Volleyball Update: Final Four Matches of Klagenfurt Grand Slam Championship
It’s been the greatest five fun-days in the history of Beach Volleyball since the A-1 Grand Slam Women’s Championship started at Klagenfurt, Austria. The event was full of suspense in the starting games but it gradually attained more clarity as the game proceeded and moved to the final encounter of the best teams. There have been some exciting confrontations among world’s favourite beach volleyball teams and it has kept the fans firm in their seats for the whole time.
The tournament reached the “final four” stage on the fifth day and teams from Brazil, Germany and Austria took the lead and made it to the final phase.
Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil, the defending champions of the title, have repeated same wonderful act of winning and nothing could hinder their way to reach the semi-finals. They remained consistent and never stopped influencing the other side. In the semi-final match, they are joined by German fifth-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig. In the other “final four” matches, host country’s ninth-seeded Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli will be battling with 24th-seeded Brazilian Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima.
The partnership between Juliana and Larissa was formed in 2004 and they have delivered an outstanding performance since then. They have been in the “final four” matches for 66 times before and this season it happened again that they paved their way to this stage.
Juliana and Larissa played very well throughout the championship and took their winning streak to 20-straight matches with their win over the pairs of Switzerland and the United States on Friday. They defeated 14th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkerhr of Switzerland in three sets. It took them 52 minutes to post 14-21, 21-16, and 15-11 win over the Swiss pair. In the similar fashion, American 6th-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross were kicked out by Juliana and Larissa. It was a 58 minutes battle and the Brazilians put 17-21, 21-19 and 15-8 on the point-clock. They got their hands on victory for the 12th time in 16 matches with this particular win.
The same Kessy and Ross defeated Juliana and Larissa in SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal in China early this season but Juliana/Larissa were able to take the sweet revenge this time around. The American pair obtained third place in last year’s Klagenfurt competition but this year all their effort went futile and their popularity graph was further lowered.
The top-seeded Brazilian pair is in a very good form and they are moving to the target with a great pace. Juliana and Larissa are scheduled to meet Goller and Ludwig for the eighth time in SWATCH FIVB final matches. The Brazilians have better record against their chief rival German pair, Julian/Larissa won 6 of the previous 7 matches at the “final four” stage.
The German Goller and Ludwig have come a long way together, they have made it to the “final four” stage of SWATCH FIVB World Tour for the 11th time. They defeated other Brazilian teams to qualify for the semi-final but they are still stuck with top-seeded Brazilian team, which will put their game-skills to a tough test.
Vivian and Cunha are under the special focus as they have reached the semi-final of SWATCH FIVB World Tour for the first time and it is a great honour for them. Since the start of tournament, they have not failed to make an impression in every game they played. This is the final test of their master-skills and if they are able to win two matches of the “final four” stage, they will make history. They will become the second team which moved from CQs through Qualification Tournament to win the grand title.
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