Volleyball Update: SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championship- Jane Croson and Summer Ross of U.S.A took the Gold-Medal
SWATCH FIVB U-19 Youth World Champion in Porto provided an amazing opportunity to the rising beach volleyball stars to shine on horizons of fame last week. The 9th annual beach volleyball event was the first SWATCH FIVB Tournament in the city of Porto, Portugal. The beautiful Porto Beaches experienced a new charisma in form of this tournament and added more value to the sands of Portugal.
The event moved to its end on Sunday, 1st August 2010. The wonderful team from United States, comprising of Jane Croson and Summer Ross outplayed the Russian pair, Ekaterina Karapischenko and Maria Uskova in the final game and claimed the absolute victory in women’s division.
It was a five-day double-gender championship, which attracted 88 teams from various parts of the world and thousands of fans from every nook and cranny of the planet. The United States’ women’s team was able to make a difference among 45 other women’s beach volleyball teams and finally got their hands on the gold medal.
The first-line rivals of the winning team, the Russian 7th-seeded Karapischenko and Ushkova were heavily influenced by an eye-catching performance of American team. The 3rd-seeded Croson and Ross of United States delivered excellent shots in the first set and were able to post an impressive 21-10. The Russian players changed the game-strategy and fought back in the second set to level the game. However, their plans of winning the gold-medal were crushed, when Croson and Ross posted 15-7 in the third set. The battle lasted for almost 39 minutes and ultimately American twosome carved their name with golden ink and took away the gold-medal.
In the first set, Ross/Croson started off in a brilliant way and took a lead of 6-1 over the Russian pair; they further kept the same momentum and pulled it further to 20-9, as a result of two consecutive aces in the game. The second set was also full of thrill, suspense and excitement as both the teams struggled very hard to beat the other side. The game rested on a score of 12-12 at one point but Russian Karapischenko and Ushkova dominated the set and won it by posting 21-18.
As a result, the game was levelled but each side was in a “do or die” condition. Croson and Ross devised the game plan and made a great come-back in the final set. They were able to hit six more aces and got a considerable lead in third set. The Russian team made a few mistakes which further added to their despair and finally they had to get their eyes off the gold.
On the whole, the Russian team was not easy to defeat as they had a brilliant season this year and paved their way to the final matches with gravity. Somehow, they couldn’t produce the same level of endeavour to over-come American, Croson and Ross. The victorious duo celebrated their win against strong Russian side and commented about the match that “Our goal was to come out strong against a good Russian team and we did it and it may have caught them a little off-guard because we had not come out this strong during the entire tournament.”
Ross credited Croson with a great comment that she proved herself a very good partner and played a vital role in achieving this great honour for the country. She said that it was their dream to climb up the highest spot in the game and this year they have done it successfully.
It was the first American beach volleyball team who represented the women’s side and advanced to the “final four” matches for the first time in the history of this event.
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