Fortaleza, Brazil, April 28, 2016 — Brazil’s fifth-seeded Eduarda Lisboa and Elize Maia were impressive Thursday in winning their first two of three pool play matches as the women’s main draw began at this week’s double-gender $150,000 FIVB Fortaleza Open, which marks the first time since 2007 that the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour has played in Fortaleza.
The double-gender $150,000 FIVB Fortaleza Open started Tuesday and concludes on Sunday. It is the 11th men’s event of the season and eighth women’s event on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015. The FIVB Fortaleza Open is being played at the purpose built stadium at Praia do Futuro in Fortaleza, site of last week’s season finale of the Brazilian National Tour.
QUICK LINKSFortaleza Open websiteMain draw results - MenMain draw results - WomenOn Thursday, Brazil’s Eduarda/Elize opened pool play in impressive fashion by defeating Venezuela’s 28th-seeded Rebeca Pazo/Gabriel Brito in straight sets, 21-10, 21-8 in only 23 minutes. In their second match, Eduarda/Elize toppled Czech Republic’s 21st-seeded Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova, 21-13, 21-16 in 29 minutes.
On Friday morning, Brazil’s Eduarda/Elize complete pool play by challenging Germany’s 12th seeded Isabel Schneider/Teresa Mersmann, also 2-0 in their pool in pool-deciding early-morning match. Both teams will then advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds of the tournament.
ELIZE ENCOURAGED
Following her team’s second match Elize was encouraged by her team’s performance. “We played very good today. Duda has earned many achievements in age group tournament, that helps a lot on court, as she has the will to win. I have been helping her with some difficulties that she might have on the professional level. She needs to leave her comfort zone, so I am pushing her out of it. She is really talented and skillful. We have an amazing chemistry. She talks during the matches, we communicate a lot. And I am a listener, so we can find a balance, I believe that this is the key to our success. Plus her amazing talent and was evident in both matches today. She is only 17 and we won an FIVB World Tour gold medal this year in Maceio.”
FORTALEZA SCHEDULE
The FIVB Fortaleza Open is a double-gender event with 31 main draw teams for men and 28 for women. For the men, a qualification tournament on Tuesday was held to determine the final spot in the main draw followed by two days of round robin pool play. The top three teams in the eight pools (24 total teams) advanced Thursday from pool play to the single-elimination knockout rounds that began Thursday night. Women began their pool play on Thursday and conclude on Friday and play their first two elimination rounds.
On Saturday, the quarterfinals and semifinals for both genders will be played. The medal matches for both genders will all be played on Sunday with the awarding ceremony following the last gold medal match concluding the event.
ONLY 17
Another prominent example of the benefits of competing in the FIVB Age Group World Championships, Eduarda, who won’t turn 18 until August, has played in more international tournaments than her senior team member Elize, 31. While this is their eighth FIVB World Tour event together, the dashing duo has one gold medal, one silver one bronze and one fifth place in their first seven events as a team. In just a few weeks, Eduarda will reunite with Ana Patricia Ramos, also 17, with whom she won the Beijing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, to compete in the FIVB U-21 World Championships.
POOL POWERS
Besides Brazil’s Eduarda/Elise Maia, and Germany’s Schneider/Mersmann, also with unblemished 2-0 marks heading to Friday morning’s final pool play match were Vanuatu’s sixth-seeded Miller Pata/Linline Matauatu, USA’s 10th-seeded Brittany Hochevar/Jennifer Fopma, Brazil’s 25th-seeded Josemari Alves/Vanilda Leao and USA’s 24th-seeded Amanda Dowdy/Emily Stockman. In the four pools that had three teams instead of the regular four, winning their single match on Thursday were Brazil’s top-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, Germany’s second-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, Netherlands’ third-seeded Marleen Van Iersel/Madelein Meppelink, Brazil’s fourth-seeded Juliana Felisberta/Taiana Lima, and USA’s 13th-seeded Summer Ross/Lane Carico.
UPSET SPECIALS
Four teams combined for six major seed breakthroughs Thursday with two teams each pulling twin upsets. USA’s Dowdy/Stockman upset Venezuela’s ninth-seeded Olaya Pazo/Norisbeth Agudo and Germany’s eighth-seeded Julia Grossner/Victoria Bieneck and Brazil’s Alves/Leao who knocked off teams the same to teams as USA’s Dowdy/Stockman. The two other upset specials saw Brazil’s 26th-seeded Taiana Silva/Andressa Ramalho upset China’s seventh-seeded Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia and Germany’s 27th-seeded Lisa Arnholdt/Anni Schumacher stopped Paraguay’s 11th-seeded Gabriela Flippo/Micelle Valiente.
FIVB FORTALEZA OPEN PURSE/POINTS
The gold medal teams at the FIVB Fortaleza Open will split $11,000 and 500 points, the silver $8,000 and 450 points, the bronze $6,000 400 points and fourth place $4,500 and 450 points.
TEAM BRAZIL
As the host nation for the FIVB Fortaleza Open, Brazil has eight women’s teams seeded into the main draw for this event. Brazil’s women’s main draw teams are top-seeded defending FIVB World Champions Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas, fourth-seeded Juliana Felisberta/Taiana Lima, fifth-seeded Elize Secomandi/Eduarda Lisboa, 18th-seeded Carolina Horta/Ana Patricia Ramos, 19th-seeded Rebecca Silva/Liliane Maestrini, 22nd-seeded Rachel Nunes/Angela Lavalle, 25th-seeded Josemari Alves/Vanilda Leao and 26th-seeded Andressa Ramalho/Taina Silva. In all, Team Brazil had an 8-5 records for its eight host teams.
ON THE HORIZON
With placement points for the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continuing, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour has resumed with events over eight straight weeks through the end of May. In all, Brazil is hosting five international events in 2016. In addition to Maceió, Rio and Vitoria, this week’s FIVB Fortaleza Open (April 26-May 1) and the Brazil events conclude with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Aug. 6-18).
The FIVB World Tour heads to Europe FIVB Fortaleza Open. Up first will be in Russia for the FIVB Sochi Open (May 3-8) followed by the FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey (May 11-15). The tour then visits the United States for the FIVB Cincinnati Open (May 17-22) and then returns to Russia for the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (May 24-29).