Paraná, Argentina, November 1, 2014 — Individually stars of the sport, together as a team with just six tournaments, Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes are building a new legacy as a team after winning the women’s gold medal on a very chilly Argentinean spring evening at the double-gender US$150,000 FIVB Paraná Open.
Back in Argentina for the sixth time and in Paraná for the first time the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour stop is being held in Paraná through Sunday in a purpose-built venue at Balneario Thompson in Paraná, located in the Entre Rios province on the eastern shore of the Paraná River. Running their 2014 FIVB match record to 35-4 which includes 28 straight wins and four consecutive gold medal finishes.
For the 51st time in the history of women’s competition on the FIVB World Tour there was all-Brazilian gold medal match. This one was held in Paraná, Argentina in a purpose-built venue at Balneario Thompson in Paraná, located in the Entre Rios province on the eastern shore of the Paraná River. The powerful South American country has now earned FIVB women’s records of 446 final four placements, 365 OR 366 total medals on the FIVB World Tour, including 137 gold, 114 silver medals, 115 bronze medals and 78 fourth place finishes. It is also the 21st time that Brazil has swept the podium in a women’s FIVB World Tour event and first time since August when they did it last in Klagenfurt, Austria.
FIVB PURSE, TOURNEY TOTALS
The FIVB Paraná Open was the 312th FIVB men’s tournament since its first event in 1987 and the 276th FIVB women’s tournament since FIVB began women’s competitions in 1992. Gold medal winning teams in each gender in FIVB Paraná Open will split $11,000, silver will receive $8,000, bronze medalists get $6,000 and the fourth place finishers will earn $4,500 of the $150,000 total purse.
GOLD MEDAL RESULTS
Brazil’s second-seeded Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes continued their magnificent march by holding off Brazil’s fourth-seeded Maria Clara Salgado/Carolina Salgado in an all-Brazilian final, 21-16, 21-17 in 33 minutes.
GOLD MEDAL RECAP
For the sports newest iconic team, this was the sixth FIVB World Tour event as a team for Larissa/Talita, 7-0 in Paraná and the pair has won four consecutive gold medals while compiling a 35-4. Larissa is an eight-time FIVB World Tour point champion and Talita won the championship last year before teaming up with each other. Individually, both have over $1 million in career earnings. Larissa has now earned 50 FIVB career gold medals in her career while Talita has won 22 gold medals including the four from this new partnership.
Brazil’s Salgado sisters, 6-1 in Paraná, were playing in their 125 FIVB tournament with 21 FIVB career final four finishes and as a team they have won two FIVB career gold medals and also have three silver medals.
The women’s final had many of the situations that would develop when you play against a team that you face so often in situations where you are so familiar with them and their style of play.
In both sets, the Salgado sisters scored first in both sets but their Brazilian compatriots scored consistently and gradually pulled away to keep them at bay. In the first set, there were six ties and just two lead changes, but the Salgado sisters did jump out to three-point leads at 6-3, 7-4, 8-5, 9-6 and 10-7 before the artistry of Larissa and the power of Talita put them ahead for good at 13-12. After the Salgado sister closed to 15-16, Talita produced three consecutive kills to help her team take a 19-15 lead before eventually winning the set 21-16.
The second set started a bit closer as there were seven ties and five lead changes before Brazil’s Larissa/Talita basically overpowered the Salgado sister to earn the gold medal. The final tie in the second set for the gritty, determined sisters Salgado was at 16-16 but Larissa/Talita then scored four unanswered points before Talita ended it with a kill that went off of a diving Maria Clara Salgado to end the set and the match in favor of Brazil’s remarkable Larissa/Talita.
Rejoicing after their fourth consecutive gold medal victory, both Larissa and Talita were pleased with their team’s performance.
Larrissa said following her team’s gold medal victory, saying, “We are very happy for the gold medal at this tournament. It is the first time either one of us has played in Argentina and our first few FIVB tournaments as a team. I really want to return to Brazil to celebrate this victory and rest for the next challenge. It hasn’t been a long season for us with just six tournaments, but we push ourselves very hard and want to really be the best we can possibly become.
Talita reflected, “For us this is special win a title in Argentina. We did a great job but this is not the end of the season. We have new targets. We have to work to achieve them. And we have long-term goals and I guess with our commitment to work, we need to continue to get better if we hope to make it to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
BRONZE MEDAL REVIEW
Brazil’s 23rd-seeded Rebecca Cavalcanti/Liliane Maestrini powered past USA’s 27th-seeded Irene Hester/Caitlin Ledoux, 21-8, 21-16 in just 27 minutes to earn their first bronze medal as a team on the FIVB World Tour.
Brazil’s Maestrini/Cavalcanti were playing in just their second FIVB tournament as a team with a ninth place finish at the end of September in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They finished with a 6-1 in the FIVB Paraná Open.
USA’s Hester/Ledoux duo, who finished with a 5-3 record in Paraná was competing in just their second event as a team. Their first FIVB World Tour event was this year’s FIVB Fuzhou Open in China where they earned a ninth-place finish. Individually, for Hester this was just her second FIVB World Tour event. Both are former collegiate indoor players in the United States.
In the bronze medal match, Brazil’s Cavalcanti/Maestrini came out smoking and dominated the first set like at team that had played together significantly more than just two FIVB World Tour events. In the second set, USA’s Hester/Ledoux attempted to mount a comeback and while they did score twice as many points as in the first set, Brazil’s Cavalcanti/Maestrini were not to be denied and they worked hard to earn their bronze medal which gave Brazil another podium sweep on the FIVB World Tour.
Following their match, Brazill’s Cavalcanti and Maestrini had something to say regarding the bronze medal match.
Cavalcanti went first, saying, “We are very happy for this bronze medal. The semifinal was very difficult and I think that game helped to get focused on this goal and we pulled it off. Brazilian fans can rest assured that we are well, we have good teams and we can do important things.”
Maestrini cautiously said, “We are very happy to be here and see all the Argentinean fans that came to encourage. It's our second tournament together and we're having a great time as a team. We're working to reach our targets and this was one of them.”
SEMIFINAL RESULTS
With three spots on the podium on the near horizon, Saturday’s women’s semifinal matchups saw Brazil’s Larissa/Talita quickly stop the surprising march of USA’s Hester/Ledoux, 21-14, 21-12 in just 26 minutes and in the all-Brazilian semifinal, Brazil’s Maria Clara Salgado/Carolina Salgado defeated Brazil’s Cavalcanti/Maestrini, 22-20, 21-13 in 39 minutes.
In the first semifinal, Brazil’s Larissa/Talita played methodically and near flawlessly as they eased by USA’s rapidly developing Hester/Ledoux
In the second semi, the first set gave the impression after its back-and-forth action that three sets were certain but the Brazil’s very experienced Salgado sisters stepped up their game and won it in two sets over one of Brazil’s newest combination of players in Cavalcanti/Maestrini.
NEXT UP
With the grand slam portion of the 2014 FIVB World Tour complete, the tour continues through December with three FIVB Open events left that are spread across the globe. Remaining on the 2014 calendar are three double-gender FIVB Open events along with one men-only FIVB Open tournament.
After the 2014 FIVB World Tour stop in Argentina for the double-gender FIVB Paraná Open, tour heads to Qatar for the men-only FIVB Doha Open this week (Nov. 4-8) then on to India for the double-gender FIVB Vizag Open (Nov. 25-30) before concluding in South Africa with the double-gender FIVB Mangaung Open (Dec. 9-14).