Bruno and Maciel advance from the Brazilian Country Quota Playoffs at Paf Open
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB Paf Open Beach Volleyball Tournament was officially opened with the Country Quota Playoffs on Tuesday, August 16 in Aland, Finland.
The Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Federations joined hands, in order to bring this exciting $380, 00 SWTACH FIVB Event to Finland. The women’s duos took centre stage on Monday, while men’s competition got the green light with the gap of one day.
According to the released schedule of FIVB, the Paf Open Tournament will be rounded off on Sunday, August 21. The opening day of the tournament featured the Country Quota Playoffs (CQs). Ten teams from Brazil, Switzerland, and Norway appeared in the CQs.
In the Brazilian Country Quota Playoffs, pairing of Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Joao Maciel clinched success and advanced to the next stage of the tournament. They played two matches and edged out their country mates.
First match
In the first CQ fixture, Bruno/ Maciel contested their game skills with compatriot tandem of Moises Santos and Alvaro Filho. The match spanned over three sets and ball kept rolling over the net for about 57 minutes. Both sides showed good energy in the opening
phase of the match. Santos and Filho started out well and gave tough competition to Bruno/ Maciel. After an exchange of long rallies, Santos/ Filho pulled off success in the first. They posted 24-22 and earned better status.
Bruno and Maciel came up with a new plan in the following set and incorporated heavy strike of volleys. Clever digging and diving by Bruno saved many points, while Maciel also compliment his partner. Santos/ Filho, on the other hand, displayed a shaky performance
and dropped second set at 12-21.
Tie of scores created a new vibe in the game. The 15-point golden set started off with an exchange of powerful jump-serves. Charged up duo of Bruno/ Maciel played fast and quickly covered the length of third set. They posted 15-10 on board and declared match
victory.
Second match
The pairing of Thiago Santos and Harley Marques challenged Burno and Maciel in the second match. Second CQ playoff also brought good luck for Bruno and Maciel as they clinched success by posting 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, and 15-12) win over competitors. At the
end of the day, brilliant duo of Bruno and Maciel compiled an overall score of 2-0 and earned qualification for the next round. In the next run, Bruno and Maciel will play at the Qualification Tournament, which is scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
Bruno shared his views after the second win. He stated, “We came from an excellent tournament in Klagenfurt where we reached the semi-finals. Today we tried to play in a calm way and do our best. We wanted to take the opportunities we had and that was working
well. It was a tough draw with two excellent Brazilian teams. I’m pretty happy with how the team played today, even though I was playing with some pain in my shoulder.”
He further added that Country Quota stage is not the real tournament. The actual fight will start in the next stages of the tournament when they will put against teams from other countries of the world. Bruno seemed determined and full of confidence about
the upcoming matches.
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