Country Quota Playoffs at 2011 SWATCH FIVB HP Beach Open: Women - Volleyball
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB HP Open Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament kicked off at Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, August 23. The thrilling action of women’s beach volleyball will be continued until the weekend, August 28. A total of 64 female tandems from 30
countries of the world have registered their names to take part in the campaign. This is the third straight season that the Dutch city of Hague is hosting the International HP Open Beach Volleyball Tournament on its sands. It is also the fourth consecutive
year that the Netherlands has set up the field of play for an international event after the 2008 FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH Youth World Championships Under-19 event.
Once again the country’s most popular beach, Hommerson Beachstadion, has welcomed the international duos for another scintillating episode of beach volleyball. Basically, the HP Open is a double gender event and men’s competition will also run parallel to
women’s matches.
According to the set rules of Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), the opening day of the HP Open Women’s Tournament featured the Country Quota Playoffs. Netherlands was the only country, which had to go through the CQ stage of the tournament.
The starting line-up for the CQ matches was as followed:
Meertens-de Vries Bloem-Hullegie Stiekema-Braakman Sinnema-Wiltens Driessen-Boerhave Kadijk R.-Mooren Van der Hoeven-Van der Vlist
Seven Dutch tandems contested their skills at the Country Quota Playoffs on Tuesday. Only four teams could clinch success and advanced to the next stage of the tournament. Let’s see who was won and who was dumped at the CQ stage.
Van der Hoeven-Van der Vlist
The duo of Van de Hoeven and Van De Vlist advanced from the Country Quota Playoffs due to a ‘bye’ they earned in the first match.
Meertens-de Vries vs. Bloem-Hullegie
Meertens/de Vries posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-14) victory over compatriots Bloem/ Hullegie. The team of Meertens and de Vries started off better as they influenced the opponents via powerful serves and heavy shots. Bloem/ Hullegie were bogged down and dropped
the opening set with a 10-ponit margin. The second set was also successful for Meetens and de Vries as they sent 21-14 on the board. The match finished in two sets and Meetens/ de Vries won the early battle.
Stiekema-Braakman vs. Sinnema-Wiltens
The pairing of Stiekema and Braakman did equally well and posted a straight-set win over Sinnema and Wiltens. A great exhibition of superb digging and diving enabled them to work out a 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) win. Sinnerma/ Wiltens failed to cope with the hard-hitting
of their opponents and ended up with a fairly low score in both sets. The loss of the first match caused the elimination for Sinnema and Wiltens, while winning duo reserved a berth in the nest round.
Driessen-Boerhave vs. Kadijk R.-Mooren
The match between Driessen-Boerhave and Kadijk R.-Mooren was a cracking fight. It was the only match on the opening day, which created a lot of buzz. Both teams played tactfully and tried their best to take advantage over the other. However, Kadijk R.-Mooren
won the match by posting 21-15 and 21-13.
The winning duos are now scheduled to play at the Qualification Tournament on Wednesday, August 24.
Tags: