Beach Volleyball Update: Julina/Larissa clinch gold medal at National Banco do Brasil
The beach volleyball superstars, top-seeded Juliana Felishberta Silva and Larissa Franca are up with another gold-medal victory at the National Banco do Brasil, which just rounded off on Sunday, 10th October, 2010. Juliana/Larissa grabbed this
title for the fourth time by launching their authority on talented Talita Antunes and Maria Elisa Antonelli in the final showdown. The powerful duo of Juliana and Larissa re-affirmed their supremacy on sand and settled for the top spot.
The National Banco do Brasil is the ninth stop on SWATCH FIVB World Tour. The event was launched at Pajucara Beach in Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
Gold Medal match
The top-seeded Juliana/Larissa opened the first set in a classic style. The perfect serves proved a competitive edge for them, and they influenced Talita/Antonelli with powerful spikes. They moved fast on the sand and displayed excellent digging and diving
to save the points. Juliana/Larissa picked up more pace as the game progressed. The challenger side also struggled with their skill-set but they couldn’t make a great impression on the strong competitors. Juliana/Larissa easily built a lead and further maintained
it until the end of first set. Talita/Antonelli couldn’t put up with the heavy strike of top-guns of beach volleyball and accepted first-set defeat at 12-18.
After dropping the first set, Talita/Antonelli changed the strategy and threw the ball from different angles. The loss of first set enticed an anger wave in them. Juliana/Larissa played in their usual aggressive style and tried to put pressure on Talita/Antonelli.
Somehow, the rival side stood firm on their feet and defended their position. The score shifted with a close difference of points. Talita and Antonelli slightly raised their heads and made a difference by scoring against Julian/Larissa. Luck favoured them,
and they were able to finish the second set with 20-18 victory over Juliana/Larissa.
The score was levelled at 1-1 and third set was surely going to be a real test of abilities for both teams. The 15-point golden set started out with rapid exchange of volleys in blazing heat. The ball remained in the air for most of time. Juliana/Larissa
brought more rage in their attack and created a lot of trouble for the opponents. Talita/Antonelli struggled to penetrate the spear shots but ultimately failed to stand on their feet. Juliana/Larissa ousted them in the final set by posting 15-12. The match
victory graced invincible duo of Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca.
"We are aiming to better our performance in the 2006 season, when we won nine stops on the National Tour," Juliana said. "At that time, we were pure strength. Now we use our minds to win matches."
There are three more events left in 2010 season; Juliana/Larissa top the ranking with 3’400 points on account of their series of victories. In the next place, Talita and Maria Elisa have 2,440, while Angela and Val come next with 2,520 points.
Bronze medal match
The teams which couldn’t achieve success in the semi-finals, came together to fight the bronze medal match. In the third-place match, one side of the court was captured by Salgado sisters, Maria Clara and Carolina, while other side showed Angela Vieira and
Vanilda Leao. The match started with an average speed and Slagado sisters gradually became more powerful. Their defence was superb and they attacked the other side with perfect line-shots. The match lasted for two sets only as Salgado sisters proved to be
better team and clinched bronze medal victory with a score of 18-14 and 18-14 in two consecutive sets. The Salgado sisters repeated the same score in two sets and forced their opponents to be contended with fourth position in the tournament.
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