The Mazury Orlen Grand Slam 2010: Women’s Main Draw qualifiers
The women’s Country Quota matches at the SWATCH FIVB Mazury Orlen Grand Slam 2010 took place on Monday, 2nd August 2010 and it was followed by the Qualification Tournament on Tuesday.
Women’s teams from Germany and Italy delivered a great performance and posted a pair of upset wins in the Qualification Tournament and advanced to the Main Draw stage. This is the first time in history that both of these teams are together at this phase of the game. The German and Italian pairs progressed from the 30-team Mazury Orlen Grand Slam qualifying matches to the first pool play matches of the tournament.
The 21st-seeded Jana Kohler and Julia Sude of Germany contested with 12th-seeded Vilde Solvoll and Ingrid Torlen of Norway on the second day of the tournament. The German players showed their exceptional beach volleyball skills and took away the game from their opponent’s hands in 39 minutes. Kohler and Sude polled a 21-11, 22-20 victory over Norway. In the second match, they took on fifth-seeded Maria Bratkova and Evgenia Ukolova of Russia who couldn’t even stand the powerful spikes of Kohler and Sude and lost the game.
Although the Russian pair took an advantage of their height and extra-ordinary physical strength to beat the Germans in first set but they lost energy in the next two sets. The German side gained the control of the game in final two sets and claimed victory. Kohler and Sude won the Country Quota Playoffs and remained consistent to stay on the same course. It was a great achievement for Kohler and Sude as they obtained victory on back-to-back days for the third time in this season. In the previous two Grand Slams, they advanced from the CQs to Main Draw matches in the similar fashion.
Celle and Rosso of Italy had a rough time this season but the current Mazury Orlen Grand Slam, brought a different luck for them. Cella and Rosso started the season with a “wild card” berth in Rome at Italian Grand Slam stop but lost three pool play matches. As a result they were placed 13th and seventh in two European Challenger/Satellite tournaments in Romania and Bulgaria, respectively. Although they lost the five of their seven FIVB qualifying matches this but they sparked again with their win over teams from Germany and China. With this triumph, the Italian Cella and Rosso advanced to the money rounds.
Likewise, the American pairs captured the top two spots in the SWATCH FIVB Mazury Orlen Grand Slam qualifying matches. Jen Kessy and April Ross eliminated the pair from Switzerland while Angie Akers and Tyra Turner declared victory over the Chinese team. The American pairs Jen Kessy/April Ross and Angie Akers/Tyra Turner currently hold the number 3 and number 11 spot in the over FIVB women’s ranking.
The third-seeded Vanilda Leao and Angela Vieira of Brazil also stayed in the winners’ circle by posting victory over Polish and Australian teams. In the first day Country Quota matches, Leao and Vieira ousted the runner-up team of last Austrian Grand Slam, Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima, which boosted their morale. They continued with the same spirit and were able to enter the Main Draw after achieving victory in the Qualification Tournament matches.
In other qualifiers were pairs from Austria, Belgium, and Spain. The fourth-seeded Louise Bawden and Becchara Palmer of Austria, sixth-seeded Liesbethh Mouha and Liesbet Van Breedam of Belgium were among the unbeaten pairs while seventh-seeded Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain also joined them later.
The fury of SWATCH FIVB’s last seasonal Grand Slam will reach its end on Saturday with the “final four” matches.