2011 Moscow Grand Slam: Women's Final Match Recap - Volleyball
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB Moscow Grand Slam just concluded with the final four matches on Saturday, July 16. The day was opened with the two semi-finals, where duos from China, Italy, USA, and Brazil crossed paths. The following four tandems survived the second
round of the Main Draw on Friday, July 15, and settled for spots int the semi-finals:
Chen Xue/ Xi Zhang – China Greta Cicolari/ Marta Menegatti Misty May-Treanor/ Kerri Walsh Juliana Felisberta Silva/ Larissa Franca
First Semi-final
The first semi-final of the 2011 Moscow Grand Slam featured Brazilian top-seeded Juliana/Larissa against World No. 4 Chinese pairing of Xue and Zhang. It was a cracking fight, which created a lot of buzz on centre court. The ball kept rolling over the net
for 44 minutes and touched many high notes. The first set of the match turned into a heated competition after first whistle of the referee. The score soared as both sides traded leads. However, Juliana/Larissa hit the mark and secured opening set win with
a two-point margin. They posted 26-24 on board to dismiss Chinese competitors in opening set and strengthened their position in the match.
Chinese duo failed to sustain the pressure in the second set and was forced to stay behind the attack-line. Brazilians duo came from different angles and successfully covered the length of second set with better score. The scoreboard showed the final digits
of 21-14 and Juliana/Larissa emerged as winners.
Second Semi-final
U.S. and Italian duos took centre stage in the second semi-final. One side of the court was captured by second-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, while the other side showed third-seeded duo of Cicolari and Menegatti from Italy. American duo was fully
prepared to give a hard time to Italian counterparts. Match started out with long jump-serves by Walsh. She varied the length of serves and created trouble for Italians with her short serves. Meanwhile, May-Treanor perfectly complimented her partner and did
an amazing job at digging and diving. They promptly earned better status and claimed opening set without much difficulty. They posted 21-15 in the first set.
Second set also came successful for U.S. team. Menegatti tried to break the rhythm of opponents and showed the power of her forearms. Anyhow, strong duo of Walsh and May-Treanor kept an upper hand on them and clinched success in second set as well. Italian
side could raise their score by just one point as the second set ended at 21-16.
Final Match
The successful teams from the semi-finals met in the final match. Top-seeded Brazilian Juliana/Larissa had overpowered the Chinese team in the first semi-final, while Walsh/May-Treanor defeated the Italian duo in the second semi-final. The final match was
a head-to-head battle, which ended in the U.S. team’s favour. The Brazilian tandem dropped the opening set with a slight margin of two points at 21-23. The U.S. team took full advantage of the opportunity and dominated their opponents in the second set. Juliana/Larissa
could only score 15 points in the second set, whereas Walsh/May-Treanor achieved set points at 21-15. Brazil lost the final, while U.S. got hold of the gold.
Walsh shared her thoughts after the match. She said: “We did not want to lose again. A couple of consecutive losses is a great motivation. Also we had not won a gold medal for some time. I think they were tired, having played almost every final in the last
few weeks. Also it was pretty windy and we used that to our advantage.”
In the third-position match, Chinese Xue/Zhang held off Italian pair for victory in three sets and took away bronze medal.
Tags: