it was a good game for us and now we have to save our energy for the final.”
For all the news from the Olsztyn Open,
click
here