Country Quota Playoffs: 2011 SWATCH FIVB A1 Grand Slam - Recap
The 2011 A1 Grand Slam Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament got the green light on Monday, August 1st. The Austrian city of Klagenfurt is the current host of beach volleyball tournament and a total of 65 women’s tandems have been registered to participate
in the competition.
The tournament has the same competition formula as the previous SWATCH FIVB events. The opening day of the tournament featured Country Quota Playoffs. Successful teams from this stage will play in the Qualification Tournament the next day, while the 32 Main-Draw
stage is schedule take centre stage on the third day.
Main-Draw stage will be covered in two rounds and the top-8 teams of the tournament will have the chance to play in the quarter-finals. Afterwards, the semi-finals and medal matches will be held. The tournament will reveal the final results on Sunday, August
7.
Country Quota Playoffs
In this edition of the A Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Country Quota Playoffs were played among three countries. Duos from Brazil, Germany, and USA fought for qualification. Following teams were on board at the CQ stage:
Taiana Lima/ http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/PlayerBios/Player_DataDB.asp?No=119620Vivian Danielle da Conceição Cunha – Brazil Liliane Maestrini/ Angela Vieira - Brazil Geeske Banck/ Anja Günther - Germany Karla Borger/ Britta Büthe - Germany Lisa Rutledge/ Brittany Hochevar – USA Angie Akers/ Nicole Branagh – USA
Brazilian CQ
The Brazilian Country Quote Playoffs featured only one match. The teams of Lima and Vivian crossed paths with Lilie and Viera. The former put up a better show of beach volleyball and clinched success in straight sets. The match ended in 41 minutes, while
Lilie/ Viera earned qualification for the next round of the tournament. They sent 21-19, 21-14 in two sets and moved ahead. Lima and Vivian couldn’t advance from the early stage and got eliminated. Lilie and Viera were the only Brazilians in the Qualification
Tournament on Tuesday, August 2.
German CQ
The tandems of Borger and Buthe played a tough match against the compatriot pairing of Banck and Gunther. The Germany CQ match spanned over three sets. Banck/ Gunther staged a clever play in the first set and claimed opening set of the match. However, they
couldn’t keep the same momentum for rest of the game. Borger/ Buthe retaliated in second set and created tie by winning second set. The 15-point golden set also came successful for Borger/ Buthe and enabled them to announce match victory. Overall, the winning
team of Borger/ Buthe built a score of 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, and 15-12). It took them 43 minutes to deal with Banck and Gunther.
American CQ
The last Country Quote match of the day was played between two American duos. Internationally renowned tandem of Angie Akers and Nicole Branagh took their positions at one side of the net, while Lisa Rutledge and Brittany Hochevar stood on the opposite side.
Akers/ Branagh were equipped with all necessary tools and tricks to win the match. Both teammates complimented each other perfectly and dominated the opponents. With better combination of attack and defence tactics, they pulled off success in the first set
with a lead of 5 points (21-16).
Rutledge and Hochevar resisted in full force but failed to stop the rising score of Akers/ Branagh. Second set also slipped through their hands, while Akers/ Branagh clinched success. They successfully qualified for the next stage of Qualification Tournament.
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