Xiamen, China, April 13, 2016 – Germany and USA emerged as big winners in the women’s qualification tournament of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open here on Wednesday as they combined to snatch half of the eight Main Draw tickets on offer.
Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider, the third seeds in the women’s qualification, swept Italy’s Diane Perry and Laura Giombini 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in 38 minutes to reach the Main Draw and their teammates Victoria Bieneck/Julia Großner, who were seeded No. 1 in the 22-team qualification tournament, also advanced after crushing Australia’s Jordan Mowen/Justine Mowen 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) in 26 minutes.
“We are very happy to win in two sets. I think we found our game after a few points,” said Schneider. “We were a bit nervous, and then we were very focused on the game and I never doubt we will win the game after the first few points.”
The German duo were not affected by the big rain that hit the Xiamen Open Wednesday morning. “We called that the German weather brought to China yesterday. It's good for us, because we know this kind of weather,” Schneider added. “Yesterday it's windy and rainy. We are very common with this weather. We don't care.”
Mersmann and Schneider vowed to play best beach volleyball in the women’s Main Draw which is to start on Thursday. “I think we want to play our best beach volleyball. That's always the first goal. We often become ninth in the Open and that would be very good because the level of the tournament is very high, but I think we can take one step further to the quarterfinals. When this happens, everything has to be fine, so we have to play our best beach volleyball. We'll see.”
Second seeded Brittany Hochevar/Jennifer Fopma and fourth seeded Lane Carico/Summer Ross of the United States also secured their places in the 32-team Main Draw tournament with respective wins in the second round of the single elimination qualification tournament.
Lane Carico and Summer Ross had a lot of fun in their 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) triumph over France’s Aline Chamereau and Ophelie Lusson.
“There was so much fun out there. I was enjoying it in the rain and finally we could win,” said Lane. “This is our fourth time in Xiamen, we know it's always very windy here, but it’s the first time to play in the rain.”
“But we love it and hopefully it can rain more and more. We would like to play in the rain,” she added. “I can't wait to play tomorrow. It's going to be so much fun. I just want to be out here forever, just like some of the oldest out here. Just play, and have fun.”
Other teams making it to the Main Draw are Vasiliki Arvaniti/Panagiota Karagkouni from Greece, Rimke Braakman/Jolien Sinnema of the Netherlands, Austria’s Stefanie Schwaiger/Barbara Hansel and Anastasia Barsuk/Alexandra Moiseeva from Russia.
American star duo Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross will seek their third consecutive FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour medal as the women’s Main Draw of Xiamen Open kicks off on Thursday.
Walsh Jennings, who had claimed three straight Olympic gold medals with Misty May-Treanor, got off to a flying start in the new season with her new partner April Ross, finishing first and second respectively in the Rio Grand Slam and Vitoria Open in Brazil. The top seeds from the United States will strive to repeat their title winning feat in Xiamen in 2013 while other medal contenders at the double-gender tournament include defending Xiamen Open champions Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland.
Two weeks after capturing the gold medal at the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in Australia, Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Xue Chen and her young teammate Xia Xinyi will try to impress on home soil with Wang Fan/Yue Yuan and Chen Chunxia/Tang Ningya joining them in contention.
The 2015/2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar began with three Open events at the end of 2015. The remainder of the 2015/2016 calendar will include multiple FIVB Open and multiple FIVB Grand Slam events along with more Swatch FIVB Major Series events, and the second Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals. The highlight of the calendar will be the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil featuring 24 teams in each gender.
The event continues the road to Rio that lasts until June 13, 2016 with FIVB World Tour events counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 of 24 spots for each gender that will take part in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.